I am told that just before dawn,
there is a moment
when it is neither dawn nor night.
It is a blink after the dark
and a flash before the light.
It is promise of life held in an instant;
moving but not yet ours to see;
suspended between what was,
and what is yet to be.
We exist in this holy interregnum,
for the old is past, and behold a new day,
but not yet. Not yet.
In this moment between movements,
we strain and ache for the promised
joy that comes with the morning.
This is time between time,
a breath between days;
the rupture of epochs:
marking a border between the inauguration
and the consummation of all things.
Here, the Word whispers softly,
disturbing our sleep,
so that we might awaken
in the embrace of the Son,
whose life is the light
that illuminates the world.
This is the moment when all is quiet
before creation sings.
A stillness heard so deeply
it is barely heard at all.
It is advent,
the silence
between notes.
Behold!
This resource is part of the series God in Flesh – Reflections on Advent and Incarnation. Click Here to explore more resources from this series.
Trygve Johnson is the The Hinga Boersma Dean of the Chapel at Hope College in Holland, MI. He is an ordain minister in the RCA, and is the author of The Preacher as Liturgical Artist (Cascade Press, 2014). He holds a PhD from the University of St. Andrews and is a member of the St. Anselm Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
