Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

As we move into Advent, I keep thinking about how it becomes a time for us to renew our trust in God — God does what God promises.

That promise thought looked nothing like the followers of Jesus hoped for however. Many were expecting a military or political leader. They were expecting some kind of immediate release from Roman occupation and the fulfillment of the longed for coming of one who would take his rightful place as king of his chosen people. They had heard the promise.

God kept his promise — but it looked nothing like what they’d hoped for. How many times has this happened to us? We ask and pray and hope for some kind of deliverance or liberation or relief. God hears our prayers. God answers them. But it so often looks nothing like we hoped for however.

When God keeps a promise with us he does so in ways that will surprise, frustrate, delight, and even depress us. For the moment. The real nature of his promise often only becomes apparent over time, with prayer.

When God answered the prayers of the people of Israel he spoke to them in the most essential, eloquent way — he spoke to them with the cry of a newborn baby. Meeting their needs meant not handing them the means to victory but the means to love. He was challenging them to learn what it means to be vulnerable and to nurture hope.

God keeps his promises. That’s what we watch for this Advent. We watch for the coming of the one who was foretold. His coming will not be the answer to our prayers as we think best — they are answered as God does. They are answered with the simple grammar of the love to which he calls us — the love he places in our hands to nurse and to nurture.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert