Advent Waiting

As we begin the season of Advent, Iain, Hope Nottingham's Support Manager thinks about waiting...

What are you like at waiting? Do you wait for things patiently and enjoy the 'journey'? Or do you get desperate for the waiting to be over - just wanting to get to the event, destination or date at the end?

As we start the season of Advent, waiting seems a topical subject. For many Advent is a countdown, a ticking off of days until 'the big day'. Many people open the doors on advent calendars each day counting down to Christmas Eve, and there seem to be constant reminders of how many shopping days there are left until Christmas. In my house, we've already had the usual discussions about hearing Christmas songs in the shops ("It's not even December!") or how early it is acceptable to put the Christmas tree up (I have a December birthday, so my vote is for after that - but I'm always outvoted!). It seems the countdown and waiting for Christmas gets underway well before Advent starts!

It's easy for this to feel a bit burdensome maybe. It can feel like we have got so much to do before Christmas - shopping to do, events to attend, family to visit, meals to plan and so on, that getting to Boxing Day becomes a goal in itself! Sometimes we aren't so much patiently waiting as frantically trying to get everything sorted in time, meeting our own and others expectations, before arriving, maybe a little exhausted at the end of December when we can have a rest!

But perhaps we need to change our perspective and stop seeing Advent as a countdown to Christmas, where the destination in December 25th. Christmas is only the start of the story - not the end. Advent is more like the period of excited murmuring as the orchestra tunes up and people take their seats before the curtain goes up, not the lead up to the final number in the finale. What if we choose to see Christmas Day not as the climax of the festive season, but rather the start of a new season of something better to come? That should change the way we wait in Advent. Not a frantic race to get everything sorted before a final deadline, but an excited anticipation of better things in store. Not a feeling of burden and expectations but one of peace and hope for the future.

These are the promises that God had made to those waiting for the first Christmas. For generations people had been waiting for the arrival of God's promised Messiah - the one who would save and redeem them. And yet the birth of Jesus, wasn't the end of the story of course, but rather the start of something new. A new baby and a new hope.

Advent therefore shouldn't just be a tick list of things to get done before the big day, or a wish list of nice things we'd like to do or receive, but rather a period where we can get excited about celebrating the arrival of real light, hope and joy coming to a broken world.

So whatever your advent season looks like, I hope you will experience a sense of waiting excitedly for something new, something special, something hope and joy filled to arrive.

The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9: v2 & 6