Advent Waiting

It is Advent and we are waiting. Waiting for the coming of our Saviour; waiting in anticipation and preparation for the coming festival; waiting for the Coming of our Lord to set all right again; waiting for the new heaven and the new earth. For we live in the time of now and not yet: the Kingdom has come, but has not yet been fulfilled.

Advent is the time of waiting, but also the time when we focus on our waiting, a waiting that is part of our spiritual lives all year round. Advent is the season when we concentrate on that waiting, but we should not assume that this season is the only time when we wait, the only time when we need prepare for the coming of our saviour. What does it mean to wait? Often it can mean boredom, irritation, as we wait for someone or something that we think should be here NOW! We can assume that waiting is something that we should not have to undergo. But that is to put a negative slant on waiting, and our advent waiting is more positive. It is about waiting for God’s time, so it is a patient waiting, a time to enjoy the preparation and anticipation of the future. I am not talking so much about the more secular aspects of Christmas, such as cards and wrapping paper, although I appreciate these need to be organised as well. I am talking about this time of preparation for the coming of our Lord, a time of preparation of ourselves and our churches. A time of seeing how much our focus really is on God and God’s word, and how much it is actually on ourselves and our own needs.

But how do we do this when there is so much to prepare? We do have all those more secular arrangements to put in place, we cannot just announce that we’re not celebrating that way this year; we do live in this current world, where Christmas is a major festival. Of course, that also brings along busyness for our churches. It’s all very well to talk of looking at where our church’s focus is, but how to find the time, when we have multiple carol services during Advent, and all those Christmas services to get ready for? The church may prefer to keep Advent as a time of preparation before the festival, but we live in a world where Christmas is celebrated mostly in advance of the 25th December, and, in the shops, from early November. How do we keep Advent as a time of waiting amidst all this? How do we truly prepare for God’s coming in a world which keeps this time of year so differently? However much we might want to, can we really find the time, without it being a hurried few minutes here and there?

We can always bring our waiting into our preparations; changing our focus from ourselves to God can happen however busy we are. Trying to spend time in God’s presence even when surrounded by the need to buy presents, food, prepare for yet another carol service; allowing God into that may well be part of our waiting. Waiting can be a still, silent activity, and it is important to spend some time in that stillness this Advent; but it can also be an active waiting; preparations finished because they need to be, but completed within God’s presence. How does this look like? That probably depends on your individual circumstances; possibly no more than an arrow prayer now and then, possibly something more. It may mean simply an inner attitude that we are waiting, and for whom it is that we are waiting. An attitude that cultivates an acknowledgement that this world is not perfect, and neither are we, which may bring a deeper awareness of what that means, and a longing and praying for the time to come when all will be made new. That time will come, however long we wait for it.

True waiting involves acceptance; it involves a living in the present moment, as far as we can; it involves a longing, a yearning for that which is to come. Waiting does not necessarily mean standing still and assuming nothing will change. Part of the joy of the Church’s year is the way it involves change, differences of focus, moving from fast to feast. True waiting anticipates, acknowledges change; change that is part of the waiting, but knows that what is next is a step on the way, not an arrival at the end. Yearning for what is to happen does not mean wishing it here any faster than it needs to come, but a deep longing that is turned into prayer and knows that the longing is part of the waiting.

Advent comes every year; an annual reminder of the time that is now and not yet. The dissonance with the worldly celebration of Christmas can be turned to prayer, a desire for the time when all will be made new, a knowing that we live in the time when our Saviour has come, but is not yet here. We can do nothing to speed that coming, just as we cannot bring Christmas any faster, however early we put our decorations up. But we can deepen our focus on God, we can allow some time this Advent to acknowledge the yearning that is in our hearts, and allow that yearning to deepen our presence to our God, and to continue over the coming year. We wait, but we do not stand still.