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O Come Thou Dayspring bright!
Pour on our souls thy healing light;

Welcome to Day 2 of the Advent Calendar for 2022.  This is my experiment in building an interactive calendar to celebrate the season.

Today,  I want to focus on that sense of anticipation of the coming of the Savior. Musically, the great hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” really speaks to me about an innate sense of longing. I really believe that as creatures created to love and serve a Loving God that we carry a longing for God within us.

Take a listen to O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, published by Concordia Publishing House. It really captures for me this sense of the true focus of our longing. Enjoy!

So many people that I speak with express that they are missing “something” in their lives. The world is only too happy to help them define what is missing and sell us something to fill the void. I have been there. Many of us have spent time running like little gerbils in a wheel after the fulfillment promised by popular books, programs of personal improvement, and pop psychology.

We are told that getting a life coach, losing weight, increasing our Instagram followers, upgrading our fashion sense, FungShuiing our homes are The Secret to being happier and more complete. Instead of feeling happier, we feel harried. We’ve wasted time, energy, and money! The truth is there is no secret, hidden way to transform your inner life. The Way has been made clear in the coming of Christ.

He is the true focus of our longing; a longing that is really a calling out for God. The world can easily misdirect our search for fulfillment. But, that God-shaped space in our beings will never be satisfied by the world (through things, success, substances, Facebook Likes). It is a longing that can only be satisfied by Christ. O Come O Come Emmanuel!

+The Anglican Anchoress