The psalmist’s refrain: “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved,” seems to me to be the theme of the Advent season. As we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as we await Christ’s coming in glory, we can trust that, as we read in our epistle lesson, “God is faithful,” that “God will strengthen [us] to the end” whenever, however that may be.

The Isaiah metaphor of potter and clay in our lesson from the Hebrew scriptures speaks to me of that faithfulness, of restoration, of sanctification. When the potter is working with the clay and discovers a flaw, an imperfection in the piece, the potter doesn’t throw it away. Rather the potter reworks the clay to bring it to the perfection envisioned for the piece. I see that as the transforming hand of God at work in our lives, bringing us to wholeness and holiness, restoring us to the likeness of God we were created to be. As Isaiah says, “We are all the work of [God’s] hand;”. . . “we are all God’s people.” None is left out, not one, no matter how far we may wander or even run away from the Divine, as Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep (Mt.18:12-14, Lk.15:3-7) assures us. It is the presence of God that saves us from our self-centered focus, the light of God’s countenance that illumines the way before us as we “wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Our gospel call is to “keep alert,. . . awake” always, of course, but especially in the Advent season, so that we are ready for the experience of the presence of God reaching out to us, enfolding us in Love. “About the day or the hour, no one knows,. . . only the Father.”