On Preparing for the New Year
Sunday brings a new year for Christians around the world. Sure, January 1st is still a ways off, but Sunday December 1st is the first Sunday of Advent, marking the beginning of a new year for Christ's church.
Historically, different dates for new years have come and gone. God wanted his people, Israel, to mark each new year on their calendars around their exodus from Egypt, but that never really happened. In recent centuries in the west there were several different calendars in use, all with different new year's days, and some countries held out until the twentieth century before adopting the calendar most everyone uses now, although I hear Ethiopia still uses thirteen month calendar.
For Christians who observe the rhythm and flow of the church calendar this is a key time to reflect on the past year. While December 31st is usually marked with staying up and waiting until midnight, Advent brings in a new year for Christians with four weeks of waiting. And that is fitting, because the Gospels begin and end with people waiting. Today, God's people are still waiting for Christ's return. Each new year reminds us to wait.
There are several different ways to wait. Technology allows us to talk on the phone or play a game on some electronic device while we wait. Some people like to listen to music while waiting. Others file through the day's events and think about what happened. Some people get anxious. Some people get angry. Some people leave altogether, not wanting to wait. In America we think of waiting as a waste of time as if it is always, as Henri Nouwen puts it, "waiting from nothing to something." But Nouwen reminds us that as Christians we wait for something already begun in us, so our waiting is always "a movement from something to something more." This is the same kind of waiting we see in the Gospels when we read about Zehariah, Mary, Elizabeth, Simeon, and Anna.
This kind of waiting requires focus. We must remember who we are and who God is. Worship and the sacraments help us remember. Spiritual disciplines help too. I would add that paying attention to the church calendar can also be helpful. While the news focuses on weather, retail sales, politics, and sports, we Christians can focus on how well we are waiting. Are we waiting like Simeon was in the temple, looking for Israel's Messiah? Or are we waiting like countless people were at an inn in Bethlehem, distracted by the task at hand that we've no time to worry about God's activity in the world?
This Advent season I recommend setting some time each day to reflect on what it means to wait well for Christ. I highly recommend the devotional book Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. Each day is a brief entry about what God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Take some time this new year to ruminate on actively waiting. Perhaps you'll never view December the same way again!
Historically, different dates for new years have come and gone. God wanted his people, Israel, to mark each new year on their calendars around their exodus from Egypt, but that never really happened. In recent centuries in the west there were several different calendars in use, all with different new year's days, and some countries held out until the twentieth century before adopting the calendar most everyone uses now, although I hear Ethiopia still uses thirteen month calendar.
For Christians who observe the rhythm and flow of the church calendar this is a key time to reflect on the past year. While December 31st is usually marked with staying up and waiting until midnight, Advent brings in a new year for Christians with four weeks of waiting. And that is fitting, because the Gospels begin and end with people waiting. Today, God's people are still waiting for Christ's return. Each new year reminds us to wait.
There are several different ways to wait. Technology allows us to talk on the phone or play a game on some electronic device while we wait. Some people like to listen to music while waiting. Others file through the day's events and think about what happened. Some people get anxious. Some people get angry. Some people leave altogether, not wanting to wait. In America we think of waiting as a waste of time as if it is always, as Henri Nouwen puts it, "waiting from nothing to something." But Nouwen reminds us that as Christians we wait for something already begun in us, so our waiting is always "a movement from something to something more." This is the same kind of waiting we see in the Gospels when we read about Zehariah, Mary, Elizabeth, Simeon, and Anna.
This kind of waiting requires focus. We must remember who we are and who God is. Worship and the sacraments help us remember. Spiritual disciplines help too. I would add that paying attention to the church calendar can also be helpful. While the news focuses on weather, retail sales, politics, and sports, we Christians can focus on how well we are waiting. Are we waiting like Simeon was in the temple, looking for Israel's Messiah? Or are we waiting like countless people were at an inn in Bethlehem, distracted by the task at hand that we've no time to worry about God's activity in the world?
This Advent season I recommend setting some time each day to reflect on what it means to wait well for Christ. I highly recommend the devotional book Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. Each day is a brief entry about what God has revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Take some time this new year to ruminate on actively waiting. Perhaps you'll never view December the same way again!
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