Prayers for Advent

 "Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen."

 -Collect for the First Sunday of Advent, The Book of Common Prayer, p.211.

I've been eagerly looking forward to Advent this year, more so than other years.  I don't know exactly why it's been that way: maybe it's because we have moved halfway around the world and many things in life seem new at the moment.  Maybe it's because there's a third person in our family this time, and it seems different on that account.  Maybe it's because we as a family have felt God giving us new direction for life in 2012.  Maybe it's just ... because.  I don't know.  But this prayer really struck me today, as it touches upon many thoughts that have been running through my head since moving here to Swaziland.

On Friday we drove outside Mbabane about an hour toward the west to spend time with an American family who has lived here for 10 years.  Sadly for us, they are leaving Swaziland next week to go back to the States for the next chapter in their lives.  It was a precious day, and refreshing, especially for me.  Rudy and Ruth and their four daughters are Catholic and radically committed to following Jesus.  They have spent the last ten years living in a small concrete house, earning a meager Swazi salary with no car, trying their best to show by their lives what it means to live out the Gospel here in Africa.  As a family, they walk two hours each way to attend church every Sunday.

We spent the better portion of the day just sitting and talking; then we took a stroll down to the river, and sat on the rocks and talked while the girls played in the water and William crawled around on the rocks.  [The highveld of Swaziland is rocky territory; there are rocks everywhere, literally.]  It was a day of joy mixed with sadness, though, as they talked about some of their experiences, the tremendous difficulty they faced here, and the feelings of failure and doubt with which they are now struggling as they leave.  Like Christ, they have demonstrated great humility for ten years; and still, it is difficult for them to feel like they succeeded here. 

I know enough about cross-cultural work to understand that this story is a common one, even for Christians.  It has been a frightening reminder that these tasks to which Jesus calls us are super-human ones: it is not human to love our enemies (or even our spouses); it is not human to sacrifice oneself for the sake of others; it is not human to cross cultural barriers and become like the people to whom God has called us.  These things are divine, and require divine power; and even with divine power, sometimes the results are not what we as humans expect.  The Gospel is not proclaimed by courage, or intelligence, or theological correctness, or mighty preaching, or harmonious singing, or anything else of human origin.  God the Holy Spirit proclaims the Gospel, and for Him to proclaim the Gospel through us requires that we must die.  The process requires humility, more than what I possess.

Here's the hopeful thought in all of this: that what I have just described as being humanly impossible is the very thing that God the Holy Spirit specializes in.  Scripture describes the two primary jobs of God the Holy Spirit: 1) to make those who believe and confess Jesus more like Him; and 2) to empower those same people to preach the Gospel (in word and deed) to all nations.  He does other things as well, of course, but I believe these two tasks are primarily what He is doing in the world today.  The Spirit must do the work, both in us and through us; but even then, the results may not be what we plan or expect.  In fact, they probably won't be.  We are utterly, completely, non-compromising-ly dependent on Him.  "So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" [1 Cor. 3:7].

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servants Rudy and Ruth and their four daughters, whom you called to preach the Gospel to the people of Swaziland.  Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Almighty God, whose will it is to be glorified in your saints, and who has raised us up to be a light in the world: Shine, we pray, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth your praise, who called us out of darkness into your marvelous light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.
  
-Collects for Missionaries, The Book of Common Prayer, p.247-248