THE PREGNANT PAUSE OF ADVENT
Advent is derived from the Latin word adventus, means “a coming.”
In the busy days of the Christmas season, it seems Advent has become
more of ‘a coming and going' and rushing about than a pregnant pausing
to celebrate the birth of Him who is Divine Hope.
One
of the things that bothers me the most about this time of year, more
than the blatant and rampant consumerism, is the edgy “busy’ness” of it
all. Like hamsters on a treadmill going nowhere fast, we run from store
to store, party to party, event to event, never taking the time to
pause and reflect upon the momentous occasion of the true “Coming” that
this season is based upon.
Advent
was and is meant to be a time of pausing, a time of seeking the Great
Silence away from the rush and temptation of every little thing that
tugs at our attention.
Advent
is about taking the time to ‘stop’ time: to reflect upon the miracle of
the Infinite rending the veil of time, thereby making all that is
finite holy and sacred.
Advent
is a time of deepening spirituality. And rather than some highfalutin
concept, spirituality is more of a Velveteen Rabbit-like experience of
sensing God’s movement and Love in our lives in ever deepening ways,
especially when things seem darkest.
Advent
is also a specific “liturgical time” that is meant to provide us with a chronological
space for sensing God’s movement in our lives and in the world around
us. It is an intentional time of pausing to look for the Holy in all the
ways it is embodied around us. During Advent, we are reminded to allow
the Spirit to transform our lives into “living mangers” – places where
Christ can be born anew and afresh in us and in a world crying out for
Divine Love.
This
time of year is a time for seeking and seeing all the ways God comes to
us, in tenderness and smallness, in ways and places that we may not
normally look for God: places like a manger (an animal feeding trough to be
exact) or the distressing disguise of the homeless; or the numerous
people waiting in line at the soup kitchen, or the forgotten and lonely,
or those struggling with addictions, or the person next to us in line at
the checkout. All of these are moments God provides us to both see and be Christ to someone and at the same time, do it as unto Him..
In
these last days of Advent, may this be a time when God comes to each
and every one of us in deliberate ways, ways known only to us, special
ways that afford us the opportunity to renew our faith, and to discover the
depths and richness of God’s love and compassion for us individually and the world for which He gave His life on the Cross.
As we continue to journey on into the final days of Advent,
let us all pause...
and reflect...
and take time...
to recognize the Holy Presence that surrounds us.
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