It was normally about this time of year that, when I was a kid, we would begin the countdown to the most awesome day of the year. Yes, Christmas was getting closer, and it was just about all we could do as kids to be patient for that wonderful day in which we would awake to find all sorts of wonderful things left under the Christmas tree in our living room. Patience for Christmas morning simply was not something that came very easily to my sister and me. It just could not get here soon enough! 

In the in between, we had Advent to consider. As kids, I am not sure that we understood the importance of the season of Advent as a time to prepare for the joy of Christmas morning. For us, it was more about rushing to get to Christmas because that was the day that we got to open presents. That said, we always had Advent practices in our home.

Of course, the Advent practice that we had as a family - opening the window for that day on the Advent calendar - was also another opportunity for my sister and me to argue over who got to open the window on a given day. Even though we knew that we had to take turns, we could always find a way to argue about it and ultimately get our parents involved in setting things straight on who got to open the window on the Advent calendar. 

The Advent calendar was one way for our parents to help us practice the waiting of Advent. It was a way for us to wait - however impatiently - for Christmas to arrive. And the waiting of Advent is an important practice for us as Christians. It is a time in which we are invited to wait and to know God more fully. The psalmist writes in today’s Psalm, “O tarry and await the Lord's pleasure; be strong, and he shall comfort your heart; *wait patiently for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:18)

The season of Advent is not a season of hurrying. Instead, it is a season of tarrying, of taking our time, and of awaiting the Lord’s pleasure. It is a time in which we are invited to dwell on the mystery of God’s love and the promises of justice that come through the readings of Advent. We are invited to listen for that still small voice in our daily lives and to prayerfully and patiently wait for the Lord. 

Waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises is not an easy thing for us to do - especially in the modern age in which we live. So much of life is delivered on demand for us - from television to movies to deliveries. Much of our lives have moved towards there being no wait for the things we desire, and it seems that we have forgotten what it might mean for us to desire something and have to wait for that same desire to be fulfilled. Thus, Advent is a season that cuts across the grain of modern day life. We are to wait, to tarry, and to be patient for the Lord. 

As we inch closer to the joy of Christmas, of a morning filled with good news and great joy, we are to wait, to tarry, and to see the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises in the waiting. Here, I am reminded of one of my favorite poems written by priest and poet R.S. Thomas in which he reminds us that meaning is found in our waiting.

Kneeling by R.S. Thomas

Moments of great calm,

Kneeling before an altar

Of wood in a stone church

In summer, waiting for the God   

To speak; the air a staircase   

For silence; the sun’s light   

Ringing me, as though I acted   

A great rôle. And the audiences   

Still; all that close throng

Of spirits waiting, as I,

For the message.

                         Prompt me, God;

But not yet. When I speak,   

Though it be you who speak   

Through me, something is lost.   

The meaning is in the waiting.

In Christ,

Hunter+

1. Thomas, R. S. "Kneeling by R. S. Thomas." Poetry Foundation. Accessed December 02, 2021. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48946/kneeling-56d22a97b5917.