Waiting for Christmas

Dorothy Day and the Holy Family of the Streets” by Kelly Latimore

On this last Sunday of Advent, we read Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. There are no wise men journeying towards a star, no shepherds and cattle, no choirs of angels. Instead, there is an angel telling a very scared man not to be afraid to marry the already-pregnant young woman who is promised to him, because her baby would one day save the world.*

For many years, I have been seeing admonitions to use Advent as a time to look inward, to counter the cultural hustle-bustle of preparing for Christmas with reflective preparation for the coming of Christ. While making time for special Advent readings and prayers might be possible for some people, I suppose, most people with already busy schedules are adding celebratory gatherings and special Christmas concerts to their overflowing calendars while there are still cards to write and gifts to be chosen and wrapped. Many are preparing to travel to be with family members who live far away, or making sure they have enough food and places to sleep for all the guests who are expected to arrive. Others are more like Mary and Joseph, struggling just to survive, to feed their families (or even just themselves), or hoping for a warm, safe place to sleep at night. Guilt-inducing admonitions about Advent as a time for quiet, inward-looking reflection is the last thing most of us need as we wait for Christ’s coming.

So it is with delight and relief that I read Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe’s 2018 Advent reflection, “Christ is Waiting for Us,” in which she turns the notion of waiting on its head. Henry-Crowe says that we are not so much waiting for Christ, but that Christ waits for those of us who have live in warm, safe houses and never worry about how they will pay for food to remember that not everyone has the luxury to attend lovely candle-lit services or hear excellent choirs sing beloved Christmas carols.

The frantic bustle of Advent helps us remember why we –everyone – need Christ to come. Christ came two thousand years ago, and Christ comes now, to save everyone and everything from brokenness and suffering. As Christmas approaches, I need Christ to save me, again and again, from myself, from my pettiness and greed, from my self-centered ego, from my tendency to imagine that candle-lit lessons and carols are the meaning of Christmas. What do you need Christ to save you from? What is Christ waiting for you to do?