Prepare Ye the Way (Advent #1)

Several years ago I found a magnificently tattered edition of a Christina Rossetti devotional journal in the now-no-longer-existent Keswick books (it got bought out by Word Bookstore). The book cost me all of about 90 cents, but would have been a steal at any price, both for its antique appeal and the wonderful quality of the contents. Rossetti was quite "high" on the Anglican spectrum and so not all of her theology resonates with me. But it did introduce me to something that I, a thoroughly low Anglican, have appreciated in the years since. It showed me the value of letting the liturgical calendar prompt reflection and focus, directing me, for instance, to let Lent be a time of particular reflection on Jesus' sacrifice. I have always liked to do something similar with Advent - to prepare my heart for what is to come, rather than just prepare my wallet for presents or my bedroom for the storage of new presents.

And so this year I have decided to expand on my Advent preparations - to use a series of Advent-related readings to help guide my thinking in this time. I make no guarantees about how regularly I will do this, but you should expect at least a few Advent-related posts per week.

Today's comes from the passage that was preached on in the church in Hobart that I visited yesterday - 2 Peter 3:3-14. Here is a verse from the passage that particularly stands out to me:

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." (2 Peter 3:3-4)

Last night, as I was waiting to fly back from my weekend in Hobart (my flight was delayed by an hour), I saw a small, devoted gathering of TV cameramen and photographers on standby - they had been there all day - waiting for the arrival of Princess Mary who was, they had heard, potentially going to be possibly arriving in Hobart sometime that day. Their hopes had clearly shrunk down to a soodling thread by the time I got there (my flight was the last one leaving the airport that night) and by the time that the only flight left to arrive was a Jetstar plane (hardly fit for a princess) the soodling thread was down to a single follicle. They went home before my flight left.

It isn't hard to see the connection to the passage from 2 Peter. There had been no guarantee that Princess Mary would arrive, but the devoted few (devoted more because of employment than any particular love of the Danish Tasmanian Princess) had stuck it out - in vain. Is this what believers in Jesus are - naive? petulant? stubborn in the teeth of reason?

Peter would say otherwise. He would say that God has already shown Himself to be a God who intervenes in human history, almost always when we least expect it; he would say that what seems to take a long time for us is a matter of seconds for God (a statement that is strangely in line with what Einstein took millennia to tell the science world about the relativity of time); he would also say that, rather than a source of frustration and impatience, the time it takes for Jesus to return should be seen as a blessing - time to repent; time to be watchful and share the good news with others.

So: this Advent, be hopeful, be steadfast, be thankful and be watchful. We are not naive; we are not clinging to misinformation and dodgy tip-offs. He who promises is faithful.