Category: Advent

During the season of Advent we are reminded that the Jewish people had to wait for the coming of the Messiah.  Indeed, during the season of Advent we are drawn into the experience of their long years of waiting.  God makes his chosen people wait for the fulfilment of their longings.

Waiting is a holy thing, but it may not be an easy thing, or a popular thing.  Our contemporary culture has no time for waiting. It is an instant culture; instant food, instant coffee, instant communication.  We want everything now, immediately. This puts our contemporary culture at odds with the spiritual life.  The spiritual life is a process of waiting.  Spiritual growth does not happen overnight.  There are no microwave mystics, no instant saints.  Spiritual growth is a gradual process.   It takes time, a lot of time.  It involves patience and it involves perseverance.

We say that God’s ways are not our ways.  It is also true to say that God’s time is not our time.  In Advent we are being invited, like the Jewish people, to wait patiently on God to fulfil his plan for us, in us; for me, in me.  We see this spirit of waiting in John the Baptist, one of the great Advent figures. John sent messengers to Jesus to ask if he needs to continue to wait: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Luke 7:19).  Jesus assures John that he has to wait no longer.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  John’s waiting is over, and it has been rewarded.

Why God makes us wait for what is good for us is not easy to understand.  Perhaps it is one of those mysteries that we may just need to accept. What is true is that waiting increases our desire and kindles our longing.  It makes us grateful and helps us to appreciate what has been given to us.  It also deepens our trust in God and the deeper our trust in God the freer God is to work in us and through us.

Advent is a time of spiritual preparation for Christmas. One of the great Advent figures is John the Baptist. John was a prophet, and as a prophet he has some helpful things to teach us about how to prepare for Christmas.  Here are three all beginning with the letter S. 

John was single-minded. The focus of his life was Jesus.  He had come to prepare the way for Jesus and to point Jesus out when he came.  John let nothing distract him from centering his life on Jesus.  In the weeks leading up to Christmas there is a danger that we would get distracted, that we would forget that Jesus is the reason for the season.  We need to try our best to keep Jesus at the centre of our Christmas preparations and celebrations.  If we don’t, Christmas may leave us with a sense of disappointment and perhaps even emptiness. 

We are told that John the Baptist lived out in the desert.  He sought silence.  Silence helped John not only to reflect but, more importantly, to listen to his heart. In listening to his heart John knew he was listening to God.  Silence enabled John to experience solitude.  Solitude is finding the Presence of God within.  It is prayer experienced as friendship.  Like John we too need times of silence in our lives, especially in the weeks before Christmas.  How else can we glimpse the great wonder of God becoming human in a helpless, vulnerable child?  Without silence Christmas can be a superficial experience. 

John also lived a simple life.  The scriptures tell us that he wore a camel skin and ate locusts and wild honey.  There was no excess baggage, no clutter or waste in John’s life. His life was focused on the essentials.  John’s example is an important one for us who live in a consumerist culture, a consumerist culture that is in overdrive for months before Christmas.  It often feels as if the real religion at Christmas is shopping. Of course, it is a good thing at Christmas to give presents.  Gifts are an expression of our love and appreciation of others.  But there is so much needless spending and waste at Christmas.  Waste is offensive to the poor.  It also distracts us from the things that really matter – our relationships.  The investment we make in building relationships is much more important than our investment in material possessions.   

To prepare for Christmas John the Baptist’s message to us is clear: (1) Don’t forget that Jesus is the reason for the season, (2) Create a little time for silence and (3) Put relationships before possessions.