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?