Advent Meditation for Thursday, December 21, 2017, Diocese of Ohio

“Wait with hope for the LORD.”

All is nearly ready. There is little more to be done; for some tasks it is too late, for others, already begun, the conveyor belt of Christmas, well-oiled and practiced has taken them off our hands and out of our control.

It is in the space between that we sit in the darkness and wait. There is little more to be done.

At this winter solstice, the days have grown as short as they may, and the nights stretch longer than at any other time. We cannot hurry the pendulum past its longest drop, the darkest pause of the year.

The drawn-out moment of fragile anticipation brings anxiety; but if anyone knows our feeling of helplessness, it is the Christ.

Suspended between eternity and the mortal life of one born of a woman, he waits. Daylight is laid bare, filtered through blood and tissue. In the long night, his darkness is complete. Untouched, his own skin is almost luminous, although none yet may see it.

There is nothing more to be done, except to wait for dawn to break: for light to be born into light, for gentleness to deliver the world from its deepest night.

“Wait with hope for the LORD.
Be strong, and let your heart be courageous.
Yes, wait with hope for the LORD.”

(Psalm 27:14, God’s Word translation)