Making Room for Advent

In a world of electronic downloads, fast food, push notifications, and instant coffee, the act of waiting can seem like a foreign concept. I am amazed at how quickly I get agitated waiting in line at the grocery store (behind *gasp* two people), waiting for the red light to change, or waiting for a website to load. It sometimes can feel like we just aren’t wired for waiting. So, I am fascinated that the Christian calendar doesn’t start with a joyous New Year celebration like our American calendar. It, instead, starts with Advent — with waiting.

We are not comfortable with that waiting – just look at the faces of people in the pews when those pesky advent hymns begin instead of singing our beloved Christmas carols. We want Christmas and we want it now! It is hard to live into that spirit of waiting when the world around us tells us that we can have Christmas every day starting on Black Friday (or before). But by the time Christmas rolls around, we are exhausted from Christmas – and we have missed the point.

Our world needs to practice waiting in darkness for the Christ child. We need to stop and rest awhile in the uncomfortable places of sadness, longing, and emptiness because Christ doesn’t break into a world filled with merriment. He breaks into a world of brokenness – a world that is longing, waiting, for a savior. And when we acknowledge that need and the emptiness in our lives today, the birth of a baby in Bethlehem takes on a whole new meaning.

The world is waiting. Our country is waiting. Our communities are waiting. Our churches are waiting. We are living in a time of advent. There is no time more perfect for Jesus to break into our world. Make room in your lives for the coming Christ.