But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. 2 Peter 3:13
The title of a U2 song illustrates an important theme of Advent- I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. This song gives a mature voice to our spiritual yearnings. We experience God, and yet there’s something we still long for, a thirst that has yet to be quenched. In this sense Advent humbles us. It reminds us of our incompleteness. Although we’ve experienced the grace and power of God through Christ, we still long for the full realization of salvation and wholeness in solidarity with the rest of creation. Yet, we are seized by hope even in our incompleteness. In the night of our longing hope possess us as “we wait for new heavens and a new earth.”
O God of depth, touch the place inside us that longs for that which we cannot name. Huddle with those crushed by poverty, the widows and orphans, the prisoners who stand in shadows. Let those who have turned their faces to the wall gaze upon your light and hear your cry. Break down the walls, Lord, and may the rubble become the foundation of the New Jerusalem. May the hope we have in you illuminate every soul. And may the Holy Spirit wrap around our heads and kiss our eyes, that we may awaken to the living beauty of the new heaven and new earth to come. Amen.
