Good morning!  Happy birthday to my baby bro Colin!  Today is the big 2-0! yay!
 
Today’s Readings: Psalm 130, Isaiah 7:10-25, Luke 22: 14-20

Everytime I open my email someone is sending me the youtube video about the Hallelujah Chorus in the middle of a mall.  Have you seen that one?  If not, I will post it at the end.  Some people are posting it as “Random Acts of Culture.”  And the video really is quite beautiful.  There is typical holiday shopping going on and all of a sudden people from all over burst into song…the Hallelujah chorus.  As I sit here, I wonder why so many people love this video and feel compelled to pass it on.

This is not the first time a video has gone viral, especiallly random acts going on in some public setting.  Remember Improv Everywhere seeking for Rob?  They have videos on food court musicals and random dance scenes.  Or how about random dance scenes?  One of my favorite videos was a recent one from a friend who took part in Indian dancing in the middle of the OSU quad for a specific event.  Loved it! 

But why do we love these moments of surprise and newness? We are delighted when things happen and multiple people take part.  All around us we feel as though community is happening and we are part of something much much bigger.  We are part of a movement.  We have been let in on the grand secret.  This doesn’t change if we are part of the dance routine or if we are the observer.  We are delighted when it happens and long to be a part of something else.  We want to burst into song or dance too.  Did I hit it even close?

Isaiah knew this to be true.  He prophesies about a coming one, God with us.  We are let in on the secret but the surprise is still to come.  While Isaiah talks about a mighty Messiah, God intends to surprise us in the midst of the everyday with a different kind of Messiah.  Advent is all about waiting for just that surprise.  We wait and wait and wait…but for what?  What do we expect to happen? That’s part of the grand surprise and the grand movement.  And when the moment comes, in the still of night and darkness we can choose to join the silence of the night to worship.  That is the greatest movement of all. 

So sing with great joy…in the middle of malls, in the street, in the silence of your devotions.  Dance as if you are waiting for the great surprise…with expectation and wonder.  Amen.

 Peace,

C

PS.  Please keep the Bixler family in your prayers…especially for Rod.  The struggles of sickness are so exhausting.