A Special Christmas Message from President Moreno-Riaño
Each December, the quiet preparations of Advent disrupt our busy world as we begin a new Christmas season. We welcome Jesus Christ, who became the Word incarnate, and live in longing expectation for His return. As John writes, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
We live between two Advents — the bookends of history. We celebrate the first coming of Christ and look toward to His second coming as we prepare for the complete restoration that only He can bring to His beloved creation.
The bookends of history — the first and second coming of Christ — and everything in between are extraordinary moments. Nothing about Christ’s comings and life in between these is banal.
Christ’s extraordinary first coming brings moral clarity. To a world that champions doubt, skepticism, and agnosticism, Christ declares that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Christ’s declares that we can know — in head and in heart — that He is the answer to doubt, denial, and darkness.
Christ’s extraordinary second coming motivates moral purity. To a world whose hopelessness has motivated self-indulgence and decadence, Christ declares that He will appear a second time and that those who hope in Him and in His return “purify themselves, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). Christ declares that those who actually have the hope of Him and His return within them purify themselves in anticipation of seeing Him.
The extraordinary life in between Christ’s comings brings moral purpose. God’s directive to His people in Babylon to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile” and to “pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7) is vigorously reintroduced throughout the Gospels. The Sermon on the Mount, the Two Great Commands, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the New Command and countless other teachings direct Christ’s followers to seek the welfare of their cities and all around them. In short, to “occupy, until I come” (Luke 19:13).
The extraordinary life in between Christ’s comings brings moral anticipation. Living life fully in between the Advents of Christ brings the type of moral anticipation emphasized in Hebrews 11. Life with all of its beauty, brevity, and agonies indubitably leaves one unsatisfied and looking for more. To the discerning anticipator, Christ declares that He is preparing a place for us in heaven (John 14:1-3) and that this place is our true country (Greek: patria) and true city (Greek: polis) — (Hebrews 11:13-16). We are citizens of heaven even as we are citizen-pilgrims of earth.
Such truths are humbling, sobering, and energizing! During this holiday season, may we realize the extraordinary opportunities we each have to allow Christ’s first and second coming to transform our in-between lives in our nation and our university — Cornerstone.
As we celebrate this Christmas and look forward to celebrating Cornerstone’s 85th anniversary and America’s 250th Super Centennial, may the reality, goodness, and grandeur of Christ move us to rejoice and to occupy until He comes.
Merry Christmas!
Gerson Moreno-Riaño, Ph.D.
President
Cornerstone University
