Thursday, December 5, 2024
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth
and thick darkness the peoples,
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together; they come to you; your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you;
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall be acceptable on my altar,
and I will glorify my glorious house.
~ Isaiah 60:1-7 (NRSVue)
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In our liturgical calendar, Advent is the period of prayerful preparation leading up to Christmas Day.
Advent is traditionally seen as a commemoration of the Incarnation, of God entering into this world in the person of Jesus, first as a tiny, helpless baby, but also as a penitential season preparing us for Christ’s return, sometimes called the Second Advent of Jesus. In either case, it is a season of waiting.
Which we’re terrible at.
Wait? Have you heard of one-click ordering? Wait? Do you know what my office sounds like when I’m getting on a video conference with people from multiple time zones, many of whom I’ve never met and may never meet, but will soon see and converse with, but first the window pops up: Updates are now downloading. Aiiiieeee! You mean I will have to WAIT a minute or two to do something that not all that long ago required a long car or train trip, perhaps a plane flight, a taxi to a conference center, checking in, then walking up to a meeting room? Instead of all that, I can do it NOW, unless I first have updates to download . . .
Waiting is not a spiritual practice much cultivated in the world we live in. Imagine the horror of going to the cereal aisle and seeing forty-eleven brands of breakfast snap-crackle-and-pop but not finding our preferred sugary discs? Someone will hear about this, now!
Advent says: or we could learn how to wait. To, if you will excuse the profanity against our modern era’s commercial divinities, learn how to defer gratification. Christmas will come soon enough, on the 25th, but first, we could just try to enter into the waiting as a good place to be, and not just a desert of unfulfilled wants we’re enduring, like the drive across Kansas (my apologies to the fine folk of that remarkably level state).
If we were to find the journey part of the joy of the destination, then waiting would not be something to be endured, but a part of the plan we embrace. One of the worship practice elements some churches observe in Advent I find both charming, and instructive: to start the first Sunday of Advent with an empty manger scene. Then to add over the next days and weeks the cow, the donkey, the sheep, shepherds of course, Mary and Joseph . . . Jesus, who will arrive in due time.
You can even spice up the period after Advent, between Christmas and Epiphany, with a Biblically appropriate slow roll of the Magi and their camels making their way in post-Christmas, culminating January 6th.
We all need to wait better. I think that’s spiritual counsel few would dispute. Advent is both a time, and a way, for us to work on that gift: to wait with God for fulfillment.
After all, God has been remarkably patient with us. The least we can do is return the favor. And learn how to wait better.
Rev. Jeff Gill,
Instructor, Phillips Theological Seminary
CMLT Program Granville, Ohio