Fourth Monday of Advent: The Psalmist

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 

Show the light of your countenance 

80:1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 

80:2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us! 

80:3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. 

80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers? 

80:5 You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. 

80:6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves. 

80:7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. 

80:17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. 

80:18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. 

80:19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.  

The fourth week of Advent is when the iron bites. “Summon all your strength, O Lord, and come,” says the Roman liturgy. Which seems wrong. Xmas is only four days away. Xmas Eve is even sooner. Shouldn’t we summon all our strength for Xmas?

But that’s the world’s Christmas. Advent calendars carry the noun, but not the verb. They treat Advent as a 24 day anticipation tied to the world’s calendar, not the liturgical one. The days of Advent vary in number (is Xmas on Sunday? Or Saturday? Small changes make big differences.). But Advent calendars are always 24 days long. And always presentations of joyful anticipation.

The Advent season of the church is anticipation based on spiritual preparation. Gaudete was last week. That joy is replaced by a more realistic anticipation this fourth week. The joy of Gabriel’s Annunciation is replaced by the grim reality of the Holy Family’s journey to Bethlehem. Las Posadas, because the world will have its way. In Matthew, the birth goes unnoticed until the Magi show up on Herod’s doorstep, asking directions to the new king, a birth so significant they saw a new star in the sky, and discerned what it meant. Herod’s reaction is to order the death of every child 2 and under in and around Bethlehem. Herod’s Gregory Bovino is only to happy to oblige.

The last days of Advent force us to recognize, again, that the world is inextricably involved in our Advent stories. And we are inextricably involved in the world, for, despite all our preparations:

At the coming of the King of Heaven

All’s set at six and seven.

We wallow in our sin.

Christ cannot find a chamber in the inn.

We entertain him always like a stranger,

And, as at first, still lodge him in a manger.

No wonder the Psalmist’s cry is such a plaintive one. 

Stir up your might, and come to save us! 

80:3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. 

80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers? 

When Trump is determined to out-Herod Herod, this cry is our cry, too. And now we see (perhaps) what it’s doing in our Advent liturgy. What have we done to deserve Trump? Well, except ignore the widow and the orphan and the alien among us, because only a few of our ancestors were not aliens in this land. And those few we disregard almost entirely. What did we do wrong, except consider our own needs first, and think of what we hadn’t yet gained, and what we didn’t yet have, and pursue our self-interests just like the world told us to? Just like Israel and Judah did; and then came the Exile.

80:7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. 

80:17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. 

80:18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. 

80:19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.  

Yeah! Do that! Do that, and we promise never to turn back from you! Well, until this time next year…at least. Pinky swear. (Do we still get what we wanted for Christmas?🎄)

So, what is this Psalm doing in our Advent liturgy? ‘Tis a mystery….