And so we wait…

I’m starting to really fall in love with the Church calendar.  I used to like it because I thought it was a powerful symbol of unity that the church across the world was celebrating the same thing at the same time.  Though there is merit to that, I have also found incredible value in the Church calendar because it forces me to deal with aspects of our humanity that we are often too afraid to touch.

As we walk through the calendar, we are forced to face the realities of every emotion.  Through Lent, we are forced to lament and cry out to God for forgiveness.  We are brought to the pain and despair of the cross and the sacrifice of Christ.  And yet on Easter and the weeks following, we are called to rejoice despite the fact that this world has not yet been perfected.

And yesterday was the Sunday marking the beginning of Advent, one of the most beautiful times of the year.  It is during Advent that the Church around the world takes four weeks to anticipate Christmas.

Though this world is often so fast-paced, we are forced to wait.  We symbolically wait for Christ to be born, and we long simultaneously for Christ’s second returning, acknowledging that the world around us is broken.

Yesterday, I sat with a group of friends as we prayed for each other.  We prayed through sickness, suicide, and divorce.  We were all dealing with some immense pain, frustration, and weariness, and it is in this state that we cried out for Christ to come back.  We felt the emotions of Advent along with our brothers and sisters around the world.  We sat in those emotions and let them soak in.

We know that there is something wrong with the world.  We are entering a season right now where we all admit this together.  We share in the struggle. And in this struggle, we share one response.

We wait.

We wait for Christ to come.  We wait for this world to be made new.  We wait for a time to come when there will be no more sickness, pain, divorce, injustice, and sadness.  Though this world wants efficiency and wants it now, we wait.

So in this season, I invite you to join our brothers and sisters across the world.  Acknowledge the pain and our need for our world to be made new. Go to those deep, wounded places we are often afraid to touch.  And when you find yourself in the midst of it all… wait.