"Who am I?"
From his cell in Tegel prison during the winter of 1944 Dietrich Bonhoeffer penned this searing question in the stanzas of a poem. Opposition to the Nazi government in Germany reduced him to confront the core questions of his identity and faith. Beyond his ethnicity, nationality, politics, religious tradition, and social standing, who was he? In the end, he knew he was God's.
This fundamental question of our human existence echoes throughout the collect and lessons for the Second Sunday of Advent. Who are we, really? The answers that issue forth from our prayer and the scriptures are rather surprising. We are those in need of grace to hear the prophet's warnings and be prepared for salvation. We are those who await "a new heaven and a new earth" (2 Peter 3:13). We need to repent.
These are hard truths to be confronted with - particularly during this season when our society is ramping up for the "warm and fuzzy" feelings of holiday celebrations. During this second week of Advent, we in the church stand at "right angles" with our culture, and dare to listen to a call for repentance. We take a long, hard look at the question, "Who are we?" And we hear back that we need grace to heed the warnings of the prophets and forsake our "missing the mark" (hamartia).
And yet, that is not all that we encounter. We hear of a God who comes to us. A God who speaks tenderly, saying, "Comfort, O comfort my people." We hear of a shepherd-God who feeds his flock, gathers them into his arms, and gently leads us into the security of his presence (Isaiah 40:1-11). We learn of a God who is gracious, restores his people, forgives, and speaks peace to "those who turn their hearts to him" (Psalm 85:8). We encounter a God who sends his Son Jesus Christ as Good News for those who are sorely hindered by our sins (Mark 1:1-8).
Certainly, our circumstance is not as perilous as Bonhoeffer's. But the compounding pressures of our sinful world and broken humanity confront us nonetheless. We ask with him, "Who am I?" On this second week of Advent we hear we are those in need of a Saviour, who has and is to come. In the end, we are God's. In that truth alone we ask for the grace to greet with joy the coming of our Redeemer.
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Late have I loved you,
Beauty so ancient and so new,
late have I loved you!
Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you made I rushed headlong,
I misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things that would have not being were they not in you.
You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished you fragrance, I grasped,
and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.
- Saint Augustine, Confessions, X.27-28
The Bishop and Canons will offer a reflection each week during Advent and Christmas, t
