Tag: Advent

Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life. ~Simone Weil

Waiting

What are you waiting for?

The Christmas story, as told in the Gospel of Luke, does not begin with shepherds and wise men. It opens with a barren womb and a doubting priest. The birth story closes with a man glimpsing a long-awaited consolation, and a prophetess “of great age,” whose life was spent pleading for God to act.

Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon, Anna–waiting. Their eyes all turned in the same direction, their hands stretched toward the same flickering hope.

Every Christmas, nestled beneath the tinsel and brightly wrapped packages, looking over the shoulder of carolers and cheerful greetings, is the sobering reminder. We wait too.

The gift of waiting is God’s all-time best-selling gift. His favorite stocking stuffer, his traditional party favor. Some of us would be happy to exchange it.

Come Empty

Oh, my friend, come to the manger. Come empty-handed, carry no gifts for the Child. Instead,

bring your basket of longings,
your sleigh full of fears,
a platter of pleadings
and a wassail mug of tears.

It will be enough. For Advent does not mean we come with solutions or certainty. We watch for the One who has come and who will arrive.

• The name Zechariah means God remembers.
• The name Elizabeth means God’s promise.
• The name Simeon means God has heard.
• The name Anna means Grace, favor.

Notice how God had woven hope, assurance and a promise into their names, their identities, long before they knew they would need it? He has done the same for you. His love is imprinted on every cell of your being. And that’s why he makes you wait. Because while you are waiting, something is being born in you:

Trust

Henri Nouwen wrote, “To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our own imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according to God’s love and not according to our fear.”

Luke 1:5-25; Luke 2:21-40

On this first Sunday of Advent, does the waiting seem long?

 

Photograph of Mount Diablo by MC Hunt

 

 

 

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,  for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. ~Adolphe Adam

Some days the world feels old, crumbly around the edges.

Some years we feel discouraged, as every hope dies the minute it bursts into flame.

Some crowds leave us yearning for other faces, other places, other times.

Some moments we look in the mirror and wish a different set of features, a different kind of heart, stared back at us.

Sometimes, we wish we could “refresh” every page.

The calendar tell us, in January we start over. In August, the smell of sharpened pencils and musty gym lockers proclaim a new year. But the Christian church year begins with Advent. Because life is made new when Jesus comes.

New For Everyone

In his last and, many say, greatest novel, Fyodor Dostoyevsky introduces us to Father Zossima, teacher and spiritual advisor to Alyosha, the youngest of The Brothers Karamazov.

The setting? Imperial Russia, in crisis. Inflamed cries for human freedom, individual rights, and doubts about God swirled in the streets. The search was on for someone to blame for their economic and social misery.

Sound familiar?

When we find a nation in moral crisis, whose fault is it?. Zossima points the finger not at criminals, bad politicians, or a restless populace, but at the evil we all treasure in our hearts. Greed, selfishness, jealousy, resentment, lust, the desire for revenge, even indifference to need–we carry these with us, like a virus, wherever we go.

We are the moral crisis. Therefore, everyone is to blame.

This is the message of the gospel. Not, “those people are the problem,” not “those people need to change,” but that we all are badly in need of saving, to be made new. Not just once, but every day.

And Jesus has come to do just that. To open our eyes, re-shape our hearts, and make us new.

“And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love,” promises Father Zossima.

An Invitation

If this world seems vacant of hope, or you feel crushed by the demands of the season, I invite you to walk with me through Advent, and invite everyone to come along. We begin right here on Sunday.

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