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“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19).
The prophet is speaking to people living far away from the places they’ve called home, places they’ve been forced to leave. They long for the long-lost comfort and safety and are praying for a return. God tells them that even while they grieve what they’ve lost, they can have hope for something new.
Newness is something I’m holding onto this Advent. Theologically, we are searching for ways that God’s love continues to break into the world in new ways. More personally, I’m looking for new energy, new opportunities for justice in my community, and new stories of peace in war-torn regions of the world.
Perhaps Advent can be a time when we accept that we cannot control everything that happens in our lives. It can be a time when we open our eyes to the different ways God pops up in the world around us. It can be a time when we pray for newness and perceive glimpses of new things appearing around us.
This message is excerpted from “New” by Josh Kestner in the December 2023 Café online magazine. Today is the Third Sunday of Advent. Today we commemorate John of the Cross, renewer of the church, 1591.