do i wait here forever for you

do you ask me to

Jesus told them a parable about the need to pray always and not lose heart

~Luke 18:1

While the world is gearing up for a never-ending bender of shopping from Black Friday until the eve of December 24; the church is gearing up for that odd time of the year, Advent.

Advent, that season where we do something peculiar; we wait.

I don’t want you to be fooled, though, sisters and brothers. Our waiting is not just sitting back and whiling away the hours. No, in Advent we wait vigilantly. Jesus’ word at the end of the Gospel passage appointed for the first week of Advent describes our waiting perfectly: 

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)

Here’s the thing, during Advent we do not wait merely for the sake of waiting. No, in Advent we wait for something, for someone. In Advent we bump up against the odd Christian notion that life is not just “one damn thing after another.” 

And that’s what is really odd about our waiting. While the rest of the world goes on a shopping spree; we wait because we are expecting more than just the latest gadget, or a little blessed break from the nine-to-five. 

During Advent we wait because we are expecting someone, something. During Advent we wait because we are expecting the time when Jesus’ return will finally and fully complete the mission God begun at creation, reconciling all things.

That, finally, is what’s so hard about waiting, why Jesus had to warn us again and again to be ready. It’s easy to fall into the familiar routines, isn’t it? Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, make dinner, get ready for the next day, go to sleep, repeat. 

If that’s all we’re expecting then all there is, are the familiar routines; and the occasional, albeit rare, respites. 

We wait, because we have hope. In a world without hope, all we have to expect, is a little time-off from the daily grind and maybe some new thing. In a world without hope, there ultimately isn’t anything worth waiting for; everything comes pre-made and ready right out of the box.

During Advent, though, we hear that there is something, that there is someone worth waiting for; Jesus. That’s why we wait, that’s why we get ready. So we do not lose our hope. So we do not fall prey to the popular notion that there isn’t anything worth waiting for. 

During Advent we hear again the odd Christian claim, God is at work. Because that promise is true, we need to make ready.  During Advent we wait, we get ready.

We get ready, God is at work; and since that is true, anything is possible. 

During Advent we we wait. We wait for God.