This morning I have chosen a very provocative but thought provoking post by Dave Wainscott who blogs at holy heteroclite where this post first appeared as For Advent I Am Expecting What I Desire. The post is far too long for me to repost in its entirety but I thought that you would like these excerpts to whet your appetites.
Jesus is Coming - Will we get what we desire?
For Advent this year, I expect to get: what I desire and deserve.
Many reading that will say it sounds heretical;
but I can back it up with sound theologians.
Some reading that statement will be incensed; saying it smells
counter-intuitive, paradoxical, subversive and unobvious.
Of course it does; all legitimate gospel must smell that way. Such is incense.
First of all, note I didn’t sat “For Christmas, I want..” No… it reads, “for Advent.”
How could I want anything amiss if I really believe it’s Advent? Advent is Christmas converted.
(Though inevitably, even Christmas and Advent wishes can be co-opted by culture…or worse, Christian culture (“Our making of images to present our work in ministry is not invulnerable to idolatry”, John Tschetter reminds)…Thus, the Advent Conspiracy is recommended.
First from U2 with Dave’s comment For me, to claim “But I believe in the Israelite” is to desire Him. and to dare to believe that, as another lyric in the song offers “On Christnas we get what we deserve.”
And from Fr. Martin (who is chaplain to The Colbert Report):
Advent is a time of desire. We desire the coming of Christ into our lives. The readings from the Book of Isaiah, which we hear during the season, reveal even the earth desiring the presence of God. The wonderful “O antiphons,” sung at evening prayer and during the Gospel acclamations towards the end of Advent, speak of Christ at the “King of Nations and their Desire.”
Madame Guyon:
“It is almost impossible for me not to desire all that God desires.. so one lets their desires flow into God only in order to desire according to his movement,and to will through his will. -Autobiography of Madame Guyon
Filed under: Advent, Advent 2011, music, spiritual practices | Tagged: Advent, Advent 2011, desire, spiritual practices, U2 |
Godspace 
It’s a similar thought to the saying “Love God and do what you want”
Yes – though I say that a little hesitantly because often we say “Love God and do what you like” rather glibbly – it is not so much in the saying but rather in the doing I think.
yeah its in the doing that matters.
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