By JoAnn Flett | Executive Director | The Center for Faithful Business
It is the season of Advent. As Lewis Galloway[1] (2023) observed, “Advent is the season of longing for God. Only God can bridge the gap between the way things are and the way God intends the creation to be.” This past week I heard several people describe themselves as “overwhelmed.” So, when I heard it for the fourth time in one week, I got curious about the zeitgeist of this season and why some are expressing this feeling. Perhaps it is the increased intensity of the busyness that precedes our holiday celebrations, the end of the academic quarter, coupled with all the shopping, cookie baking, traveling to family and friends etc., making sure we have our workloads manageable so we can take time off and trying to create space to be quiet in this season of anticipation. We can easily see how all these demands might contribute to being overwhelmed.
However, Advent hope invites us to be in anticipation of the “already and the not-yet” period of our Christian faith. Because as Christians, our hope affords us the knowledge that we are welcoming the Savior who has made, is making and will make all things right. This then is a hope beyond optimism that things work out well in the short run. Rather it is a deeper belief that ALL things in the end (eschaton) are (will be and are being) restored because our Savior came into the world. As SPU alumnus Eugene Peterson wrote, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish” (John 1:14, The Message).
As you wait in anticipation, I pray that you will know that our hope is built on nothing less that Jesus Christ our savior. I pray that thought can buoy us even when we feel overwhelmed because of the busyness of the present moment. I pray you will know that our Christian hope is more that optimism. So, may you be hope filled in this season of anticipation.
[1] Galloway, Lewis F. (2023). Journal for Preachers, 47 no 1 Advent 2023, p 21-26.
