hoping for the unexpected

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13)

yesterday started one of my two favorite times of the year. i have always loved Advent & Lent. i love the midweek evening church services, which are not as heavily attended, so they feel more peaceful & intimate. i love the extra thought these two seasons provoke, and the feeling of preparation that is deceptively the same for both -- the internal preparation that leads up to great joy.

the First Sunday of Advent focused on John the Baptist. the angle being: unexpected. at the point in the service when the sermon would normally begin, out of nowhere came the sound of the bagpipes playing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." i don't know if you've ever heard bagpipes in person, but not only are they a sound unlike any other, but they are *loud*. using that lead in, the pastor spoke about how John the Baptist was very unexpected. not just by his mother, Elizabeth, who was thought to be unable to bear children, but by the people to whom he later announced the coming Christ. he was an unusual man, proclaiming an unusual message.

that thought kept bouncing around in my head all day. unexpected. so much of the Christmas story revolves around the unexpected.

like Joseph. i'm sure he wasn't expecting that Mary would be pregnant before they were married. that the Child would not be his.

like the shepherds. i am almost certain those angels that appeared, shouting & praising & celebrating, were about the last thing they expected that night.

like the people of Israel. when they were promised a Savior to deliver them, i don't think they were envisioning a tiny baby, born to a girl, betrothed to a carpenter. i bet they expected trumpets & power & might, someone to deliver them from Rome. but not a helpless newborn.

and like Mary. i bet she didn't expect to be visited by an angel. or that she would be a virgin with child. or that she would be riding around on a donkey when she was close to being due. or that there would be no room at the inn, forcing her to give birth in a stable.

i'm going to take a bit of a detour for a moment, give a little background, if you will, but i'm going to come back to this theme of unexpected, if you'll just bear with me.

if you know me at all, or if you've read deeply enough here, you know that i am a big fan of traditional worship. i was raised in a traditional church, that worshipped out of a hymnal, followed an Order of Service, sang traditional hymns, and the most out of the ordinary instruments heard in church were the piano instead of the organ, and maybe a flute (actually, i was one of the two people playing, if that was the case) and a trumpet on very special days, like near Christmas or on Easter.

it should come as no surprise, then, that i am particularly partial to traditional Christmas music. the traditional Christmas carols are some of my very favorite. don't get me wrong, i like the "fun songs" too -- White Christmas (when not sung like a dying goat, Daniel) is one of my favorite secular Christmas songs -- but even then, the music i am most drawn to has been around for some time. listening to Christmas music on the radio, though, you tend to get a lot of newer, original songs along with the old favorites. a lot of them make me roll my eyes, being so traditional & all, but one really makes me stop to think, in regard to what i was saying about Mary, and the unexpected. the song, Mary, Did You Know, really seems to capture this very theme, with lyrics like: "This Child that you've delivered will soon deliver you." and "Did you know, that your baby boy has walked where angels trod? When you kiss your little baby, you've kissed the face of God." and "Did you know, that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb? This sleeping child you're holding, is the great I AM." i'm sure Mary never dreamed that her firstborn child would be the Son of God.

unexpected.

two thousand years later, as Christmas approaches, we know what to expect. it is no surprise to us that Christmas morning will come. but still, an element of the unexpected exists. if you don't believe in the religious aspect of Christmas, then the unexpected lies only under your Christmas tree. but for those of us that celebrate Christmas in the true sense, our unexpected is even bigger. Advent prepares us for the coming celebration of Christ's birth, but also for a coming celebration that is far bigger... one for which the arrival is not known. and so we prepare our hearts for the unexpected with as much hope & excitement as we do for the celebration of each Christmas.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair, I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of Peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men."
("I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," Words: Hen­ry W. Long­fel­low, 1864.
Music: Walt­ham (Cal­kin), John B. Cal­kin, 1872)