Hi First Presbyterian Church,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! The Bills play the Patriots tomorrow night at 8:15 pm. You know I’m a huge Bills fan, and I love watching their games. I’m locked into each play of the game. Every pass, every run, every defensive play. After one of their games, I can hardly wait until the next one. I’ve sometimes thought to myself, “I wish I could binge-watch the Bills season! I don’t want to wait for the next game! I wish I could just watch all 17 of their games – one after the other! I don’t want the thrill to end!” I know, I know… real mature. But eventually my rational mind prevails and I realize that part of the enjoyment of football season is the anticipation between games. I actually enjoy thinking about a game after it’s happened. I think about what the team did that went well and what the team did that went poorly. I read articles, tune in to sports radio, and listen to my favorite Bills podcasts. Then I begin thinking about their next opponent and how they match up against the Bills’ strengths and weaknesses. It’s a whole process for me. (I told you I was a huge fan!) As I’m waiting for the next game, I’m not passively waiting… I’m actively waiting.

This is similar to Advent. (I bet you never thought you’d hear a Bills-Advent analogy!) Advent is intended to be a season of waiting. Advent is about waiting for the arrival of Jesus – not just remembering his first arrival at Christmas but also anticipating his next arrival at his Second Coming. Generally speaking, there are two types of waiting. A lot of the waiting that we do in life is passive. Sitting in an airport terminal reading a book while we await our flight to arrive is passive waiting. But we also do active waiting in life – like how I am preparing myself for the Bills-Patriots kickoff. Tidying up and making hors d'oeuvres while we await guests to arrive is another example of active waiting. Active waiting is different than simply “passing the time.” It is engaging in an action that lays the foundation for the anticipated event to happen. If your guests arrive and you haven’t tidied up and made hors d'oeuvres because you were only sitting around waiting for them (i.e., passive waiting), they’ll probably be pretty disappointed. They’d have to make their own hors d'oeuvres!

Advent is about actively waiting for the arrival of Jesus. If Jesus were to literally visit us during Advent, would he find that we’ve made room for him in our lives, in our churches, and in our communities, or would he have to make room for himself?

This Advent, let’s actively wait for Jesus. Let’s identify the places where Jesus is already visible in our lives as individuals, in our programs as a church, and in our actions in the world, and, then, let’s live more fully into those places.

Happy waiting,

Pastor Aaron