The Fourth Advent Candle

Sunday is the fourth of Advent and the final advent candle is lit.  Our hope has fulfillment.  Waiting turns into joy.  This was expressed very beautifully in Zechariah's words (Luke 1:68-79) as he rejoiced in the birth of his son John and looked forward to the birth of Mary's child, the Messiah that Israel had longed for for centuries.  His words recall the words of the prophets, the promises that reached their fulfillment in the Christ Child. 

There's a side of Christmas that we rarely reflect on because the season is joyous, the celebration so happy.  But it's the reason for the season.  It's sin.  And we see this in Zechariah's words, too.  The darkness and burden of our sins find their answer and solution in Jesus - Jesus on the cross and resurrected.  For many churches who follow the church calendar Christmas/Advent is the start that leads inevitably to Easter because that is the culmination of the birth.  Many churches save the trunk of the Christmas tree and use it as a cross for Easter.  Christmas makes no sense without Good Friday and Easter. 

The incarnation is the initiation of God's plan for redemption.  He comes to us when we cannot go to Him and He offers us His own Son, Jesus lays down His own life for our sakes.  That is the amazing grace and joy of Christmas.  Our light has come to turn our eternal mourning into eternal joy.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The oath which he swore to our father Abraham,
That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.