One week left!
As a child I found this final week was almost unbearable… anticipation overload! Time off school, gifts to open, gifts to give, fun events in my neighborhood, school, church and extended family. Just a different kind of energy. Of course, it was cold in Manitoba, lots of snow, ice skating and hockey, with long nights – some nights we could even see the aurora borealis – it was a magical time.
One more week!
… well kind of. Yes, we are a week away from the global observation of Jesus’ birth. But it still feels like we’re a long way from peace on earth and good will to all.
In this way, Advent can be an unsettling season. Advent flirts with the possibility of hope, peace, joy, and love yet when we look at our lives, our communities, creation and our world we see something else. Morgan Freeman’s character in the old film, Shawshank Redemption, said, “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a [person] insane.”
Advent kinda does that. Advent can almost drive a person insane. For it invites us to imagine a more Shalomic way of being. Yet that more Shalomic imagination is met with some pretty harsh realities like Putin’s attack on Ukraine, Iran’s attack on women, climate change, mass shootings, even the pain we experience in our bodies, in our minds, and in our relationships, and so much more. There is a tension between promise and reality.
Theologians use the phrase “Inaugurated Eschatology” to describe this contrast we see and feel. The Kin-dom of God has been inaugurated or begun in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and eschatology points to one day when God makes all things new… we live in the liminality of now and not yet.
One of my favorite writers is an Irish poet named Pádraig Ó Tuama. Pádraig’s poem titled, “Narrative Theology #1” in his book, In the Shelter captures some of what we often experience around this time of year, while offering a way forward… at least to my ear.
And I said to him:
Are there answers to all of this?
And he said:
The answer is in a story
and the story is being told.
And I said:
But there is so much pain
And she answered, plainly;
Pain will happen.
Then I said:
Will I ever find meaning?
And they said:
You will find meaning
where you give meaning.
The answer is in a story
and the story isn’t finished.
… and the story isn’t finished. That’s where we come in. The setting for our scene of the story is our place and beyond, we are some of the vital characters, and the plot is God making all things new. Always remember you are not alone, you are loved and we belong to each other.
Peace, dwight
