Doing my best to find my way.
I wonder how often we walk through our days with our head down.
Seeing where we are going, but not what is around us.
In these days which lead to Christmas we are to watch for that which is to be.
That which God dreams of and promises.
Which means we are to walk and to live and to pray with our head up and eyes wide open.
So we are ready to see and to recognize and to name the signs of the Promise when they appear.
Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath.
Listen.
Watch and wait for the coming on the One who has already come.
Maybe it is just me.
I am not a very patient waiter.
I tap my feet. I check my watch.
Why is it taking so long?
Most of my impatience is about the trivial.
Why is it taking so long to see the doctor?
Why is it taking so long to answer my call or to respond to my question?
With that type of waiting I need to learn to be more patient.
But I wonder…
With what I am waiting for now in these days which lead towards Christmas,
Maybe my impatience is okay.
What is so complicated about swords into plowshares?
What is so hard about treating others the way you would like to be treated?
Why can’t we see both the holy and the human in each other?
I can already hear logical responses to my questions, but this is not about logic.
It is about impatience.
And desperation.
And longing.
And hope.
It doesn’t have to be the way it is.
And I am waiting, impatiently, for it to be different.
And, doing what I can while I wait.
There was no time today.
Or, at least, I didn’t allow there to be time.
It was one task to the next.
One request to the next.
One interruption to the next.
Until…
Until, the day was done and I was exhausted.
Is that something of how Christmas comes?
Arriving in the midst of all our business and busyness.
There, but not noticed.
Not seen.
Until, out of the corner of my eye……
For Advent, in the congregation where I am the pastor, we have distributed a list of words, one for each day between December 1 and Christmas, and have encouraged those who are interested to take and send me a picture that expresses something of what that word means. In addition to whatever picture I might take, my plan/hope is to write a short reflection on that word. So, here goes.
It is one thing to watch for something specific.
Something you know or, at least, will know when you see it.
A shooting star.
The friend you are watching for in the station.
The street sign indicating where you are to turn.
But, Advent is not about that kind of watching.
Advent is about watching for that which is often not known or not easily recognized.
Advent is about waiting for God.
A God who, more often than not, comes in the unexpected moments.
A God who comes in the guise of the stranger.
A God who walks unnoticed among.
A God who comes as a kind word in the midst of the harshness of the day.
A God who comes as the headline which leaves us in tears.
A God who brushes up against our lives leaving behind a reminder that we are called to something more.
That is what Advent is about.
And, that kind of watching is hard.
