The season of Advent is quickly coming to its climax, as we celebrate the birth of Christ. For many, it is a season of preparation, waiting, and hope. If we think about life in general, we begin to notice that it’s filled with many seasons of advent, or preparation and waiting.
Thirteen years of education leading up to high school graduation is a season of advent for students. Engagements are seasons of advent. Pregnancy is a season of advent for parents to prepare as they await the birth of their child. We prepare and wait for the promotion, the bigger house, the dream vacation. All happy events, Dear Reader, but Luke’s Gospel reminds us that there is another side of advent (deliberately not capitalized)
Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed and waited decades to have a child. In the ancient Jewish culture, children were a mark of status, fulfillment . . . an adult’s value as a person.
Are we surprised that after so many years, Zechariah was skeptical of the Angel Gabriel’s tidings of great news? Had there been a moment when happy preparation and anticipation of their own child started to fade, leaving only overwhelming sadness and doubt in its place?
For some, preparing and waiting for an outcome may be a time of distress. Waiting, but afraid to hope for a good report.
They were good and just people in God’s sight, walking with integrity in the Lord’s ways and laws. Yet they had this sadness. Due to Elizabeth’s infertility, they were childless, they were both quite old—well past normal childbearing years.
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar, Dear Reader?
- A friend’s son serving in Special Ops, frequently with months at a time when she literally doesn’t know where in the world her child is, or whether he is alive?
- Another friend’s husband recently diagnosed with cancer, fast-growing, agressive cancer. One advent after another of trying to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, test after test, treatment after treatment?
- Families who have lost loved ones recently, and are waiting and wondering when the pain will lessen enough to prepare for futures different from the ones they had imagined?
- Or parents who, like Zechariah and Elizabeth, tried to walk with integrity, and still find themselves estranged from a beloved child?
Sadly, those may be realities in the world our feet rest upon, Dear Reader, but because of Advent, our spirits are tied to the divine gift of hope. The Lord knew how long Zechariah and Elizabeth had longed for a child. He knows exactly how long you’ve prepared, hoped, and waited for your heart’s desire.
Silence doesn’t mean God hasn’t heard our prayers, said no, or doesn’t care. The verse below is a talisman when I journey through another side of advent , when preparing, waiting, hoping seem nearly impossible.
For Abraham, when hope was gone, hoped on in faith, and thus became the father of many nations — even as he was told, So numberless shall your offspring be.
Dear Reader, I truly didn’t intend to put a damper on Advent. Quite the opposite.
Israel had gone through between six and seven hundred years of advent between Isaiah’s prophecy and the birth of Jesus. That’s centuries of preparing for something that showed no sign of happening. No wonder the angels sang and spoke of God’s glory to shepherds who then ran to the manger. No wonder magi devoted years and resources to bring precious gifts to the child born in a stable.
The psalmist understood another side of advent, but continued to hope and believe that God’s incredible joy will come in the morning. Whatever side of advent or Advent you are on, Dear Reader, I hope as you prepare and wait for God’s “smile of morning,” you and those you love will be blessed.
Sing, all you who remain faithful! Pour out your hearts to the Eternal with praise and melodies;
let grateful music fill the air and bless His name. His wrath, you see, is fleeting,
but His grace lasts a lifetime. The deepest pains may linger through the night,
but joy greets the soul with the smile of morning.
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