COUNTERCULTURAL ADVENT ACTIVITIES: WAITING

The Rev. Charles Hoffacker

The Advent Season invites us to swim upstream in several respects. One way is that it summons us to wait. We wait for the final coming of Christ. We wait for a birth in a Bethlehem stable. Our society, on the other hand, does not want us to wait. It cultivates our impatience.

Some experiences of waiting are unavoidable and bring with them a blessing. In these instances we do not wait alone, whatever our circumstances. We wait with God. We wait with the saints. If God and the saints wait for the opportune time, should we expect to be exempt from doing so?

This holy waiting teaches us something. It reminds us that we are not in charge. It reminds us that God is working out God’s purposes, though we do not know how and can hardly imagine how. Waiting with God and the saints develops countercultural patience in us.

What is that? A refusal to accept whatever in the world obstructs the
purposes of God, together with an ability to welcome God’s arrival at any moment.

Dare to hope. And dare to wait.