A YouTube Advent Calendar: November 28

Song of the day: "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M.

Your country lies desolate,
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
aliens devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
And daughter Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a shelter in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
If the LORD of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we would have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.

-      Isaiah 1

Advent begins with judgment. It begins with a realistic assessment of the state of our house—the House of Israel, the house of our souls. We sort through the junk, trying to cut back, trying to simplify, trying to make room for Christmas. Deep within us is a profound loneliness. We know we have failed at so many things.

But those failures have prepared us for something new. Our failures prove to us that we cannot, in the end, be self-reliant creatures.