The Distraction of Advent

Advent is a season of expectant anticipation.  A time to watch and see. To wait for what is promised to be done.  

This realization is in stark contrast to my general feelings about the Holiday season.  All year we may anticipate the season. But when it comes, I don’t feel like I am waiting for what is being accomplished.  I don’t feel like I am waiting at all.  

Many seasons come and go so quickly.  Here we are, 11 days into our advent season, and I feel as if I haven’t even made mental space to anticipate.  And as much as I would like to blame the hectic holiday season, I should admit that I have done few, if any, holiday things.  (We did pick out our pre-cut tree and have it delivered, so that accounts for 20 minutes of the season.)

This season feels full, not excessively busy, but full from sun up to bed time.  Most of it includes chasing a child and keeping up with the house like anyone else. But truth be told it felt that way in other seasons too.  The ones with final exams up to the middle of December. The ones with conferences to attend. The ones with weddings to plan. The ones without extra vacation days.  

Life is full.  It just is Sometimes it feels like we are so busy living that it is hard to wait in eager anticipation.  The present has enough demands of its own.

I wonder if that’s how the Jews felt.  Their wait for the Messiah was overrun by life.  By trying to get thru the day. By trying to maintain the religiosity they had built.  Or even just filling the waiting with other things, because waiting can feel so hard 

Is that why the only people at Jesus’s birth were the shepherds?  The ones with enough quiet in their day that to not be distracted from what was really happening.  Everyone else was busy about their business. Too caught up in maintaining to wait and see. To be at watch.

The beauty of it is that even though few took the time to notice the beautiful fulfillment of a long awaited promise.  Jesus spent another 33 years on earth getting people’s attention. And he left the Spirit for the thousands of years after that.  God sent His son to reclaim what had wandered away. He spilled his blood on those who were faithless, doubting enemies and made them friends. He invited them back to himself through the cross. 

So if today you feel distracted from the beauty of anticipation, remember that Jesus came to reclaim your attention.  Do not let guilt and shame distract you.  

But even so, it is not too late to be like simeon and Anna, who waited for the day they would see the Messiah.  Who rejoiced at His coming. Who did not give up the wait until the promise was fulfilled. 

Lord, give us eyes to see the star.  Give us ears to hear the angels chorus.  Give us feel to bring us in from the pasture.  And give us a voice to sing praise in the temple courts for the coming King.