Today we are only sharing a short reflection as this was mainly a service of Lessons and Carols. Have a very Merry Christmas!
Reflection: “The Waiting Periods”
In all honesty, I don’t feel very Christmas-y this year. Maybe it’s how fast the year has seemed to move. Maybe it’s all of the anxiety still going on in our world. Maybe it’s the uncertainty of fellowship and togetherness even as we continue in this pandemic, cause groups seem a lot more “people-y” than they did before. Maybe in my mid-30s it’s time to just resign myself to the fact that it’s just not going to feel that magical at Christmas.
I feel like I’ve done everything. I decorated a week early. I bought gifts for up to half my folks this year instead of stuffing money in cards from Dollar Tree. (You’ve done it, don’t judge.) I attended so many lessons and carols services—Presbyterian, Mercer, Messiah, Episcopalian, online—I could probably classify my Christmas experience as Presby-Methodo-Baptist-Episcoposterian. The point is I’ve tried, but the magic just isn’t there.
Then I came across this quote by Rich Villodas, “What God does in us as we wait is often much more important than what we are waiting for.” Maybe we need to embrace this idea of understanding the waiting period so that we’re not living this untruth of fake festivity. Maybe God’s best work in us is in these tough times of waiting for the miraculous, because truthfully, you cannot appreciate the miraculous if you don’t fully do the work of anticipation or waiting.
God spoke to Mary as she waited for her marriage and birth of Jesus. God spoke to her cousin Elizabeth before hers and Mary’s sons would be born. God spoke to Joseph as he waited to figure out what to do with his pregnant fiancé. God spoke to the people through John the Baptist as they waited for Jesus appeared on the scene. It’s in these waiting periods that God speaks to us and not necessarily when we reach the miraculous.
Waiting periods are hard. They are a space where anxiety, uncertainty, and impatience can find a home in our spirits, but if we embrace the wait, we can understand the miraculous even more. We read in Luke 2 that rather than rejoicing, proclaiming the good news, or anything else, Mary kept all these things she’d seen and heard and pondered them in her heart. Maybe the magic isn’t so much in the festivities of the season. Maybe instead it’s found in what we ponder in our heart as we wait for God to speak to us. God and sinner reconciled, Prince of Peace, Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love, have we pondered in hearts what these things mean to us?
The full magic of the season may not have hit yet, and for many of us, the honest truth is it may not have for years. But maybe instead of going full-on Christmas, we can back up a bit and begin to wait with hearts open to listening, spirits softened enough for hearing. I promise that when we are ready, like Mary we will have plenty of things to ponder in our hearts. Instead of shouting Merry Christmas to you like you walked into a giant retail store, I’m going to leave you with a different wish. As you pause and wait this Advent, may the wisdom, the love, and presence of God overwhelm you so that your heart is filled with Good News you can ponder upon.
Worship Video: https://fb.watch/9-frZrsOpz/