Prepare. Or don’t.
Patience. Angst.
Anticipation. Dread.
Looking and waiting for the coming Christ is far more troubling and swirly than the arrival. As I anticipate holiday celebrations, the hamster wheel in my head is at full speed. But then I can sit quietly in church and feel the anticipation as peace. Celebration. Perspiration.
But this is what Advent is. Jesus tried to warn us that the Second Advent will be much like the first. Prepare! But you won’t be ready. Come as you are! But follow my commandments so you won’t be sorted into the goats. You are a chosen people! But I have spit you out for being lukewarm.
What, then, shall we do with Advent today?
Looking at the Gospels, we see a variety of approaches to Advent that don’t seem disturbed by their diversity.
John turns to poetry and doesn’t dwell on specifics, including timing. If the Advent season has you feeling behind, don’t worry, you can just be on a different timeline than everyone else: the meaning of the season is not lost if you focus only on the glory of the Word with us.
Luke prepares and prepares and prepares. Is your season full of planning and setting things up to be just right for others? Excellent, there is reward and blessings in the details. Many raise songs of praise when the details are kept in mind.
Mark skips right to the work of Jesus as an adult. Is Advent and Christmas not happening for you this year? Whatever the reason, Jesus is still with you and continues to be in your work. There are the blessings of immediacy.
If you prepare with tradition, Matthew is your person. Matthew looks back on who came before and the blessings of repetition. As you settle into the memories of a treasured song or a special decoration, may the blessings of the season warm you.
As a teacher, the Advent season coincides with final exam preparation for my students and me. There are many similarities in preparing for Christmas and preparing for finals.
First, there is so much leading up to such a relatively small time period. It takes time to decorate, cook, and buy gifts, but the official day is but a day. A final exam takes hours and hours to write and study time to prepare for (a whole term of studying if you do it right) but the exam lasts a mere two hours.
There is much variation in both the preparation of students and the preparation of the professors. Both preparations can be short or long or can vary by class. It isn’t always predictable, but there are good results in the midst of variety. High scores on exams in my class have come from students who come in late, who arrive early and worry about everything, who are in the middle of the big pack of students handing in the exam at the same time, who agonize over every answer and spend every minute given to the exam, and to those needing extra time.
Your Advent does not need to follow anyone else’s schedule or expectations.
Jennifer Helbley is an Associate Professor in Chemistry at La Sierra University, enjoys a good discussion about how science will keep the world going until the Second Advent, and is delighted to be a part of the Liturgical Service at La Sierra University Church.