Advent Preparation

This feels right, on the first Sunday in Advent...

“Come Lord Jesus,” the Advent mantra, means that all of Christian history has to live out of a kind of deliberate emptiness, a kind of chosen non-fulfillment. Perfect fullness is always to come and we do not need to demand it now. This keeps the field of life wide open and especially open to grace and to a future created by God rather than by ourselves. This is exactly what it means to be “awake,” as the Gospel urges us!

Advent means to be aware!
Advent means to be alive!
Advent means to be attentive!
Advent means to be alert!
Advent means to be awake!

Advent is, above all else, a call to full consciousness and a forewarning about the high price of consciousness.
(Richard Rohr, Adapted from Preparing For Christmas, p. 4)

And if you would like a soundtrack for this meditation:

I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
(U2)

Comments

[Erin Wilson]

Loving all those active descriptors! I think Advent tends to get painted with the 'passive waiting' brush. This is wonderful.

[Mike]

Great point Erin... Active waiting, or as Fr. Richard puts it, staying awake!

[Jeff Goins]

Just started talking about Advent at church this week - like Lent, it's something that the evangelical community doesn't celebrate enough. My most meaningful Advent moments have ALWAYS been spent amongst the poor.

[nancy (aka moneycoach)]

I wish I'd known that when I was young - ie., that as a Christian, I could relax and not try to force life to be fulfilling. Can you imagine (and I'm esp. wearing my moneycoach hat here) how revolutionary Christians could be in our society if we were all relaxed-and-waiting instead of frenetically trying to ensure we had great romance, great holidays, great careers, a great life?