MAKING SENSE IN THIS DECEMBER’S DESERT

 

In the Vancouver area there is a wonderful family of three very talented and energetic daughters with a practical, down to earth Saskatchewan raised mother. Whenever the young people would make wonderful plans for their future or plans for a little holiday, their practical mother would add, “And how are you going to raise the funds to do that?”

 

Dreaming is nice but it demands action and hard work.

 

This is where we need such a healthy corrective to the perception of most born-Christians. Real life takes a lot of hard work. An authentic spiritual life takes a lot of hard work. This is not a one-way street where God does all the heavy lifting!

 

This year the season of Advent locates us in the desert. We long for our friends and social contacts during the past nine months. We feel the absence of not being able to gather together for prayer and the Sunday Eucharist. If we have lost a loved one during the past nine months we have a knowing emptiness that we have not celebrated their life properly.

 

But it is often in pain and absence that we can hear the movement and presence of God. When we pray over the pain of the Hebrews in Babylon (seventy years of suffering), we can begin to identify with their longing to return to Jerusalem and our own longing for the presence of God in this desert season.

 

There are many things we can only understand through suffering and failure. In our demanding society where we are always moving forward there is little space to take ownership of the truths suffering, loss and frustrations can bring. It is a very immature culture that teaches us that the only worthwhile projects are always successful; things that make us feel good.

 

Advent says, ‘step back. Take a good hard look at the deprivations of life. What in this darkness teaches you to live in trust with the goodness of God? Where in this absence do you experience a hunger for the strength that God will give you?

 

Stand with your family, friends, co-workers and fellow-citizens who are unemployed, feeling the weight of the dementia in their aging parents and the families that have lost a son or brother through a drug overdose. What is happening to your spirit when you open your heart to their tears and frustrations?

 

As we look forward to the birth day of the Son of God, we must do the hard work of walking with the pain-filled but hopeful Hebrew ancestors and our neighbors  who are experiencing the darkness of doubt and meaninglessness in this difficult season.

 

We may hesitate to embrace the gifts of Advent. This is very much a time when we need to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in this time of darkness, confusion and insecurity. There is much to gain in this Advent season.