After awhile, you get tired of hoping. After months and years of waiting you begin to wonder if it is foolish to hold on. After trying and attempting so often to change things you can begin to wonder whether it is time to give up. How do we continue to hope when so few things change? Does it even make sense to keep waiting when so few signs of hope can be seen? Does it make sense to keep hoping even when our hopes are so often frustrated? Scripture tells us that it does.
The Scriptures today are both reassuring and a bit scary and what we find is an abrupt entrance into the season of Advent.
Jeremiah begins by inviting us to take ownership of our past and present weaknesses and to put hope in his message that God is coming to heal us, not based on our own goodness, but on the justice of God. What God has promised, God will do. And while this recalls the past actions of God, it does so not for the sake of nostalgia, but to help us look to the future with hope. The way things are now doesn't control how they will be.
The world Luke describes is falling apart, with cosmic signs and a warning to us: "Be vigilant at all times, pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man." This is quite the sober reminder, leaving little doubt that the master will unexpectedly break into our routine in the middle of the night when we least expect it, may be dozing off, or fully asleep. And our usual routine will be shattered when God enters our world.
Time has a spiraling dynamic that invites us to recall the past, live in the present and hope for a future beyond our understanding. Advent reminds us that while God has kissed the earth with his presence, much remains broken, unfulfilled and in darkness. We see plenty of evidence around us of the dark night. If we have learned anything during this year, it is that we need not be told how late, how long and how dark our wait has turned out to be. We need help just to protect us from the night so we can huddle together in mutual support and encouragement. We need the courage to keep the light of hope, love and service to neighbor aglow in us so we can face down the spirit of despair and continue to work in the night to be a beacon of hope to others.
But being vigilant, praying constantly and simply hoping is not nearly enough. The message of Advent is a call to action and responsibility. It is a call to grow in sensitivity and awareness and to take an active role in alleviating the pain and suffering in the world around us. Advent is indeed the season of expectation but it is also very much a season of the present moment, because God is already in our midst. God calls to us and continues to stay with us.
So why do we continue to wait in hope? "We wait for the Christ who, appearing in a rough feeding trough two millennia ago, slipped quietly into our world as the cosmic key to its transformation in love." - Richard R. Gaillardetz, While I Breathe, I Hope
