WAITING: our Common Ache
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:24-26
Christmas is a celebration most people in the world are familiar with. The “Advent Season”, in contrast, is a less familiar and more often taken-for-granted time of the Christian year. Advent refers to the weeks leading up to Christmas Day – a time of expectancy and preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. For four Sundays before Christmas, we get to capture both the longing and the hope for the coming of our Savior!
We all experience all sorts of waiting … there’s waiting in line at the DMV; there’s waiting behind a dozen people with full shopping carts at the check-out line; there’s waiting for holiday traffic… then there’s waiting in anxiety for test results from the doctor; there’s waiting for your teenager to come home after curfew; or waiting for news regarding layoffs at work… All those kinds of waiting are awkward and often irksome!… But then, there’s “ADVENT WAITING” too!
Advent Waiting is waiting with joyful anticipation despite current adversity… it is waiting with hope – living hope – that Jesus offers relief for NOW without taking away the glory of WHAT IS TO COME! Advent Waiting is rejoicing “NOW” while hoping for the “NOT YET”… it empowers us to look forward while delighting in the present.
St. Paul talks about advent waiting this way: “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it” (Rom 8:24-25). The advantage we have is the knowledge and assurance that Jesus is at the end of all this waiting – what a reward we have in Him! He is the ultimate prize and the motivation for waiting. He is the author and finisher of Advent and the fulfillment of the hopes and joys of Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Pastor Vino & Sis. Maica Atienza
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