Waiting

At this time of year Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus over 2000 years ago. The story has been told many times, acted out in countless Christmas pageants, and listened to on Christmas Day in churches everywhere. It is an event the world waited a long time for. The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures foretold the coming of a Savior, one who would bring an era of peace and prosperity to God’s people, indeed to all people.

It is with this personal sense of waiting that the Church entered into the season of Advent four weeks ago. In a way, the world has been waiting for thousands of years for the event we celebrate in the coming week–the birth of Christ.

During this past Advent I asked myself just what it is that we’re waiting for. After all, Jesus has already been born, lived, died, and rose on Easter Sunday. Is it simply another birthday we’re celebrating today? Is that all it is?

Then it occurred to me that perhaps we’re not the ones doing the waiting. Maybe God is waiting for us. Maybe God is giving us a wake-up call to our true nature. The shepherds in the fields were not expecting anything special that evening they heard of the birth of Jesus. It was the light of God’s glory that shined around them that opened their eyes. May you have a light-filled and joyous Christmas!