Recently we discussed the concept of something being a lack of rocket science, meaning it’s not all that complicated and thus not too difficult to understand. One societal attribute that isn’t rocket science is that we generally don’t like to wait; we don’t like to stand back, stay put and just patiently rest until we get what we want. We want what we want now.
Companies have crafted whole marketing strategies on such… we pay more for Amazon Prime to get more stuff faster… Fastsigns made the trait their namesake… and Domino’s Pizza literally used to offer the “30 minutes or less or it’s free” concept until they had one too many delivery car accidents. The reality is that we don’t like to wait for what we want.
That’s part of fascinating irony of the season we’re now in. Hear me here…
Hanukkah begins on Sunday, December 14th.
Christmas comes Thursday, December 25th.
And Three Kings’ Day (or Epiphany) falls into the new year on Tuesday, January 6th.
They are wonderful days and wonderful things to celebrate. And part of what makes them so wonderful is that we wait.
Steeped in ancient church tradition as part of the waiting is the current celebration of Advent. Originating in Europe in the 4th or 5th Century, Advent began as a season of heart preparation in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
To prepare this many days ahead of the holidays, the tradition encourages an active waiting… what is wise to do?… what can I work on? … what kinds of things are healthy to be stirring in my heart?…
Hence comes Advent…
There are four themes of these weeks: hope, peace, joy and love — obviously, good for us all regardless of where we are faith-wise…
Hope. Hope is that expectant waiting — that feeling of eagerly waiting for something to happen. It’s motivating and delightful; it so powerfully spurs people on. At Christmas, we acknowledge the waiting in need for a Savior, especially obvious in a broken world, full of chaos and heartache. For Christians, the expectation is two-fold, as we also wait for Jesus to return.
Peace. No doubt that broken world is a reality; just note all the discontent and crying out in the microcosm of social media. And while we may or may not personally be walking through a season of difficulty, we don’t always feel at peace. Yet part of what the historic scriptures teach us is that Jesus is our source of peace and is always available; we just have to look in his direction. It’s amazing how peace-giving that surrender of self can be.
Joy. There is so much to celebrate! But let’s be clear; joy is not simply a fleeting feeling of happiness. Joy is something deeper. Never-ending. My circumstances, hard as they may be, don’t have to eradicate the depth of what I feel inside. The calm. The peaceful jubilation. There is so much joy which is so obvious this season.
And love. There’s so much to say here. As we oft repeat, so much of the faith can be summed up in loving God and loving other people; that’s something we can all work on. (Who are we justifying not loving?) But the other thing that’s so key to the holidays is the focus not so much on us, on who we love and how we love, but rather, on just how incredibly much the great big God of the universe loves us. That’s immense. And cannot be overstated. Sitting with that may be my favorite seasonal activity.
Thus when I ponder all the things in my life — and all the things I never have to wait for — I find myself thankful that this Hanukkah and Christmas season, in the days before the holidays, we have opportunity to work on something deeper, something healthier, something more.
So grateful for the time.
So glad to have to wait.
Respectfully…
AR