Hello,
We Lutherans, and many other Christians, do a strange thing this time of year. We wait.
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, a four-week season that proceeds the celebration of Christmas. During Advent we hear the good news of the coming of the Messiah, the one in whom God will make all things new, whom we profess to be Jesus. Interestingly enough, this good news is not only the good news of the promise of the Messiah to come in a past moment of history, in a Bethlehem manger, but also the Biblical promise of the Messiah to come into our lives every day, and when the days of this age are over, for the Messiah to come again in gathering glory. Advent means “coming”, and during the four weeks of Advent we turn our attention to doing something that most folks in our culture are not very good at doing, waiting.
But waiting is an important skill to develop, because even in our world of general instant gratification, there are still times that we find ourselves waiting. Small and insignificant times, like at the grocery store behind someone in the checkout line who wants to check each of the cashier’s pricings, then wants to go over the receipt, and then pays with a check that they fill out in snail paced care, and then wants some of their stuff re-bagged according to the shelves that are in the pantry. (Ugh!) And then there are those times when waiting is huge and time plods along with torturous delay. Like when someone you love has collapsed at home and you await the ambulance. Or like when a medical test is taken, and you await the results. Or like when an accident happens, and you wonder if your child was involved and is ok.
Even today, we find ourselves waiting. So, we Christians practice the art of waiting during these four weeks of Advent. During these weeks we hone up on our waiting skills. We hone up on keeping vigilant for that for which we wait. It is all too easy to get distracted by the things going on around us that we can either forget that for which we wait, or we can give up on it. So, we practice keeping our eyes on Jesus. Another thing we practice is housecleaning. Waiting affords a chance for preparation for that for which we await, and so we take the time to spruce up our lives for the arrival of one in our lives whose prominence is unmatched in the universe. And we spend our time developing our patience, patience that comes from unshatterable hope, the hope that comes with Jesus.
Of course, the culture around us, especially in these weeks leading up to Christmas, fights against waiting. Decorations go up in early November. Stores play “Christmas” (quotes to indicate that many of the songs that we hear during this time of the year have little to do with the advent of Christ) songs as shoppers fill their stores. Even in churches, people come up to me during these weeks and say, “Pastor, can’t we sing some Christmas carols?” We live in a culture that doesn’t like to wait.
Fact of the matter is that the pews of churches would be fuller during these four weeks of Advent if we went along with the flow of the world and reveled in immediately gratifying our desire for Christmas, but many churches work hard to uphold the practice of waiting. And why? Waiting is part of life. Even today.
So, let me invite you to come and wait these next four weeks of Advent. When you come, you will see that the dominant color in the church during the season of Advent is blue. As you may or may not know, blue is he color of hope, the hope that one experiences when one awakens from sleep and sees a crystal blue sky. “Maybe this will be a good day!” Come and wait. Wait for Jesus, and I am sure that you will find that this will be something well worth becoming good at when you find yourself waiting….waiting for Jesus….in the small and in the huge things in life.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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