Richardson, Finley, Schaefer: Waiting, Waiting, Waiting
Guest Writer: Chris Schaefer
“Advent is a dance set to the rhythm of waiting. We wait for holy, we wait for birth, we wait for the light. In our haste to make it to Christmas, we often fill our waiting with frantic steps…. In this season, Mary reminds us that Advent waiting is an intricate, intimate process of receiving and bringing forth, of movement and stillness, of pain and joy, of darkness and light, of solitude and community.” Jan L. Richardson, Birthing the Holy, Sacred Journeys, p. 19.
My grandson and his dog sat on the front porch of their home one morning and waited. Quietly, patiently and together. We weren’t sure what they were waiting for but the stillness, the peace and the comradery was beautiful.
This picture of waiting has stuck with me for the many years since it has been taken. I often think about the peace and contemplation that can come in waiting. A gathering of your thoughts as you listen to your heart. Waiting to hear the small voice with the ear of your heart. Being still.
That is so hard to do during this time of year but if we are to be born to ourselves at the birth of Christ we must take the time. We must do as Dr. James Finley of the Center for Action and Contemplation describes, “ we have to leave the hurly-burly of the inn and the superficiality of it all and the chatter of it all, and find our way in the dark back to the stable. That is, we have to enter into the humility and the simplicity and the patience and the delicate nature of what's unfolding in our heart to discover where God's being born in our life. “
Waiting, waiting, waiting for a new birth in us, in our hearts. In waiting, we prepare that place in our heart to receive Christ being born in us.
Chris Schaefer
Joanna joannaseibert.com