What are you looking forward to?

The countdown to Christmas 2010 is in its final days. Advent is a season of anticipation, when believers reflect on the sign of Immanuel given by the Lord about 2,750 years ago! “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign” Isaiah told the king, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, ESV). This is not what King Ahaz was expecting. In that day the national threat level was elevated from yellow to orange as Jerusalem faced the threat of invasion by foreign powers. The people were terrified and the king schemed for a political solution. So the announcement of the birth of a child was not exactly what the king was looking for. God is gracious, however, and if the king missed the significance of the name of this child—Immanuel, “God with us”—Isaiah was there to explain that this birth signaled the demise of the threat the nation was dreading (Isaiah 7:16).

For today’s Americans the threat level is also elevated, and the Church season of Advent is oddly mirrored by a different sort of anticipation in the shopping malls and online. As I write this, Chris and I are awaiting our departure from the Indianapolis airport. This morning we locked-up and left behind the home where we have lived comfortably for the past 15½ years. The specially-equipped van Chris has used to get around in for the past 8 years is also locked-up and parked in the driveway, awaiting its next owner. Our final days in Upland have been marked by friends and loved ones asking some version of the same question: “what do you anticipate you will do in Los Angeles?” While we can (thankfully) offer some specifics—teaching classes with The Urban Ministry Institute, supporting the ministry of the Los Angeles Christian School and local church plants, mentoring, being involved in prayer ministry, etc.—more broadly we anticipate God’s work of building the kingdom, and look for indications of what the Lord is doing in the city. If God is for us, and Immanuel is with us, who can successfully oppose us? (Romans 8:31).