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Be watchful, be alert.
There are different ways of waiting.
There is the waiting just for something to happen
and we are wasting time as we wait.
There is no real sort of timeline to it
and so it is kind of a passive waiting.
And then there is the waiting for somebody.
For example, if we are waiting for a bus or for somebody to arrive,
we are expecting, we are more active, we are engaged.
And then there is the more anxious type.
Like when we are waiting outside a dental appointment;
we know that anxious feeling.
It is like we are waiting,
but we are not really looking forward to what is going to happen;
it is an anxious and awkward waiting.
I remember one particular time when I was waiting for a bus.
I was back in Ireland visiting my mom when she was alive.
I would visit her quite often and I had a very set routine.
I would get the bus to the airport early in the morning
heading back to the United States.
The big blue bus, the airport bus would arrive at 6:14am,
not 6:13, 6:15, but 6:14am exactly.
That is hard for buses!
With trains there is no traffic,
but with buses it is very hard to always be on time.
But I was always amazed, 6:14am
and that bus would come down the hill.
One particular Sunday when I was a coming back,
I remember it was winter and it was snowing.
I had quite a trek down the hill,
about a half mile from my mom’s house
with my rolling bag through the snow.
It does not snow very often in Ireland
and the road was covered in snow.
I am thinking to myself,
there is no way the bus is going to be here at 6:14am today.
There is no possible way.
How could he get on this road?
But at 6:14am, not 6:13am, the bus comes over the hill,
and then literally glides to a stop and slides and it is 6:14am on the button.
I was so impressed.
I said to the driver, “That’s impressive punctuality!”
We have to get to the airport on time!” He responded causually!
I always remember that as this sort of active waiting
because I was waiting, expecting, waiting, expecting.
I just actively engaged in this waiting,
in this anticipation of the bus arrival.
I always think of that type of waiting when we get to Advent.
Not a passive waiting, wasting time, waiting for some time,
but an active waiting,
I might call it a radical active waiting,
eagerly anticipating the arrival of Christmas Day
amd the Christ among us.
I gave that example at the beginning of the liturgy
about a farmer who plants the seeds.
When he plants those seeds,
he knows when those are going to come to fruition.
When it comes to the season for growth,
he is actively anticipating that growth to happen.
And when it comes, he is ready then to harvest at the right time.
That is the sense of active engagement and
waiting and anticipation that we are called to in this advent time.
So what are we waiting for?
In our rich theology, there are three comings of Christ.
The first one is that Christ came once in history
as a baby born in time in the year.
Then we look forward to Christ's second coming in glory, right?
But then there is this, what theologically we say,
the in-between times where we come to recognize
the Christ who is already among us, within you and I.
This is where our focus is, as we straddle these two;
it is called the in-between times where we are to focus our attention
and recognize that within us and within each and everyone else is Christ.
We are called to not only watch,
but be alert and be attentive to those,
to the needs of others, to engage in a meaningful way.
So how are we meant to do this?
How will this look like for us this particular advent?
I want to suggest one way.
I am reading this book with the men's group called:
“How to Know a Person: How to Deeply See and How to be Deeply Seen.” by David Brooks, the New York Columnist and author.
I mentioned it last week and I will be referring to it quite a bit
because it is really insightful; there is a lot in it.
He says that the starting place is our first look at somebody.
He calls it a “first gaze”
because it is more than just a simple look.
And he says in that gaze, that first look,
we can tell if somebody has any interest in us.
When they first look at us, if they have any respect for us at all,
is in that first look.
They can be dismissive.
I suspect we have all experienced the look
when they communicate absolutely no interest in us.
When we gaze with interest and we gaze with expectation,
anticipating that we will meet another Christ here,
that we will discover the Christ within them,
then we have a gaze of interest.
A gaze of openness,
a gaze of willingness to see
and to hear and to know them.
Out of that will come some questions of curiosity.
But it starts first with the gaze;
a gaze of respect, a gaze of being interested in them.
I am wondering if for this advent,
that we might look at our spouse,
gaze at our spouse again,
and marvel maybe at the presence of Christ in them,
the love that is shared among us.
And to be interested, to see and
to know them once again in a deeper way.
And then maybe if we don't have our spouse around,
and maybe we could gaze at our children in a new way
and to marvel at their creativity, their energy, their way of being
Their smile, their laughter, and see the face of Christ in them.
Or maybe it's our grandchildren or our friends or our neighbors.
If we really see our loved ones around us with an openness, a gaze,
then are we ready to look at the strangers, the immigrants, the outcasts?
And if we can master this gaze,
then we will look and look again,
and we will see in them the face of Christ,
the face of our creator in all others.
My friends, this advent is meant to be
an active, radical active waiting
where we learn to look again,
to gaze at those around us with openness,
with a willingness to know.
But we first must be willing to see.
Today, let us actively engage in our advent
and expect to see the Christ in everyone we meet,
and we will see the Christ.
Be watchful, be alert.
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