Do you ever have times where you know, and understand, what is being said, but you are still filled with that squinty-eyed, “Wait, what?” kind of feeling? Well, Advent was always one of those times for me. I’d hear prayers, or read cards that said things like, “as we wait for Jesus’ birth,” or Revelation’s words of Jesus’ “coming again,” as well as the assertion that “Jesus is with us.” This past, future, present mash up was more than my mind wanted to handle. That’s why I was thrilled, years ago, when I stumbled on an article, “The Cure for ‘Spiritual Whiplash’ at Advent” by Amy Ekeh. In reading Ekeh’s article, I found that I wasn’t alone! Are you like us as well? Here are a few insights that might help in sorting out the time warp that is Advent:
- God has come: Advent allows us to enter into the spirit of waiting for Jesus’ birth, along with Mary. We know that God is not bound by time, and that Jesus, as part of the Trinity, has always been present, but Advent is a time of waiting and looking backwards to an actual historic event – Jesus’ birth. That is the moment that God came to dwell with us through the incarnation. Our waiting for Jesus to come again mirrors the waiting that Mary experienced in waiting for Jesus to be born.
- God is coming: During Advent we are also looking forward to the return of Jesus at “the end of the age” (Matt 28:20) with our fervent prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20). This looking to the future reminds us that “no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows” (Matt 24:36). That reality can give us a greater sense of urgency, creating a time to prepare for Jesus’ Second Coming through repentance. That’s why you’ll see more opportunities for Reconciliation services during Advent.
- God is present with us now: “Emmanuel!” Ekeh shares, “Henry David Thoreau wrote that ‘the meeting of two eternities, the past and future . . . is precisely the present moment.’ This insight is both wholly practical and profoundly spiritual. Our remembering and our anticipating both take place in the present. We only live in the now. This is where we encounter God.”
This combination of past, present and future are our repeating themes of the season, yet our true focus can only be on the here, and now. “LORD, you have probed me, you know me: you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. You sift through my travels and my rest; with all my ways you are familiar. Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all. Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me” (Ps 139:1-5). During this Advent season, may we recognize that God is with us, and that God knows and understands our needs and deepest desires. May we take this time of waiting to discern how we can repair or maintain our bond with God, so it can be as strong as that of our mother, Mary, and her Child.
