Day 11 ** Bonus ** - Even So Come

"Even So Come" – co-written by Chris Tomlin, Jess Cates and Jason Ingram - captures something essential about the Christian attitude toward eternity — a longing that flows through every generation of believers. The song draws from the closing verses of Revelation, where the church cries out "Come, Lord Jesus," expressing both our deepest yearning and our ultimate hope. As Advent approaches, this anthem of anticipation resounds with particular power, inviting us to examine our own readiness for Christ's coming.

The song's structure mirrors the pattern of divine promise and human response that defines our faith. It speaks of all creation groaning, of tears that still fall, of a world still waiting for its redemption. This is no escapist spirituality that ignores present suffering. Instead, it acknowledges our current reality while refusing to let that reality have the final word. The repeated refrain becomes both prayer and declaration, “Even so come” — a recognition that our deepest need is for God's presence to break fully into our world.

Advent is the season of "already but not yet." We celebrate that Christ has come, born in Bethlehem's manger, yet we await his return in glory. This tension is precisely what "Even So Come" explores. The song doesn't let us settle comfortably into either triumphalism or despair. It holds both the ache of waiting and the certainty of hope in the same breath.

But here's the uncomfortable question the song raises as we enter this Advent season: Are we prepared? Not in the sense of having our spiritual checklists completed, but prepared in the deeper sense — do we actually want what we're praying for? Have we cultivated the kind of attentive, expectant hearts that recognise the Lord's coming in both its quiet and its catastrophic forms?

The danger of any Christian season is that it becomes routine. We light the candles, we sing the songs, we rehearse the story — and miss the radical disruption that Christ's coming represents. The One we await is not coming to affirm our comfortable arrangements but to make all things new. The birth we celebrate led to a life that upended every religious and political expectation. The return we long for will complete that transformation.

Perhaps "Even So Come" challenges us to examine what we're really longing for during Advent. Are we prepared for the bridegroom's arrival, or have we become so accustomed to the delay that we've stopped trimming our lamps? Do we truly ache for God's justice to roll down like waters, knowing it will wash away much we've built on sand? Are we ready for divine love to have its complete work in us?

Advent preparation isn't about achieving spiritual perfection. It's about honest self-examination, about recognising where we've grown comfortable with compromise, about reawakening desire for God himself rather than merely his gifts. As we sing songs of longing this season, may we mean them — may we truly desire His coming, with all the joy and upheaval that entails. The question remains: Even so, are we ready?

Neil Chappell