Tag Archives: Advent

What Waiting Is Not

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Waiting may look like a passive activity, but I have news for you: waiting takes every fiber of my being. Waiting is not sitting around, lazily doing nothing. Waiting is the hard work of self-restraint. I may look serene to the casual observer who sees me motionless, apparently fixed in space and time, but I am no such thing. I am waiting on hyper-alert, expecting who-knows-what. That low-frequency hum you hear is me, waiting.

Waiting is not giving up control – how can I explain this? – it is not the abdication of responsibility that I always find so annoying in a “let go and let God” approach to life. Waiting is a conscious decision to trust God to keep his promises, even when there is no evidence to support that belief.

Waiting is faith.

Waiting is deciding to stop doing and start being.

Start being more aware.

Start being more compassionate.

Start being more humble.

Start being less anxious.

Start being less self-absorbed.

Start being less indifferent.

Waiting is knowing with certainty that what I offer to God will not come back empty.

Waiting is trusting God to let me know when it’s time to get out of the chair.

How do you wait for God? What keeps you from trusting him to do what he promises?

A week of hope – Advent I

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The waiting begins.

This first week of Advent might be focusing on “Hope” in your church. Different churches use different themes throughout the season of Advent. My first encounter with an Advent wreath labeled the four weekly candles as Prophets, Angels, Mary, Shepherds, so I thought these were The Official Advent Themes Which May Not Be Altered. Boy, was I wrong.

When some Protestant churches switched from three purple candles and one pink to four blue, I protested that this was just one more way to make churches invest in new paraments (those lovely tapestries that drape the sanctuary in symbols and colors of the liturgical year), spending money they didn’t have. Spending money on decorations instead of ministry. Boy, was I wrong.

But, let’s get back to hope. And to waiting. Have you ever considered how long the nation of Israel waited in hope for a Messiah? By the time angels started appearing to Mary and the shepherds, there had been no prophetic word in Israel for over 400 years. Yet, they waited, and they hoped.

They waited through the silence. They hoped in a promise that had been spoken centuries – centuries – before, a promise that had faded to a faint whisper by the time of its fulfillment, but a promise nonetheless. They waited. They hoped. And when the fulfillment of that promise appeared in their midst, many of them didn’t even recognize him. They thought Jesus couldn’t possibly be Messiah. Boy, were they wrong.

What are you waiting for, this Advent? What hopes whisper in your heart? What is keeping you from seeing God’s promise fulfilled in your life?

Ready, set, … wait!

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This is it. The last day of LIturgical Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary cycle. Happy New Year! Seems a little anti-climactic, doesn’t it?

That’s the point.

Now, we wait. We wait in hopeful expectation that Our Lord Jesus Christ will come again as he promised, to restore all things to God’s intended order. We wait in joyful anticipation that all the promises in the Bible are being fulfilled. Just as a baby born in a stable turned out to be the King of the Universe, so God takes our humble, meager selves and turns us into Children of God.

I love Advent. I think it is my favorite season of the church year. If your church tradition doesn’t celebrate this four weeks of waiting, you may not understand why it carries so much meaning, so much promise, so much hope. Maybe this little video will help get you into the groove of Advent. It was made last year, so the dates aren’t exactly right, but tomorrow is Day One of a new church year, and I hope you will celebrate it with me. Feel free to click around the Busted Halo website to find an Advent Calendar you can follow these next four weeks.first_week_of_advent_wreath

Mostly, let’s settle down together and wait. Let us prepare our hearts to worship God.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Anticipating the Anticipation

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I am not, by nature, a patient person. That is probably an understatement. When I was delivering my second son, the obstetrician asked at one point, “Are you even having a contraction, or are you just pushing?” I was too busy pushing to answer. Delaying gratification is not one of my strengths. So here we are, two days before Advent begins, and the anticipation is killing me.
Yet, I have been invited to wait. Not forced to wait, but invited to wait. I have no idea what this means.

I have been invited to wait. For me, waiting breeds frustration and anxiety.
I have been invited to wait. But I don’t really know what I’m waiting for.
Yet, I have been invited to wait.

Waiting requires a lot of trust in the One for whom I wait. My impatience is a sure sign that I’m really not trusting God to show up, to make himself known to me.
Yet, I have been invited to wait.

Will you wait with me? How is God asking you to meet him this Advent season?

 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him (Psalm 37:7)

 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:14)

 But for you, O Lord, do I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. (Psalm 38:15)

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope (Psalm 130:5)

 

 

 

Getting ready to get ready…

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Getting ready to get ready…

The O Antiphons are a set of medieval refrains originally used before and after the singing of the Magnificat (Mary’s song).  Each invokes the Messiah under a different title derived from the Old Testament.  This title is then amplified and followed by an appeal to “come” and save us in a particular way. Around the 12th century the antiphons were collected into a Latin verse hymn, which was later translated by John Mason Neale into the hymn we know as “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”  As you prepare your heart for the first Sunday in Advent, I invite you to ponder these verses:

O come, thou Wisdom from oh high, embracing all things far and nigh;
in strength and beauty come and stay;
teach us your will and guide our way.
Rejoice!  Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

How have you seen God’s wisdom at work in your life?

O Come, O come O Lord of might, As to your tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times you gave the law
In cloud, and majesty, and awe.
Rejoice!  Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

 How is God’s power evident in your life?

O Come, O Branch of Jesse, free your own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell your people save,
And give them vict’ry o’er the grave.
Rejoice!  Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

 Has death threatened you, or someone you love?

O Come, O Key of David, come, and open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice!  Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

When has heaven come near to you? How did you know?

 O Come, O Dayspring, come and cheer our presence by thine advent here.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadow put to flight.
Rejoice!  Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

 Where do you find joy?

 O Come, O King of Nations, come, O Cornerstone that binds in one:
Refresh the hearts that long for you;
Restore the broken, make us new.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

 How has the diverse beauty of God’s Kingdom become evident to you?

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

 As Advent approaches, how will you worship the Son of God?

Waiting to wait

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This week is a gift, and I hope I do not waste it. Usually, the first Sunday of Advent falls on the weekend when Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. The holiday feasting pushes Advent’s sense of expectation aside. Black Friday and Cyber Monday scream for our attention, drowning out the stillness of waiting that Advent brings. Honoring the beginning of Advent with festive worship becomes a challenge when most of the choir has traveled over the river and through the woods for the long weekend.

Not this year.

The beautifully long week between Christ the King and Advent One has no other holiday cluttering its rhythm. The shopping season kick-off has settled down to a dull roar, and there is time, sweet time. Time to plan for festive worship. Time to clean house and take out the Advent wreath without feeling exhausted already. Time to read the Word slowly, to listen for new revelations in old, familiar words. Time to grow expectant, waiting for the Waiting to begin.
The temptation is to use this “extra” week for catching up on unfinished business. I am resisting that temptation with all my might. I want to savor these moments at the end of the liturgical year. This week is the hour or so after all the guests have left the New Year’s Eve party that was Christ the King Sunday, when the dishes are done and the house is quiet. How will you spend it, this luxury of time?

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And now, a word from our sponsors…

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Maybe you have to be a Baby Boomer for that phrase to mean anything, but I remember television announcers from the late 1950s and early ’60s introducing commercials as if they were part of the program. There was a clear connection between what we were watching and the companies that paid for it with their advertising dollars. Today, we are so overwhelmed with advertising that it has taken on a life of its own, and “a word from our sponsors” has become product placement within the program itself.

I am boycotting Cyber Monday today, just as I dodged Black Friday a few days ago. I’m cleaning house instead, preparing for Advent with a good dose of dusting and vacuuming. I know I will buy Christmas gifts for my family sometime in the next few weeks, but it will not be according to some advertising executive’s schedule. Meanwhile, there is plenty to do to ready my heart for Christ, to make the way straight and the crooked plain in preparation for the day of the Lord’s coming.

Two women whose blogs I follow, and whose ideas inspire me, are Mary Hunt, the Everyday Cheapskate, and Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood. Both of these women posted great articles today, so I”m sharing the links with you here. They offer you some great options for getting through the next few weeks without breaking the bank, while making a difference in the lives of others.

Here is Rachel’s, and here is Mary’s. Read and enjoy! And please don’t feel guilty about taking advantage of great savings today on things you really want or need. Just remember that Jesus doesn’t really care how much you pay or how trendy your gift is. All Jesus wants for Christmas is you.