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Peace Lutheran Church

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Published on Monday, 28 November 2011 11:10
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This year during Advent, the word “restore” appears in three out of the four Psalms for worship:

  • Advent 1 (Nov 27): Psalm 80:3: “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”
  • Advent 2 (Dec 4): Psalm 85:1 “LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob”
  • Advent 3 (Dec 11): Psalm 126:1 “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.”
  • In Hebrew the word restore can mean to “turn back”, “bring back”, and “return”.  But it can also mean “turn away”, “repel”, or “withdraw”.  It’s interesting to me that one word can carry such opposite meanings.  I begin wondering if restoration is always a combination of turning towards and turning away at the very same time.  

Advent is a season for contemplating restoration.  In it, we watch for the fulfillment of God’s promise and for Christ to return.  But in the midst of calling out with the psalmist “restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved”; we also hear the voice of John the Baptist “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  The two are intertwined together: restoration and repentance.  After all you can’t be restored to something without also being restored from something; you can’t be lifted up without letting go of what holds you back.  

In my mind the image that the Psalmist conveys to me is that of a small child reaching up to be lifted and held by a parent; “restore us, O God . . .”  The child doesn’t look back, only forward to what they want, they see only the parent’s promise to draw them back up.  But I think we adults are not that simple.  We don’t just look forward to the hope and promise of restoration, but we also look back to what is left behind when we are restored.  Sometimes even though we cry for restoration, we are not entirely sure we want to leave behind that from which we are restored.  

In this Advent season we have the opportunity to reflect on our cry and God’s promise to restore us.  It is a reflection full of hope, anticipation, and expectation, but there must always be the undercurrent of repentance.