Not only has December arrived, but so have Winter storms, shorter days, and animals whose fur has grown thick with the anticipation of colder weather. For those of us involved in church, the Season of Advent has also arrived. The word “advent” means “coming.” Yesterday we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent which is always the Sunday that encourages us to look for signs that God/the Light is indeed breaking into our chaotic world.
When I think about God/Light breaking into our world, I am reminded of one of my professors during my time at Princeton Seminary who taught a course on God and Human Suffering. He shared with us his image of God in the world. He described God sitting in the second story windowsill of a house, legs dangling out, fingers trying to hold on to the sill while leaning so far out of the window. (Yes, this is obviously an anthropomorphized image of God, but hang with me.) He went on to say that while God is leaning so far out of the second story window, She is also trying to get the attention of the world walking by on the street below. She shouts, she tosses things down, she waves her arms, she does whatever necessary to get the people to glance up and look and listen. Now and then, according to the professor, people see and hear and take notice and actually participate with God in bringing healing and change and justice to the world. While it may not be a perfect image, I took that course 22 years ago and I am still captured by it. Especially during this season of Advent when we are told to look for signs of God’s incarnation into our world.
A week ago today I was flying home from Argentina after a trip to Buenos Aires for vacation and study leave. On the last leg of the flight I was sitting in the middle seat of the exit row. Sitting on my left next to the window was a man who was traveling alone. When I sat down, I greeted him briefly and then I “put on” my airplane self. After 21 years of being a Presbyterian pastor, I have learned not to engage my airplane seat mates in conversation. When I was first ordained, I engaged everyone I met in conversation! I couldn’t wait until that part in the conversation when I could reveal that I was an ordained pastor! What ended up happening on airplanes, though, was that when I got to that part and told the person what I did, the person heard that as an invitation to spend the remainder of the flight talking about him or herself. You would be shocked at some of the things total strangers revealed to me in those conversations. Despite the fact that we were not alone or in a private situation, people treated it as a confessional and I heard all of the ways in which they had deceived their spouses or cheated on their taxes or embezzled money from work or had terrible thoughts. On one flight I remember a man telling me about an ongoing affair he was having and how he felt badly for his wife but not badly enough to stop the affair. When the flight ended and he finally stopped talking, he thanked me for listening and then walked off the plane feeling much better. That was the turning point for me. I was no longer willing to let someone I had never met confess and feel better because I was a total stranger and there was no need for them to change in any way. From that time on, I created an airplane self that does not engage in conversation.
On my flight last week, though, the man who was sitting next to me was carrying some kind of heavy load. I could feel it. He slept a little and then I think he started to pray (he didn’t make any noise, but you know how you can just tell sometimes?). In the middle of the flight he texted someone. I committed seat mate sin and snuck a glance at what he was writing and all I saw were the words “praying for a miracle.” I knew it! I knew he was carrying some kind of heavy burden. I wanted with all of my heart to turn to him and ask him if he was okay but my airline self wrestled my other self to the ground and would not permit conversation of any kind! I did not talk to him until it was time to leave and I wished him a good trip.
The Light was trying so hard to break in to the world through me and I refused. God was practically falling out of the window to get me to open my mouth and share this man’s burden and I refused. Who are we waiting for this Advent? We are the ones through whom God becomes incarnate. Or not. Today is a new day. I, for one, will be looking for the ways in which God wants to shine through me to reach others. How about you? How is God trying to get your attention today or this week?