December 5/Second Sunday of Advent
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. ~ Phil 1.6
The market for self-improvement in the United States is a robust one – workshops and seminars, personal coaching, and a proliferation of self-help books that alone bring in hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Such titles as Sustain Your Game: High Performance Keys to Manage Stress, Avoid Stagnation, and Beat Burnout, Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism, and even Poe for Your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History’s Least Likely Self-Help Guru all share the underlying premise that inner transformation is a matter of human agency. If we just embrace the life-changing magic of tidying up, or make our beds every morning, or give ourselves a daily high five in the mirror, we will fix what’s wrong inside. Paul, in his letter to the community in Philippi, sees it differently, rightly attributing the power of transformation to God alone. If we walk through our lives with God, forging what Paul calls a “partnership for the gospel,” God’s purpose for us will be fulfilled and the work that God began in us before we were “knit together in our mother’s womb,” as the psalmist says, will be completed. The 20th century German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew that we must trade our drive for self-improvement for a life of trust and prayer: “One must completely abandon any attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, or a converted sinner, or a churchman (a so-called priestly type!), a righteous man or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. . . In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God.” God gives us life, God sustains us in love, and God fulfills his purpose in us. Thanks, indeed, be to God.
Loving Lord, May I surrender myself to you, soul and body, so that the good work you have begun in me can be completed, according to your will. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120521.cfm
To hear the Hastings College Choir sing “Breathe on me, breath of God,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8avdudzdpQ
