Anticipation
30/11/14 05:07
There is a big difference between waiting and anticipating. The hospital is a good place to observe the difference. Scattered at various locations throughout the hospital are waiting rooms. There is one near the emergency department, another at medical imaging, others near the various intensive care units, one outside of the surgical area. These rooms are filled with chairs for people to sit. They have televisions that can be tuned to all of the different channels cable TV has to offer. There are places to put your coffee cup and magazines to read. They tend to be quiet, even when the televisions are turned on.
In contrast, the labor and delivery rooms are places for action. There might be a couple of stools, but for the most part other than the mother, who is usually semi-reclined on a special bed, the people in the area are usually standing. There is an excitement in the words that are exchanged and a sense of urgency in the voices.
Even when we don’t know how to do it, we usually anticipate Christmas. There is a long list of items that need to be accomplished. There are lists of gifts to purchase or make, preparations that need to be done, packages that need to be sent, cards that need to be addressed, and occasions that need our attendance. My calendar is filled with all kinds of activities. The pace seems to be accelerating.
Not that an accelerating pace is the only way of anticipating. I remember the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas from my childhood. The time seemed interminable. How many more days? How long do we have to wait? Even when time seemed to slow, however, there was more anticipating than mere waiting.
For generations over thousands of years Israel lived in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. And over those years, more than a few people made the switch from anticipation to just waiting. The expectation that the coming of the messiah would have a direct impact on their day-to-day living faded as generation after generation passed without the appearance of the messiah.
The prophets were able to stir up a little enthusiasm and occasionally a minor change in behavior, but the reality is that Israel had shifted from anticipation to merely waiting. Most people observed the ceremonies and participated in the temple discussions, but thoughts of religion and the interpretation of scripture were primarily recreational activities - something to do to pass the time.
After the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Gospel writers strove to stir up a new sense of anticipation. “Look!” they declare, “The world has changed. Life doesn’t need to just go on as usual. New priorities are in order.”
Leonard Bernstein captured the mood of anticipation in the lyrics he wrote for Tony to sing in the musical West Side Story:
Could be!
Who knows?
There’s something’ due any day;
I will know right away
Soon as it shows.
It may come cannonballin’
Down through the sky,
Gleam in its eye,
Bright as a rose!
Who knows?
It’s only just out of reach,
Down the block, on a beach,
Under a tree.
I got a feelin’ there’s a miracle due,
Gonna come true,
Comin’ to me!
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something’s coming, something’ good,
If I can wait!
Something’s comin’, I don’t know what it is
But it is
Gonna be great!
With a click, with a shock,
Phone’ll jingle, door’ll knock
Open the latch!
Something’s comin’, don’t know when,
But it’s soon--
Catch the moon,
One-handed catch!
Around the corner,
Or whistling’ down the river,
Come on -- deliver
To me!
Will it be? Yes, it will.
Maybe just by holdin’ still
It’ll be there!
Come on, something’, come on in,
Don’t be shy,
Meet a guy,
Pull up a chair!
The air is hummin’,
And something’ great is comin’!
Who knows?
It’s only just out of reach,
Down the block, on a beach.
Maybe tonight.
Today we begin the season of that kind of anticipation. It isn’t so much that the arrival of Christmas will somehow dramatically change the world. There will still be racial tension in Ferguson, Missouri after Christmas. There will still be sexual violence on college campuses after Christmas. There will still be an ebola epidemic after Christmas. There will still be rampant consumerism, environmental destruction, entrenched poverty, and innocent victims.
Advent is about learning to live in anticipation for something much bigger. Part of the reason that we need the season every year is that we need to practice for the real transformation that comes in each life.
The day will come, for each of us, when the clock on the wall will have no meaning to us. The power of our human minds to measure or predict will have no effect. We will enter God’s time.
How we live in the time between now and then makes all the difference in the world. Can we live in anticipation? Or are we merely waiting? Does each action and decision bear the possibility of bringing newness to the world, or are we simply going through the motions and struggling to survive?
These are the questions we ponder during this season of teaching ourselves to live in anticipation.
The secular world isn’t much at anticipation. Go into any retail store and you will see it decorated for immediate Christmas. The candy canes and tinsel are already abundant. The songs of Christmas are blaring over the sound system. And you can count on a rapid transformation of every store away from Christmas towards Valentine’s Days before the 12 days of Christmas have passed.
Practicing our faith in this season means assuming a decidedly counter-cultural attitude. The prayers we pray, the stillness we invite, the genuine opening to the presence of Christ in our lives - these require a different investment than all of the gift-giving-party-attending-concert-going-fury that surrounds us.
Advent is a decidedly rich season. May we live in anticipation.
In contrast, the labor and delivery rooms are places for action. There might be a couple of stools, but for the most part other than the mother, who is usually semi-reclined on a special bed, the people in the area are usually standing. There is an excitement in the words that are exchanged and a sense of urgency in the voices.
Even when we don’t know how to do it, we usually anticipate Christmas. There is a long list of items that need to be accomplished. There are lists of gifts to purchase or make, preparations that need to be done, packages that need to be sent, cards that need to be addressed, and occasions that need our attendance. My calendar is filled with all kinds of activities. The pace seems to be accelerating.
Not that an accelerating pace is the only way of anticipating. I remember the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas from my childhood. The time seemed interminable. How many more days? How long do we have to wait? Even when time seemed to slow, however, there was more anticipating than mere waiting.
For generations over thousands of years Israel lived in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. And over those years, more than a few people made the switch from anticipation to just waiting. The expectation that the coming of the messiah would have a direct impact on their day-to-day living faded as generation after generation passed without the appearance of the messiah.
The prophets were able to stir up a little enthusiasm and occasionally a minor change in behavior, but the reality is that Israel had shifted from anticipation to merely waiting. Most people observed the ceremonies and participated in the temple discussions, but thoughts of religion and the interpretation of scripture were primarily recreational activities - something to do to pass the time.
After the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Gospel writers strove to stir up a new sense of anticipation. “Look!” they declare, “The world has changed. Life doesn’t need to just go on as usual. New priorities are in order.”
Leonard Bernstein captured the mood of anticipation in the lyrics he wrote for Tony to sing in the musical West Side Story:
Could be!
Who knows?
There’s something’ due any day;
I will know right away
Soon as it shows.
It may come cannonballin’
Down through the sky,
Gleam in its eye,
Bright as a rose!
Who knows?
It’s only just out of reach,
Down the block, on a beach,
Under a tree.
I got a feelin’ there’s a miracle due,
Gonna come true,
Comin’ to me!
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something’s coming, something’ good,
If I can wait!
Something’s comin’, I don’t know what it is
But it is
Gonna be great!
With a click, with a shock,
Phone’ll jingle, door’ll knock
Open the latch!
Something’s comin’, don’t know when,
But it’s soon--
Catch the moon,
One-handed catch!
Around the corner,
Or whistling’ down the river,
Come on -- deliver
To me!
Will it be? Yes, it will.
Maybe just by holdin’ still
It’ll be there!
Come on, something’, come on in,
Don’t be shy,
Meet a guy,
Pull up a chair!
The air is hummin’,
And something’ great is comin’!
Who knows?
It’s only just out of reach,
Down the block, on a beach.
Maybe tonight.
Today we begin the season of that kind of anticipation. It isn’t so much that the arrival of Christmas will somehow dramatically change the world. There will still be racial tension in Ferguson, Missouri after Christmas. There will still be sexual violence on college campuses after Christmas. There will still be an ebola epidemic after Christmas. There will still be rampant consumerism, environmental destruction, entrenched poverty, and innocent victims.
Advent is about learning to live in anticipation for something much bigger. Part of the reason that we need the season every year is that we need to practice for the real transformation that comes in each life.
The day will come, for each of us, when the clock on the wall will have no meaning to us. The power of our human minds to measure or predict will have no effect. We will enter God’s time.
How we live in the time between now and then makes all the difference in the world. Can we live in anticipation? Or are we merely waiting? Does each action and decision bear the possibility of bringing newness to the world, or are we simply going through the motions and struggling to survive?
These are the questions we ponder during this season of teaching ourselves to live in anticipation.
The secular world isn’t much at anticipation. Go into any retail store and you will see it decorated for immediate Christmas. The candy canes and tinsel are already abundant. The songs of Christmas are blaring over the sound system. And you can count on a rapid transformation of every store away from Christmas towards Valentine’s Days before the 12 days of Christmas have passed.
Practicing our faith in this season means assuming a decidedly counter-cultural attitude. The prayers we pray, the stillness we invite, the genuine opening to the presence of Christ in our lives - these require a different investment than all of the gift-giving-party-attending-concert-going-fury that surrounds us.
Advent is a decidedly rich season. May we live in anticipation.