For Christians around the world, Advent is a season of expectant waiting. It’s a season where we reorder our lives around the coming of the Messiah. Why?
We believe that the Messiah’s coming is a good thing. A great thing!
The earliest accounts convey His coming as a historic event, bringing with it the potential to change the world. An event that is designed to usher in an age of God’s good for the world.
The in-breaking of this news was as frightening as it was astounding. After the angel breaks into humankind’s real-time existence (God’s specialty even today), leaving the shepherds (no doubt accustomed to surprises taking place deep in the darkness of night) cowering in fear, he immediately issues the command, “Fear not!”
In Luke 2:10, we read, “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
Let’s break this message down:
- Fear not (relax, It’s going to be okay, no worries, be happy, mon).
- Behold (take note, pay attention, to look and listen with intent).
- I Bring you Good News (I, coming from heaven, have something just for you; a proclamation of good things happening).
- Great Joy (surprising reason for gladness, intense delight).
- For all the people (everyone, all of you, no one left out).
It is, undoubtedly, a message of hope.
Great hope.
The greatest hope!
What the angels proclaimed as “good news of great joy” is shorthand for the Gospel. This Gospel swells as the life of Christ expands. His life, and the Gospel He brings with Him, takes over the land.
The New Testament makes it feel like you cannot go anywhere without hearing ordinary people discussing the extraordinary young Rabbi, Yeshua, and the Goodnews (or is it?) he preaches and the crowds he is attracting.
So, what makes this news good news?
Simple, really, but something we’ve long abandoned.
This news was (and is) Goodnews because it was not proclamation from us about what we believe as much as it is a declaration from God about where we belong. It’s the stirring and hope-filled declaration that we (all the people), at long last, have a place to call home!
In our time, we’ve abandoned our need to belong in favor of the more easily manipulated desire to state what we believe.
The Goodnews, if it is anything, is about where (and to whom) we belong.
And, let’s face it: We all want to belong somewhere, with someone.
That’s why Christians around the world set aside this time of year to watch and wait. We wait for the Messiah who came and comes with good news for ALL people.
At Pillar, we call this the “Goodnews Gospel of the With-God-Life.” It’s the only Gospel Jesus preached, and it’s the one He still makes possible, even probable, today!
Advent is an opportunity to celebrate and, perhaps, recalibrate our lives, to the tune we all long to hear.
It’s a tune heard at creation, proclaimed throughout the prophets, and claimed, captured, and exclaimed by Christ.
The distinct form it takes this particular time of year is:
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
Hear the news today as if it’s the best news you’ve ever heard! Hear the Father this season, saying, “I bring you good news of great joy. It’s news designed specifically with you in mind! I want to tell you where you belong and invite you to come home! Come home to me, my child. It’s time to come home.”
Are you tired of striving, trying, and getting caught up in Amerianity’s false version of the gospel? You know, the “do more, try harder, be better,” gospel?
Let’s be honest; that’s no gospel at all.
Journey with me this Advent season as I reflect on the Gospel that once proclaimed God’s declaration about where we belong much more than a proclamation about what we believe.
We will listen to the angels, hear from the prophets, and explore the original story God has always been writing!
Disrupting to Renew!
