This year our Advent Lessons and Carols will be centered around the “O Antiphons, website ” verses traditionally sung at evening prayer in the week leading up to Christmas.  We all know a 19^th century hymn version of these verses: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”  (Once, while charging frantically through a mall thick with last minute Christmas shoppers, I heard a surprising R&B version of “O Come Emmanuel” that lifted my spirits).

“O come, O wisdom … O come, O Lord … O root of Jesse … O key of David … O dayspring …” The verse I’m drawn to this year is (in our hymn version): “O come, desire of nations.”  Nations are on my mind: Syria, Palestine, Iran and Iraq; France, Afghanistan, Russia, Turkey, the US – and the list goes on.  How will they navigate through such serious conflict?  What will God have to do with it?  In the bible, sometimes God speaks to nations as if they were persons (O Judah …O Assyria …).  So can we think of nations as having desires? The desire to not be afraid, to be free, to be safe, to see justice done, to have peace?  Maybe we lose sight of what we share in common.  The promises of God that we hear during Advent are big enough to meet desire even on this scale.

It’s believed by some that worship services are for one’s private spiritual nurture and solace.  But when we come on Sunday we’re also getting involved in something much bigger than us:  “Say among the nations, ‘The LORD is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. God will judge the peoples with equity.’ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it.” That’s from Psalm 96, which we pray on Christmas Eve.  The babe in the manger is surrounded by the caring faces of the Holy Family, a picture of intimacy.  But he’s also greeted by the shepherds: in the biblical world, shepherd symbolized kings.  He’s hailed as the Prince of Peace.  What we hear on Sundays can give us hope not for our personal lives and for our world.

I think of the people of FLC as being global – coming from different lands, travelling frequently, involved.  I appreciate the leadership provided by our social ministry group with our sister church in El Salvador (hear an update at the forum on December 15); about others’ involvement in Bethlehem (Bright Star) and even neighboring communities, such as through EHP dinners.  We’ll incorporate some special prayers related to current events in our Lessons and Carols service on the 20^th.