Advent is a time of gift, during which we not only conform our lives to the posture of waiting, but also learn more about how to wait.
Waiting is something we just do, usually. During this time of our lives, affected as we are by the pandemic we cannot ignore, even waiting has changed in many places. Fewer people can wait in any given space, so waiting is now something that requires more planning and patience. It might even require the use of a cell phone, so that we can wait somewhere else, before we are welcomed to wait in that closer space.
In the Scriptures this weekend, we hear the Letter of Peter proclaim that it is the new heavens and the new earth which we await, and Mark’s Gospel tells us that our posture in waiting must be as servants of justice, truth, and peace. No cell phone required, yet every aspect of our lives is invited!
Just as COVID-19 has forced us to take another look at things, actions, activities and freedoms through another lens, so God’s Word to us in these days leading to our celebrations of Christmas Joy offers us the lens of our call to holiness. And it is a call not to the rungs on a ladder of climbing levels of “success” but to a life of thoughtful, prayerful, sacrificial planning and action.
Where are the challenges of justice in my life? What are the challenges to truth in my life? What feeds the hunger in my belly for peace in my life?
When each of us approaches the grace-filled time of waiting with a willingness to wait differently A the Gift comes to us, not just to each of us, but to all of us because of each of us, and because of Christ.