Read Luke 21:25-36.
Advent is the season of anticipation and waiting. A four-week season of remembering and celebrating the arrival of Jesus on Earth. Waiting can be hard and produce anxiety, so we begin Advent with this passage. My partner’s grandmother told us a story years ago when we were visiting, recalling a time in her childhood growing up in North Carolina. Her eyesight was nearly gone, but you could see the scene in her voice as she recalled the feelings and things she was telling. She grew up poor, “we really did live on tobacco road!” She said laughing. Walking home from school, she and her siblings heard something they’d never heard. The sound swelled until they finally jumped from the road. They were shaking with fear and watched, hearing the roar as their imaginations told them the long black train they’d sung about in church was nearing! Finally, the machine came around the bend and their eyes saw an automobile; the first they’d ever seen! Of course, they’d heard of these new horseless carriages, having never experienced seeing one first hand. Fear turned to hope.
Passages like this can be used either way, to instill fear or display hope. As we enter into this season of Advent carrying fear and anxiety, we understand how the early Christian church felt. We believe, of course. But how long, O Lord? God is telling us to recognize that God is with us, to open our eyes and look next to us. Help each other, lift one another up while we live through this life. The time will come, sure enough. The challenge is to not miss the beauty of life around us now.
Pray
God, we pray we find hope even in fear and anxiety. Amen.
Mary Runyon
Campus Minister, United Campus Ministry (La Crosse, WI)
Words for Waiting 