Jesus is coming!

"Jesus is coming. Look busy!”  We’re familiar with the joke from T-shirts, coffee mugs and bumper stickers. But as we enter this season of Advent, we know that it is not a joke. Jesus is coming.  And the last thing we should be doing is trying to look busy!

Advent offers us an invitation to reject busy-ness, to seek out silence, to listen and wait and keep watch.  Advent is an in-between time when we can openly acknowledge the depth of our yearning for God.  We want Jesus to return because we know God’s kingdom will be completely fulfilled when he does. The hints we’ve noticed up to now, and the glimpses we’ve seen, make us long to experience the kingdom of God in all its fullness.  We want to live in a place of perfection where Jesus is visibly present and where there’s no trace of the pain and disappointment and confusion that is so much a part of our life in this world.

As we make the effort to slow down, to pay attention, to watch and wait and listen this Advent season, can we bring to mind occasions when God was noticeably present in our lives?  How did it feel?  And how do those experiences compare to the times when it seems that God is absent? 

Jesus is coming. Instead of looking busy, why not look around? Advent is a time to notice those people and places and situations that are crying out for a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. The brokenness, injustice and suffering of this world can make it seem as though God is absent. In this in-between time of Advent, we can do nothing and simply wait for Jesus to return, or we can bring a message of hope to the world.

Jesus is coming.  Look like it matters!

Kate +