Yes – it is a stretch of time when push becomes shove; when traffic is wall to wall, or mall to mall; when we are pressed hard. If it is a time of waiting, it is not a time of standing still. And, while there is a side of me wanting to say to you, “Linger – life goes so fast and we must go slowly,” I also sense in this self the press. If I am going to fit anything else in, it will require a shoehorn and some extra sugar for energy bursts. Doing more won’t work. I am more inclined to think about whittling, shaving off what may be unnecessary, DOING less, and asking myself, “What shall I BE in this time called Advent?”
I believe God asks me to be receptive. It is the time when God gives, and when I am asked to be open to what is coming toward me. God comes to be with me – in the fullness and the franticness of life, in the sounds of it – and the silences, in the pace and the peoples of it. I wonder if that doesn’t mean a need for me to be attentive – to be deliberately present in the moments of these days.
Might I be one who pays attention to the rich and varied ways God might present Himself to me now, leaning in to the spoken Word as it addresses me in worship, being lifted and moved by the sung Word as it comes to me in song, being drawn in response to the inviting Word as it comes at me in the garb of the needful, the lonely, the grief bearing ones of God’s world? Could I find ways and times to be silent, and be open to the Voice which speaks out of stillness and silence? Is it possible for me to be empty in order that God might fill me?
The world seems intent on making us DOERS right now. Fill your arms with gifts to give away, your calendar with events to be attended (albeit, sometimes half-heartedly), your list with chores to be completed. Truth is – we will listen to and comply with the world’s demands, in part at least. But, can we also recognize that center stage in the drama of this season is a God who invites us to stand empty-handed and open-hearted, and to be the ones who are gifted by love in mangered form?
Pastor George
