Both/And
/The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. -Jeremiah 33:1
A new church year begins this Sunday, and as is true every year, we start out with a bang. The readings are apocalyptic and we are reminded that in Advent, we are not only waiting for the arrival of the Christ child, but also the arrival of the Cosmic Christ at the end of the age.
And we are once again reminded that we live in between those two universe altering events. The incarnation is already here but the culmination of God’s promises are not here yet - not by a long shot. Wars, famine, injustice and poverty continue to blossom. Resentment, shame and grief are always among us. We would love the world to look more like Silent Night, Holy Night. And yet - it doesn’t. And so in Advent, this season of waiting, we are reminded that we are not only waiting for the familiar and lovely story of a baby being born, we are also still waiting for salvation.
What does it mean to trust that God’s promise of peace, healing and reconciliation are still on their way, despite all indications to the contrary around us? And what does it mean to listen to stories of apocalypse while we’re still going about our day to day lives? Advent is a place of being between - between the promise and the fulfillment - between the beginning and the end - between the already and the not yet.
Advent keeps us on our toes, and its meant to. It’s the season in which we’re told to keep awake. To stay alert. To watch, and wait and trust that nothing is impossible with God. These are all no small feats in a world in which on many days it seems like a better idea to go hide our heads under our pillows!
The quote above is from Jeremiah. In the middle of what is otherwise a rather bleak and frightening book of his apocalyptic prophecy, Jeremiah included a small section that has come to be called his “Little Book of Consolation.” In it, he proclaims that God’s promises will come true. That justice and righteousness will fill the land. That those who have been oppressed will live in safety. In other words - there will be an end to our suffering. God’s love will prevail.
Is he talking about the end times? Our own deaths? Or is he just talking about the endless cycles of change - the waves and seasons of life that bring us high and then low and then high and then low again? We can only guess here in the in-between time.
As we enter this poetic season, giving worship in the chilly church a try, waiting for the pandemic to really resolve and wondering how God’s promises will ever become manifest among us, let us stay alert and awake to the moments of peace and love that we find - as well as the ones that find us - even during this unsettled time. Let us look not to the past nor to the future, but spend the season waiting right here, right now, in the both/and times in which we live. Let us find God’s light in the darkness this very day - this very moment - in this very breath.
