Waiting, Sleeping and Anticipating...Advent Thoughts

Advent is the season of waiting, and that's something that our culture no longer does well. We've become a fast food culture that doesn't like to wait for anything. When we are forced to wait, we don't respond very well. Just look at the behavior of shoppers on Black Friday to see how well we've learned to be patient and wait!

Personally, I've done a lot of waiting lately - waiting for job openings and interviews, waiting until I can see my YS friends again, waiting for phone calls and texts, waiting for family, waiting in lines, waiting in airports, waiting until I have a place of my own again, waiting to see how long I'll have to wait...

Earlier today, someone asked me about an Advent prayer practice I did with Tootsie Roll pops. When I started to explain the concept of waiting to get to the center, it struck me that maybe we have the wrong idea about Advent being a season of waiting.

This sparked thinking even more about waiting. I thought about the things that I do when I am forced to wait. I play on my computer, text or call people, read, think about new ways to help people connect with God, think about things that I still need to do, and sleep.

Which sparked another idea... "while you were sleeping." Jesus was born while the residents of Bethlehem slept. They missed the whole thing. The shepherds, who were paid to stay awake to watch over the sheep, were the only ones who heard the angels proclaiming the birth of the Messiah. The people had become so tired of waiting for the Messiah to arrive that they had fallen asleep. Jesus' disciples fell asleep while they sat up waiting for Jesus to pray before his arrest, and the arrest took place while the city of Jerusalem slept. Even the resurrection took place while most of the world was still sleeping. We've been waiting so long for Jesus to establish his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. I wonder if we've fallen asleep again and maybe missed some things along the way.

While we sleep, we miss the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of so many people. We sleep-walk past people on the street, people in our schools, people at work and people in our neighborhoods who so desperately need to experience the kingdom of God. We get so caught up in our own lives that we fail to do what we could to stop poverty and injustice. We roll over and ignore the alarms of prejudice. We become so comfortable in our sleep-living that we fail to love, and thus fail to advance the way of Jesus in any way, shape or form.

But what if Advent became a season of anticipation? What if it signified the promise that our waiting with hope and joy isn't for nothing? What if we anticipated the celebration of the birth of Christ through Advent? What if our preparations for Christmas were more about anticipating Jesus than Santa? What if we woke up from our sleeping to notice the people around us, and more importantly, loving the people around us? What if we worked to break the chains of injustice, poverty, and prejudice? What if, by our awakening from the slumber of shopping and scrambling to make preparations that won't last, we bring the anticipation and hope of the way of Jesus back into the season of Advent?

Why Can't Life Be More Like Living at a YS Convention?

I've just finished the last convention of this season. Last night at Compline in the Sanctuary I had this very emotional moment where I didn't want the convention to end. Compline with Communion typically signifies the end for me, and when Mike started to prepare communion, I was overwhelmed. At first I thought it was because life isn't exactly good for me right now at home, but I quickly realized that wasn't it. I simply didn't want to leave the amazing people who have become my YS family - those who know me, allow me to be me, and love me anyway.

On the way to the airport, I had a few conversations with people who were concerned about what they convention has become or what it might become. That got me thinking about why the NYWC is so special to people, and I decided that life would be better if we could all live like we were at a YS convention.

Why? It seems that we are just better at loving each other at convention...

1. We share at convention. We had a ladder that Michael and Mark needed. It didn't matter that it was a little bit of an inconvenience and required some adaptation of the prayer chapel. They needed it, we had it, we shared. We give away knowledge and share our experience. Whether it's supplies, carts, food or ideas... if we have something that someone else needs, we share. Think about what would happen in our communities and churches if we shared like that! And how would the world be different if we shared our resources and made sure everyone had what they needed?
2. We help and serve each other at convention. We needed help getting workshops set up and torn down. Michael, Mark and Kelly helped us; we helped them. Gary showed up and offered to help set up a workshop. David showed up and packed after the workshop. Kelly walked almost a mile to pop popcorn for my session. Steve fixed our broken speakers. Holly sent us extra people to pack. Even the security guard walked through the building with me, showing me around and giving Lilly directions to the docks, finding the right people to get us carts and take our stuff to our rooms. People hold doors, help push carts, carry things out of their way, volunteer for things they'd never do at home, and go the extra mile at convention. What would happen if we willingly served each other that way in real life?
3. We're present with each other at convention. We take time to sit down and talk with each other. More importantly, we listen to each other. We sit with each other and pray - really pray - as in speaking to AND listening to God together. We celebrate together, and we cry together. We notice when someone is struggling and journey with them. We learn things about each other that would never come up in the casual conversation in our churches, schools and workplaces. Even in the briefest encounters, we connect with each other. Long after we leave a conversation, we remember the person's name or situation. We think about them and pray for them long after the convention is over. Whether we stay in touch or not, these people have left an imprint on our lives, and all because we are present with each other in those few moments or days when we are together.
4. We challenge each other to be our true selves at convention. We spark each other's creativity. We point out things in each others' lives that are keeping us from doing what we were created to do. We help each other notice patterns and passions in our lives. We encourage each other to follow our hopes, our dreams, our calls. We recognize each others' gifts, and we dream about how we could come together to do amazing things to glorify Christ. What would happen if we did this in our churches? Instead of holding people down because of their age or gender or background, what if we celebrated who people are and helped them discover who they were created to be? What if we held each other accountable to being true to ourselves and true to our calls? What if we served each other as spiritual directors and spiritual companions?
5. We're not afraid to admit we need help at convention. We openly weep. We tell others all the things that we've screwed up. We beg people for ideas on how to be better. We admit that we don't have all the answers. We ask people to walk with us on the journey. We quit trying to do it all ourselves, quit trying to be superheroes, quit trying to pretend that we have it all together. In those moments of honesty, when we freely ask someone to help us, we allow those around us to serve us, to be blessed by being present to us, to be stretched themselves by walking with us. Why can't we stop pretending in our churches? Why are questions and cries for help so hard, so scorned and so scarce in our home communities?

Now, I'm not naive enough to think that if we lived in convention-land all the time, everything would be perfect - or even as good as it is in convention-land. I realize that people tend to be on their best behavior for this short period of time. I also realize that one of the reasons we act this way towards each other is because we understand each other better than those outside the world of youth ministry understand us. We are also out of our home environments, often away from the stress and strain of every day life. We feel freer to take the time to be present or to go out of our way to serve someone else because we don't have to rush off to take care of the family or another youth crisis.

But I still have to believe that real life would be better if we lived more like we do in convention-land. Somehow, it reminds me of another "land" - I think Jesus called it "the kingdom" - where people share and serve and listen and challenge and love in such a way that relationships (with self, with others, with God) are restored, what is broken is healed, what is damaged or destroyed is rebuilt. The hungry are fed, the sick are tended, the homeless are sheltered, the imprisoned are freed. To me, it sounds a lot like the kind of kingdom God intended, and the kind of worship, at least according to Isaiah and Jesus, that pleases and glorifies our Creator. In fact, I think this might even be what it means to be a follower of Jesus...