Poem: “The Coming of Christ in Our Midst” by: Dietrich Bonhoffer

 We are faced with a shocking reality: 

Jesus stands at the door and knocks, in complete reality. 

He asks you for help in the form of a beggar, 

in the form of a ruined human being in torn clothing. 

He confronts you in every person that you meet. 

He walks the earth as your neighbor, 

as the one through whom God calls you, 

speaks to you and makes demands on you. 

That is the greatest seriousness 

and the greatest blessedness 

of the Advent message.

It is not yet Christmas. 

But it is also not the great final Advent, 

the final coming of Christ.

Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate 

goes the longing for the final Advent, where it says: 

“Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). 

Advent is a time of waiting. 

Our whole life, however, is Advent – 

that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, 

for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, 

when all people are brothers and sisters 

and one rejoices in the words of the angels: 

“On earth peace to those on whom God’s favor rests.” 

Learn to wait, because he has promised to come. 

“I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20). 

We however call to him: 

“Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus.” 

Amen.