...wait and work

Are you a do-er? Or a be-er? Do you make things happen, or watch to see what happens? 

Advent is pretty big on waiting. Each year, we wait anew for the story to unfold--the prophets' words, the angels' whispers, the shepherds' trusting quest, the magis' calculations and dogged pilgrimage from away, the brave mother, her faith-filled fiance, the hush of the stable. And over it all, that star, silent, beckoning. The world holds its breath, waiting on the time to be right, nearly past right, for the Baby.

And there is another Advent waiting, another yearning. Again the prophets' words, this time about the birth of a world remade, a world replete with justice, compassion, peace. A world where war and weeping, where betrayal and disregard, where enriching some by injuring others, are faint and fading memories. The world holds its breath, waiting on the time to be right, nearly past right, for the realm the Baby, grown,  promised was near at hand, within us.

But this is no idle waiting. This waiting comes with hammer and nail, with shoe leather and caring hands. Waiting for the realm of heaven to be made manifest is no 'sit back and watch' sort of waiting. It is active waiting, waiting with your work clothes on. It is catching a vision of the realm of heaven, and risking your current status, privilege, advantage to usher that realm into being. To be co-laborers with God in welcoming the household of love, enough for all the world.

This, too, is Advent. Wait, and work.