A New Year Begins With Waiting...

 
And so the first day of a new year is upon us…

For the rest of the world, New Year’s Day is still a month away but for the Church, a new year dawns with the first day of Advent. Unlike the later observance of New Year’s, with its indulgence in celebration and preoccupation with making resolutions, the season of Advent heralds the new year by waiting. We begin a new cycle of time not by doing, not by resolving, not by celebrating but by waiting, by remembering, by anticipating.

We remember the story that gives us life and that gives life meaning. Even though we know the outcome of this story; there is still revelation and wonder to be shared in its unfolding. We anticipate the end even as we remember the beginning. Lighting a candle each week, we pause and wait for the return of the King even as we joyfully recall the miracle of his birth. We wait in the darkness without fear as we remember the blood, the pain and the suffering woven into the tapestry of the story of the Christ child. We wait in the darkness without fear because we anticipate the birth of hope, the arrival of the Light that is greater than the darkness. The new year is pregnant with possibility because the Word waits to be spoken yet again: Emmanuel, God with us.  

So are you waiting for Advent or hurrying towards Christmas?

Are you embracing the possibilities of a new season of time or spinning through an old cycle of habits and expectations?

Are we preparing for a holy day, the day we remember who was once born among us, the day we anticipate who will one day return or are we taking control of the holiday, planning and scheduling so much that we leave no space for waiting?

We begin a new year in the story of Advent, waiting with those who expected the coming of the Messiah. Together over the next few weeks we will wait with them in their patience, their humility, and their expectant hope. Together we will remember when new possibility broke into the cosmos as creation became a fitting vehicle for God's redemptive work, as God the Word became human in Jesus Christ.

Through prayer, worship, sacrament, and the signs and symbols of Advent, another year begins, the Gospel is proclaimed anew and the creation draws ever closer to its final redemption in Jesus Christ. As we remember what has been, let us also anticipate what will be, as we cry out “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”