Most of us spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting in traffic, waiting at airports, waiting through commercial breaks on Netflix. It makes me think Mark Twain was right when he quipped, “Good things come to those who wait – provided they don’t die in the meantime.”
Waiting is also at the heart of Advent. During the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, we wait for the birth of Jesus. Yet, Advent calls for a different sort of waiting than the waiting we do in everyday life. Two main differences are apparent.
First, we tend to think of waiting as something annoying that we have to get through or move past in order to reach the thing we really want – arriving home, making our flight, getting back to our favorite show. But in Scripture, waiting is neither prelude nor interruption. It’s the very process through which faith is formed.
Consider Israel’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Israel doesn’t have to wait to become God’s “treasured possession” when it arrives in the Promised Land. No – it’s there in the wilderness that Israel is enveloped in God’s belonging (Exodus 19:5-6). For Israel the wilderness is a classroom, a place of formation. In the wilderness – and in their waiting – Israel receives the law, is invited into covenant, is shaped by hardship and promise, and experiences God’s tangible, protective presence. Theologically, the 40 years of waiting and wandering is not a detour but a destination.
So it is with Advent. The good news of Jesus’ birth is not wrapped up like a present under a tree, there to be waited for until Christmas day. The good news is already upon us, breaking into our congregations and forming us in faith through the liturgies, hymns, prayers, and sermons we’ll share throughout Advent. Slow down, and try not to miss these holy moments of waiting.
Second, every day waiting is often very passive. We twiddle our thumbs or scroll on our phones in order to make the time go by faster. Advent waiting is anything but passive. The Latin root (advenire) that gives us the word Advent also gives us the word adventure. Advent calls for a type of waiting that is active and engaged, full of playful experimentation, replete with imagination, not adverse to risk, and willing to start more conversations by saying, “Wouldn’t it be great if…?”
Such advent(urous) waiting is evident in Luke’s Gospel. The run-up to Jesus’ birth is longer in this Gospel than any other, but no one is sitting back and waiting until the manger scene. Gabriel heralds the pregnancy, Mary prays, Zechariah prophesies, Elizabeth gives birth, Joseph and Mary travel, the shepherds keep watch, and the angels sing. For Luke, this sort of forward-leaning, imaginative, interactive response is the type of waiting that the birth of Jesus calls for.
This Advent, invite your congregation into a different type of waiting – one that is more attentive, more present, more participatory, and more attuned to the new thing God is giving birth to in your lives and communities.
Reflection questions:
- What would it look like for you and your congregation to wait differently this Advent season? How would it change your preaching? Where would your energy go? What would you stop being worried about?
- Think about something you are eagerly awaiting in this season of life. How might God use the waiting to shape you and your faith in a new way?
- Read Luke 1:1 – 2:14. Which story of active waiting resonates with you the most? Where do you see risk taking, participation, or creativity happening in the story?
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