Advent helps the soul feel its worth

12/10/2018

Jon Jordan

Advent is for everyone. Its message is one that we all need to hear. But for those of us in the academic world, I think Advent has something special to offer us, especially during this time of year when grades are being earned and given, celebrated and lamented.

“Long lay the world,

in sin and error pining,

Till he appeared,

and the soul felt its worth.”

The world we inhabit, expanding outward into the furthest reaches of the universe and expanding inward into the darkest corners of our souls, is fractured. It is captive to sin, death, and error. All things physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, visible, and invisible are spiraling out of control.

And yet, the events surrounding the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth shattered the old world that was spiraling in sin and error, and offers us a new world and a new heart.

Consider the words of St. Paul in Galatians 6:

“For me boasting is excluded, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision anything. What is something is the new creation.”

The old world of sin and death has been crucified in the cross of Christ. What matters now is the New Creation.

New Creation is here.

The soul feels its worth.

But as soon as we hear those words, our thoughts betray us. Our world and our hearts are still, at times, spiraling in sin and error. It appears as though New Creation is nothere, and our souls do notfeel their worth.

New Creation is here, and it is not here yet.

Our souls feel their worth, and they do not feel their worth yet.

All of this is what we think about during Advent. This is the song that we sing. Christ has come, and Christ will come again. We re-live the anticipation felt by the ancient Hebrews in the centuries leading up to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. We spend time in the Prophets, and listening to John the Baptist preach repentance as the way of preparing for Jesus. We wait, with ancient Israel, for our Messiah. But in our re-living of this anticipation, we also truly anticipate ourselves.

We, like the Hebrews, have crossed through the waters of the Red Sea and into our salvation.

We, like the Hebrews, celebrate Christ our Passover lamb in the Lord’s Supper.

And we, like the Hebrews, are anticipating a day when the good King returns to set things completely right.

Advent is for everyone. Its message is one that we all need to hear.

But for those of us in the academic world, I think Advent has something special to offer us, especially during this time of year when grades are being earned and given, celebrated and lamented.

Advent helps the soul feel its worth.

Our world is full of claims about what gives us worth, what makes us valuable.

We think our soul has worth because we excel in academics, fine arts, or athletics,

“Until He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.”

We think our soul has worth because we are in a relationship,

“Until He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.”

We think our soul loses its worth when we fail,

“Until He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.”

We think our soul loses its worth when we are alone,

“Until He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.”

He has appeared, and your soul has worth, despite how it seems.

He will appear, and you will finally see the soul’s worth.