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Every day I decide - Will I welcome the return of Christ today?
Every day you decide the same. How does Christ return?
To you, in you, through you - now, not later.
John Henry Newman, in the 1800’s, was an Anglican minister in England. His religious pilgrimage ultimately took him to Rome and the Roman Catholic Church. He became a cardinal in the Catholic Church and the most preeminent leader of that church in Europe. Many Catholic churches have a class called the Newman class. That was named after John Henry Newman.
While serving as Cardinal, he received a message sent by an English priest from the tiny village of Brennan, a little mill town north of Birmingham. It seems that an epidemic of cholera had decimated the village. The local priest was asking for help, for another priest to assist him in the giving of the sacrament, administering the Last Rites, and to do funerals, so many people were dying.
Newman read the letter in his office. Afterward, he spent the next hour in prayer. Finally, a secretary came in and said: “Cardinal Newman. We must give an immediate reply to Brennan. Your eminence, what shall we do?” Newman said: “The people are suffering and dying. How can I send a priest to do this work? I must go myself.”
This Advent season, the beginning of our Church year, we are reminded Christ in the world reveals the compassion of God; so, any speech of another coming of Christ must, likewise, reveal the heart of God as Compassion, Love coming to help us. And our entering into the world with our gifts and graces, with our loving thoughts and kind actions, to help even one other creature, is a coming of Christ into the world.
No, I have little to no interest in predictions about the End Time and their elaborate schemes. No, I am not interested in Jesus coming back physically with a crown, riding a horse, and to judge the world like an earthly potentate. I choose not the literalism of such images.
What am I interested in? I am interested in whether you are like John Henry Newman. Do you seek for the coming of Christ, now, in your attitude, thoughts, and actions?
If you say, "With such suffering that I see, I must go. God, show me how I can bring in Christ into this world," then, you know Christ. Then, you are being Christ. Then, you are bringing into this world, your world, the Christ of Advent. You are living the Spirit of Advent.
To do this, we must be awake to our lives. We must wakefully be grateful for the life we are given, with all its apparent imperfections and our's, too. If we are awake to the gift of our lives, and the divine gifts all around us, we are prepared for a nativity of God in and through us:
The consciousness to which spiritual writers refer is ultimately the awareness of presence, activity, and call of God in our lives. We must believe there is a deeper level to reality if we are to attempt to access the ebb and flow. While not precluding mystical experiences that occur in a state of religious rapture, wakefulness encourages attentiveness to the God who also visits us in the mundane events of our everyday lives.
*Edward L. Beck. Soul Provider.
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*Charitable contributions would be appreciated to assist Brian in continuing his ministry. For contributions, contact Brian at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
*Brian's book of spiritual love poetry, An Ache for Union: Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major booksellers or the Cokesbury on-line store, cokesbury.com .
*Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist Pastor, lives in Southwest Florida. He is a vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and seeks to inspire others to enjoy a more intimate relationship with Christ. Brian advocates for a spiritually-focused, experiential Christianity and renewal of the Church through addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons.
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