three months of anticipation

I love the season of Advent. It's four weeks to commemorate the fact that the Lord comes. Four weeks dedicated to an action. Four weeks to contemplate, repent, prepare, anticipate. The thing that just amazes me is the reality of that statement. Jesus came once. He was born, lived, died, rose again, ascended. Jesus is coming again. The lections recently have been from the Revelation to John, and it's reminded me again and again that Jesus is "coming quickly" and this was 1900 years ago.

The coming of Jesus that we so often, and so easily, forget is that Jesus comes now. The early Church used the expression μαραναθα "the Lord comes" as a greeting--a statment of encouragement. Jesus was seen not only as the one who is coming to bring fulfillment to the promise and the end of sin, but He is the one who comes now when His people call on His name. Advent is so significant today, because we need to remember that Jesus' second coming is not all we have to look forward to! If we call on Him in faith now, He is present with us now. Four weeks to remember that and a life time to figure it out.

During this Advent I've maintained my normal one day fast and added on a fast from coffee. This seems odd, because I don't really drink coffee. After years of working around people so addicted to coffee that they'll do anything (including filling it with milk and sugar) to get their fix, I have sworn off anything that might appear to be even a slight dependence on the stuff. This fast becomes a challenge for me, because I drink it without thinking. At work I make myself latte's all the time. If we're really lucky, we get to drink the delicious iced coffee. Coffee isn't an addiction, it's not even a habit. It's worse: it's innocuous. I can drink it and not even notice. It has very little effect on me. I am completely unaware....

*resolution: update more*