conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

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This is the article for the church newsletter for December. I thought I would share.

Waiting for God is a constant theme in scripture. If Christianity is a messianic movement, and I believe it is, then it is founded on the notion of waiting for God. Waiting is an inescapable part of our spiritual DNA. The Hebrews of the Scriptures were waiting for a messiah. And we are waiting for Jesus to return. We wait. There is no escaping it. Advent is the season when we get honest with ourselves and own up to the fact that we are still waiting...waiting for a little transformation in our hearts, our relationships, and in our world.

Advent is a curious discipline for a people to share. We will gather together this December, and for the first twenty-four days we will wait. We will sit together in worship and wait. We'll sing about waiting. We'll hear sermons about waiting. We may occasionally "misbehave" and sing about the Infant God in a manger before we celebrate his birth, but this liturgical acting out only highlights that we are waiting. And we are not always comfortable with it.

It's such a challenging season. Sometimes I find myself looking around at the world and the Chicago area and wondering if God is actually with us. Suffering abounds. But then Advent comes around and I am reminded that God is with us. That the promise of the manger is real. And the promise of the Coming God is fulfilled in Christ Jesus. So, what's with all the waiting?

We uphold waiting, enthrone it and give it birth this time of year. Can this be wise? I think it is. Advent paints a picture of not just what has been or what can be, but principally of what is. Advent is the most accurate liturgical portrait of what Christianity is all about. We are waiting for a present God. Humanity is somehow incomplete, our relationships unfinished, and our faith filled with doubt. Wisely our religion reminds us of this in Advent.

Someone reminded me recently that "the past is in the now." The past waiting, the time of Mary's pregnancy is now. So, too, is Jesus' birth and the joyful proclamation of angels. These two opposing dynamics are both present in this very moment. Every moment, every breath is filled with this potency. Every moment of life is the moment when waiting and arrival collide. Neither is entirely present or entirely true. And yet both are entirely present and entirely true. It's the great spiritual paradox, and the mystery of our faith. We wait. And we celebrate the arrival. The past is in the now.

We wait for a God who is already with us: Immanuel.

We are also waiting on ourselves. We are waiting for each and every one of us to respond to the announcement “For unto us a child is born!” So much of the world's violence is the product of our own free will. Systems, too, will oppress. History has weight and momentum. We don't always know where to begin as we try to solve the world's problems. We don't know where to begin as we try to solve our own problems and bring healing to our relationships.

But maybe, just maybe, this is what Advent is trying to teach us...that we are waiting on one another to respond to the angelic call. Are you ready to respond? For unto us a child is born. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting, The Prince of Peace.