A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the 2nd Advent

This year I’ve been thinking a lot about the grander scope of what advent means.

“Advent (from the Latin word adventus meaning "coming") is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.”

thanks Wiki wiki woo

It also describes our current here and everyday ‘now’.  We are in the time of waiting for Christ’s 2^nd advent, His second coming.

Hopefully for those who are followers of Jesus it is an expectant time characterized with both joy and longing.

Its easy for any of us to lose sight of this precisely because the wait is long and the arrival time completely unknown.

So when I ran across this video, I was struck with the thought that it serves as a great parable for how we Christians should live during this current advent.

A little background:

An AirTran plane is on the tarmac waiting while a maintenance check is performed.

The passengers are… waiting

They don’t know if it’s a 5 minute check or if it will keep them grounded for an hour or more.

Amongst the passengers a choir is seated, some clumped together, some next to non-choir people.

Beautiful.

During their wait, the choir sings a beautiful song of satisfaction found in Jesus.  It is not a song of coercion.  It is not a song of eloquent apologetics. It is not a song detailing a logical case that can be made. It is not a boastful song. It is a song of longing, and waiting.  A song of longing for the Savior who has so changed a life, that the singer can’t help but sing of how nothing else compares.

So as we wait on the tarmac…waiting, as we journey during this advent, let’s bring beauty to the wait.  Let’s sing of hope during the wait.  Let our lives be songs, whose movements and decisions and interactions are notes borne of love for our coming Savior.  


And maybe in so doing others who were not once part of the choir will consider joining the song.




My wife has a great airplane analogy in a similar but completely different vein that I hope she will one day blog.  

Where have all the doulos gone?

Ever heard the word “doulos” before?  In my experience not many people have.  And not only is the word unknown, but even when it is acknowledged it is quickly dismissed in the Western church. 
This happens too frequently in my own life, so what follows is for my own reminding as well.

Let me say that again, lest anyone think what follows is finger-pointing.

What I’m about to blog I need to hear as much if not more than anyone who may read this.

Since my thoughts became lengthy, I decided to split this over 3 posts.

PART I:  Doulos?

Doulos (δοῦλος): The term appears in the New Testament about 130 times, almost always in observance of the relationship Christians have to our God. 

In fact, the authors Paul, Peter, Jude, James and John each call himself the Lord’s ‘doulos’ at the outset of his letters.  (These are all the New Testament writers after the Gospels and Acts)

Jesus uses the term of His followers in the book of Revelation 10 times, and in both Psalm 40 and Hebrews 10 the prophecies given through the Spirit and spoken by David and Christ about the Christ indicate that He viewed Himself as a ‘doulos’ of God.

So what is a ‘doulos’?

The term hearkens back to Exodus 21:1-6

If you’re not familiar with the term, here’s a blurb I found in an online forum that was succinct:

“doulos and its cognates contains[sic] various nuances which range from what in English might be classified anything from a slave to a servant. When it is considered, for example, that a doulos was sometimes put in a position of responsibility over the affairs of the master's household, it is difficult to conceive of the person as a slave in the proper sense of the term.  OTOH [On the other hand], a doulos works without profit or thanks, so he is more akin to a slave in that sense.”

Even more helpful to me is this:

“doulos is a Greek word that means bondservant. In the New Testament times, it was not uncommon for a freed slave to voluntarily re-enter servitude to a master whom he loved. This servitude was called bondservice. Only a freed slave could be a bondservant and once he had chosen to become one, he could never be freed again. Neither could he be bought or sold, and he served his chosen master until death. When a man chose bondservice, he was taken to the front entrance of the house, and his right ear was laid against the doorpost. A nail was driven through his ear and a golden earring was placed in it. This golden earring was a symbol to all, of the servants choice and of his immunity to being made merchandise. Paul and Peter spoke of themselves as being bondservants to Christ. There is a service whose true name is freedom. (read I Peter 2:15-17; Luke 12:37)."

taken from Kemper Crabb's liner notes in the album The Vigil

The doulos recognizes the freedom he is given and the price for that freedom. In love, he willingly surrenders the rest of his life to his master’s service, and this service is not oppressive.  As Crabb so wonderfully says above – “there is a service whose true name is freedom.”

But what does it mean to be a “doulos” today? 
I’ll explore that over the next 2 posts:  The call to be counted as a doulos both externally and internally.


preview of part II: "...in America we want the easy ‘ticket to heaven.’  We want to live without the ‘bonds’ of ‘servitude.’  And we certainly don’t want anyone to suggest that the doulos mindset is a normal and expected part of our faith.  We want to hear a Gospel heavy on ‘grace alone’ – whose end effect is that we should do nothing in service to Christ, lest that be ‘legalism’ or ‘works salvation.’ "