Watch, we are told. Wake up! Watch – and wait.  Something is happening. . .  We may miss it if we are not on the alert, watching for it, waiting, hoping.

Look around – so much despondence, so much unrest: the economic and political worlds are collapsing; wars and rumors of wars abound; thousands of peoples on the march for freedom from injustice; the entire planet groans in pain. Where is the peace we long for?

And yet, and yet – unless we realize our need for help we will not be willing nor prepared to receive it.

Advent calls us to ‘watch,’ to become aware of, first of all, our human helplessness in the face of so many evils. We are as small children lost as it were in the vast universe we call home.

Advent also points us to where the answer lies:  God is here to help us. Can the small child accept the hand stretched out to rescue us?

May our prayer be: O that you would rend the heavens and come down! Rend our hearts that we may be open to receive you.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come and save us.