THE GREATNESS TO COME

This is from a letter Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote while in prison as a political enemy of the nazi party (12/1/1943):

"Thus Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know that they are poor and incomplete, and who sense something of the greatness that is supposed to come, before which they can only bow in humble timidity, waiting until he inclines himself toward us - the Holy One himself, God in the child in the manger. God is coming; the Lord Jesus is coming; Christmas is coming. Rejoice, O Christendom!"

After being transferred to a concentration camp, he was hanged on April 9, 1945.

Jesus tells us to keep awake.

To use the time we have to make a difference in the lives of others. To be vocal when it is convenient and inconvenient.

If we're lucky, our words might stick around to bring healing and fuel movements even after we are gone.

Either way, let's be diligent and filled with joy in what we have before us: God's kingdom slowly invading the world as a weed taking over a garden.

No matter how many weeds are pulled and tossed, they keep coming. It is the slow moving, ever present kingdom relentlessly advancing upon evil with grace and love.

In our lives and in our prayers, may your kingdom come, Jesus.

-joshua (12/07/2017).

(I don't mean to post this as an indicator of our current political times. I am 34 today, which means I don't care to be covert in my politics anymore. I'll just say what I want so there is no confusion on stances. I am just moved by Bonhoeffer's continued hope for justice during times when it seemed like there was only darkness - and there is no mistaking where he saw the source of that justice coming from.)