Learning to Wait: The Gift of Advent

The Art of Waiting

I've got something really special to show you. It's a gift for someone from some travels I've been doing lately — but I'm not going to show you just yet. You're going to have to wait.

How does waiting make you feel? Do you like it? Is it fun building up the suspense and wondering? Or maybe it's boring or frustrating. Maybe you'd just fast forward to the end to get there quicker because you can't wait any longer.

Let's be honest — we're not very good at waiting. We have on-demand streaming services, breaking news on our social media feeds all the time, and instant access to food delivery, goods delivery, all of the things. It's not that going fast is something new. It's just that the digital age has taken us to the next level, so we can get things even faster and get rid of waiting as much as possible.

But as the pace of our world increases, what's it doing to us? To our ability to slow down and listen and pay attention?

Advent: A Time of Hopeful Waiting

This Sunday marks the first Sunday of Advent — a time of hopeful waiting for a big event: Christmas. And we're not just waiting for our presents. We're also preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus, who the prophet Isaiah spoke of as Emmanuel — God with us, the Prince of Peace.

As we wait, it's a time to learn more about what God is on about — becoming fully human and being born as a tiny baby. This is super strange stuff, but important and life-changing stuff.

A Vision of Peace

The prophet Isaiah talks about people coming together to learn God's ways and turning away from war, becoming peacemakers. That's a pretty awesome vision of the future that we can all participate in, hope for, and work towards.

And it starts with Advent — learning each week about a part of the story of Christmas and exploring what it means so that we can respond. That's the invitation for us.

Unwrapping the Gift

So what was in my package? A football scarf from Liverpool Football Club and a Journey Journal from the Beatles Museum. I really hope they like it. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

And that's the beauty of Advent, isn't it? The waiting itself is part of the gift. As we journey through these weeks together, may we slow down enough to listen, to learn, and to prepare our hearts for the One who came as a tiny baby to bring peace to the world.