Advent 23: Forgive me! ...

Monday, Dec 23, 2013. We are approaching Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the night begins in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus. So what to do now. What are our final preparation steps? Many of us still need to buy some Christmas presents. Others are still busy working, With reduced personnel we need to carry out a lot of work in hospitals and cliniques. What is the right way to approach this celebration?

Prepare a way …

I have been in a prayer session recently, thinking about the amazing power of God, the Lord. He made the universe. He made the planet we live on. Plants, animals and humans are his creation. His power is so large, that we are merely the smallest particle before him. But despite of this, we hear words like the following words:

3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Matthew 3,3)

We know that our might is extremely small. We are not even able to control our own heart, our own thoughts, our fears, our hopes. We are truely small, even the most wealthy of humans or the most intelligent men or women are nothing, compared to the beauty of nature and power of the Most High. But yet, he calls us to prepare his path!

What does he want? Repentence. Forgive! …

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God calls us to prepare a way for him. That refers to our own thoughts. It refers to the loging of our heart. It refers to our words. And it refers to our actions as well. But what does he want? Does he want us to build a road, a motorway? Does he want us to build a church, some building? Does he want us to wear particular clothing? No, that is not, what he wants.

John the Baptist was asking for repentence. He baptized people as a sign of repentence. He wanted their hearts to become clean. He wanted their mind to become pure. Forgiveness is in the center of this repentence.

So I think it is a appropriate step before Christmas, to forgive, and to ask for forgiveness. I have to forgive all the mess, which happened to me caused by others. And I have to ask for pardon myself. There are many things where I did not act correctly over the past 12 month. I did not do, what I should have done. There are various things which come to my mind immediately. And I had thoughts which were not good. I have said words which I should not have said. I ask God, to forgive me. And I ask you all, who had to suffer this from me, to forgive me. I will try to make it better in the future - with the help of the Lord. Please forgive me, and let us make a way for the Lord, such that his Holy Spirit can come and shape our path into the future! And then, let Christmas come. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts