12/22/2023
As we enter the final few days of this Advent season, we share the following reflection from Rev. Dave Bennett, President of the Provincial Elders' Conference:
I confess….I cringed when I walked through the door. It was mid-October this year when I entered a big box hardware store in our area….and there they were -- Christmas trees of every size and color, as well as blow up decorations beyond the imagination and rows of blinking, dancing, and color-changing light strands. Despite my own sense of immediate repulsion, I’m pretty sure I was in the minority on this one. A young family was meandering through this forest of lit Christmas trees and they stopped at one of the tallest trees and looked up…..and took a moment to gaze upon the beautiful star on its very top. That’s when I heard the words from a tiny young girl say, “Mom…I just can’t wait….I can’t wait until Christmas finally gets here again!”
“I just can’t wait!” I was torn. There was a part of me that said, “It’s not yet time to wait….it’s only October!” Yet something stirred me about this young one’s words. “I just can’t wait!” She had already begun to watch….to prepare….to anticipate….to look forward to that sacred day. It would be easy to be skeptical and surmise that what she was anticipating had more to do more with sweets and gifts and shining decorations. Regardless, she had begun the “wait.” Maybe it was a few weeks early…or maybe not early at all. Advent had begun in her heart and there was a part of me that ended up feeling a little jealous.
We live in a day when it is no small act of labor to be hopeful. The horrific events happening daily in the Middle East, the reoccurring tragedies of gun violence and mass shootings, the natural tragedies from earthquake, fire, and flood can tax one’s ability to continue to search for hope, peace, love, and joy. Yet this sacred season of Advent is now upon us. We are those whose faith calls us to look above the seemingly impenetrable hopelessness, the warring times, the hate which divides, and the despair which consumes….and proclaim some quite simple words of faith. “I can’t wait!….I won’t wait!….for Emmanuel, truly knows no season!”
Consider these words from one who knew the struggles of Advent….
“Look up, you whose gaze is fixed on this earth, who are spellbound by the little events and changes on the face of the earth. Look up to these words, you who have turned away from heaven disappointed. Look up, you whose eyes are heavy with tears and who are heavy and who are crying over the fact that the earth has gracelessly torn us away. Look up, you who, burdened with guilt, cannot lift your eyes. Look up, your redemption is drawing near. Something different from what you see daily will happen. Just be aware, be watchful, wait just another short moment. Wait and something quite new will break over you: God will come.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is In the Manger
“I can’t wait…..Look up!” May such a small practice and discipline of Advent guide us…maybe even inspire us…in our own Advent journey.
