Advent 12 - This Moment

            This Advent I have been rereading the words of Henri Nouwen about Advent waiting, and how counter cultural it is. Let me share some of his wisdom with you:

            “Waiting is not a very popular attitude. Waiting is not something that people think about with great sympathy. In fact, most people consider waiting a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, ‘Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don’t jut sit there and wait!’ For many people, waiting is an awful desert between where they are and where they want to go. And people do not like such a place. They want to get out of it by doing something.

            In our particular historical situation, waiting is even more difficult because we are so fearful. One of the most pervasive emotions in the atmosphere around us is fear. People are afraid – afraid of inner feelings, afraid of other people, and also afraid of the future. Fearful people have a hard time waiting, because when we are afraid we want to get away from where we are. But if we cannot flee, we may fight instead. Many of our destructive acts come from the fear that something harmful will be done to us. And if we take a broader perspective – that not only individuals but whole communities and nations might be afraid of being harmed – we can understand how hard it is to wait and how tempting to act. Here are the roots of a ‘first strike’ approach to others. People who live in a world of fear are more likely to make aggressive, hostile, destructive responses than people who are not so frightened. The more afraid we are, the harder waiting becomes. . . .

            It impresses me, therefore, that all of the figures who appear on the first pages of Luke’s Gospel are waiting. Zechariah and Elizabeth are waiting. Mary is waiting. Simeon and Anna, who were there at the temple when Jesus was brought in, are waiting. The whole opening scene of the good news is filled with waiting people And right at the beginning all those people in some way or another hear the words, ‘Do not be afraid. I have something good to say to you.’ . . .

            Waiting, as we see it in the people on the first pages of the Gospel, is waiting with a sense of promise. . . . We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more. . . .

            Those who are waiting are waiting very actively. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing. That’s the secret. The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has already been planted, that something has begun. Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment.”

I've been thinking that too often out of our fear, we rush in to act, when what it needed is to wait. Wait with a sense of purpose, of resolve, and openness to the work and will of God. Waiting helps us see where we are, so we are prepare to take the actions needed.

I do believe that this moment is the moment. That what we are waiting for has already begun. That a new thing is being born within us, new life, new possibilities perhaps in unexpected places -- places where things may have been barren and without hope. Things that bring us together, with a common purpose -- to give birth to this new holy thing God is doing through us. Like Mary and Elizabeth -- both unexpectedly pregnant, who come together to support each other in their active, growing waiting.

Like Mary and Elizabeth, let us join hands, stand in this moment, be awake to the possibilities and the new things God is doing in us and in our world, and actively wait together in hope.