The Hope of Advent: Day 3
The promise of God means God steps into time and space, igniting hope, stretching our imagination and faith, inviting us to see a future that is far greater than we would have dared to have imagine for ourselves.
God alone knows what to do and is able to do it. He wants us to rest in His promise, even if it seems impossible ...but we rarely do, which seems to be the second element of hope. True hope looks for something that is beyond us, and therefore always possesses some amount of mystery.
Consider the awe and doubt in these passages as people encountered the promises of God:
Genesis 15:2-3, 8
But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" ... "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." ... And Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of the land?"
Exodus 3:11, 13, 4:1, 10, 13
Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" ... "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'? ... "I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." ... "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
Luke 1: 11, 18
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah and said to him: “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John ... Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."
Luke 1: 29-34
The angel said to Mary: “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked, "since I am a virgin?"
John 14:4-5, 8, 22
Jesus said: If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" ... Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." ... Judas said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
Questions for Reflection: Do we believe the promises of God to His people? Do we wonder how? Do we believe He is mindful of and faithful to us personally?
Suggestions for Prayer: Confession of unbelief and profession of wonder and awe, both in response to God’s promises to His people and our own sense of God’s concern for the practical matters of our lives.
Lyrics for Contemplation:
(Sufjan Stevens, Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL)
God alone knows what to do and is able to do it. He wants us to rest in His promise, even if it seems impossible ...but we rarely do, which seems to be the second element of hope. True hope looks for something that is beyond us, and therefore always possesses some amount of mystery.
Consider the awe and doubt in these passages as people encountered the promises of God:
Genesis 15:2-3, 8
But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" ... "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." ... And Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of the land?"
Exodus 3:11, 13, 4:1, 10, 13
Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" ... "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'? ... "I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." ... "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
Luke 1: 11, 18
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah and said to him: “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John ... Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."
Luke 1: 29-34
The angel said to Mary: “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked, "since I am a virgin?"
John 14:4-5, 8, 22
Jesus said: If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" ... Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." ... Judas said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
Questions for Reflection: Do we believe the promises of God to His people? Do we wonder how? Do we believe He is mindful of and faithful to us personally?
Suggestions for Prayer: Confession of unbelief and profession of wonder and awe, both in response to God’s promises to His people and our own sense of God’s concern for the practical matters of our lives.
Lyrics for Contemplation:
(Sufjan Stevens, Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL)
When the revenant came down
We couldn't imagine what it was
In the spirit of three stars
The alien thing that took its form
Then to Lebanon
Oh, God
The flashing at night, the sirens grow and grow
Oh, history involved itself
Mysterious shade that took its form
Or what it was, incarnation
Three stars
Delivering signs and dusting from their eyes
We couldn't imagine what it was
In the spirit of three stars
The alien thing that took its form
Then to Lebanon
Oh, God
The flashing at night, the sirens grow and grow
Oh, history involved itself
Mysterious shade that took its form
Or what it was, incarnation
Three stars
Delivering signs and dusting from their eyes
posted by Will | 11:12 AM
5 Comments:
Seriously, no takes on the lyrics. It's a bit cryptic, I know, but worth the work. Perhaps I should get us started.
First of all, this song appears on an album that is about the state of Illinois. The songs are about the state's history, geography, famous people, etc ... on the surface at least. Often Sufjan correlates these tangible stories to spiritual concepts.
With that in mind, you have a UFO sighting near Highland, IL and Sufjan begins his work.
I'll say on the front end that I think Sufjan is comparing the UFO sighting to what it must have seemed like to receive Jesus into our world, alien as he was from sinful humanity.
A revenant is "a person who returns after death" (Jesus). We had no grid for him, in the way one would not know what to do with a UFO ... you could simply behold Him (John 1).
"Three stars" still has me stumped ... three wise men, three lights of creation, ?
Lebanon is the northern boundary of the promise land. Don't know what that means, though.
"The flashing at night and the sirens grow and grow" ... the building anticipation of the "alien thing" coming.
"History involved itself" is a cool line, whatever it means ... perhaps that God, the author of history, involved himself in history in the incarnation, stepping into time and space. That seems to be the indication in the following lines.
"Delivering signs and dusting from their eyes" ... This is the sign that Jesus was the Messiah (Luke 7:22) ... the blind receive their sight ("dusting from their eyes"), the lame are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised ("Delivering signs").
In a nutshell: This mysterious incarnation, born of a virgin, taking on flesh ... is the Son of God!
we couldnt imagine what it was in the spirit of three stars...possibly we cant fathom how the trinity is three people in one?
Three stars still a mystery to me, but I do have a better grasp on the line "then to Lebanon" ... apparently there were three UFO sightings at that time. The first one near Highland, and then one in Lebanon. So in the most literal sense, Sufjan is singing about the UFO sightings. But the way it is sung, coupled with the following lines, give it the feeling of movement ... Highland, Lebanon ... where next Bethlehem? Oh, God, you are coming to earth!
Will, thanks for reminding us of the absurdity of Christmas, the incongruity of the Incarnation.
Great stuff.
I really like the dual physical/spiritual meaning that Sufjan writes into his songs (or at least that he writes in a way open enough for such interpretations).
The line that hits me is "we couldn't imagine what it was." In a historical sense, that's a great way of describing the unnerving wonderment that you would feel if you saw something as foreign as a UFO in the night sky. As it applies to the Advent of the Christ, that's a great way to describe the surprising way in which the savior of the world came.
People had been imagining for thousands of years what redemption would look like, to the point that for many it was hard to recognize the new born Hope when it came in an unimaginable (though not unprophesied) way - a baby in a barn.
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