What are you waiting for?
Sometimes it feels as if I'm
always waiting for something - or someone. On one of my recent teaching
weekends in Florida, I was seated in a waiting area of the Fort Lauderdale
airport. Far across the room the sunrise was beginning to glow through the huge
windows. Framed in that tropical picture a portly, white-bearded gentleman
stood, opened a suitcase, and began to don a prayer shawl and other symbols. He
embarked on his morning devotions with gestures I don't yet understand. I
became a bit apprehensive; would someone crack an anti-Jewish remark? Glancing
around the room, I realized that this holy moment of about 20 minutes was going
unnoticed or was being ignored. I was very moved by the prayers I suspected he
was using, words of the Shema, which are part of my life, too: "Hear, 0
Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One; and you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might;" other
prayers to God as Creator of the Universe and Redeemer of His people - "Blessed
art thou, 0 God ....;" prayers of praise and thanksgiving and forgiveness;
prayers for health and material well-being; prayers facing toward the Holy
Land, home of the Jew who for you and me is God's Christ.
The mezuzah (a three
inch, tube-like object containing the Shema) given to me by Jewish
friends and hung at my front door in Bristol came to mind. Though we have our
differences, I felt a warm fellowship with this Orthodox rabbi; indeed through
his words and actions and symbols, I sensed a communion with the God we both
worship. There were no cruel comments forthcoming, no stares, no observable
discomforts among others waiting in the vicinity; maybe no one cared one way or
the other. Perhaps some felt a degree of judgment by the commitment and
priorities implied by prayer. Too busy anticipating the usual boarding call,
most passengers probably expected the usual rush to seats already reserved.
Preoccupied with their own inner busyness, they were oblivious to this Sacred
Moment between humanity and God. Just by chance, I had been watchful while
waiting, and I was blessed with a warming of my heart, a Message to my mind,
and an inspiration for my spirit - a holy communion of another kind.
And now, more waiting, this
time for Christmas! For many of us, this is a busy time of preparation:
shopping, cards to write, examinations, special events, arrangements of all
sorts may crowd the calendar. At the end of it all, will we say again, "Thank
God that's over for another year"?
There is an alternative to
pre-Christmas frenzy; we can choose to be watchful while waiting.
If we find ourselves too busy, we might face up to the judgment that we're
as busy as we want to be. If we recognize that we have been seduced by a
superficial, sentimental piety of the season, we are invited to look beyond the
holiday glow. If we have become oblivious to John the Baptist's call to
preparation, we can consciously choose to be awake to all that Advent truly
means. You and I can deliberately focus beyond holiday stress and joys; we can
instead anticipate the coming Holy Day, the Sacred Moment of Christmas with its
commitment and priorities.
Wake up! Advent transforms the
question "What are you waiting for" to "Whom are you waiting for?"