“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap;"
- Malachi 3:2
Advent Day 2
November 28, 2022
Everyday is a Little Christmas
Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas” is one of my all-time favorite Christmas carols. At first, it seems like the song is more about a season than it is about the birth of Jesus. The song hopes for freedom from war, bounty for all, and fearlessness among humankind. But if you listen to the song closely and read the lyrics, the relation of those “worldly” things to the divine birth of Christ is abundantly clear.
We await a warless world where everyone is equal, where hate is gone, and love prevails---not unlike our awaiting Jesus’s birth. In fact, both moments of waiting are intimately linked. Jesus is also the Prince of Peace, the Son of Righteousness who has come to end the waiting mentioned in the song.
Because Jesus was born, we need not wait anymore for Christmastime and all it represents. When we sing “veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail incarnate Deity,” we must remember that God is forever born in us. So, we can feel empowered to make the “someday” Stevie Wonder sings of today, every day.
Sister Dana Williams
Bethel 21 Historical Society
Prayer: God, help us to live up to your expectation of us so that we don’t long for Christmas but that we, instead, work every day to make manifest the world the season has come to represent.
Advent 2022
We invite you to join us during the Advent season as we reflect on the virtues of Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love; as we anticipate Christ's birth; and prepare our hearts to receive him.
Each day a new reflection with a scripture and prayer will be posted on the Metropolitan AME Church website and social media to encourage you as we prepare.
Read along with us each day or download the book to read and reflect along with us offline.