For What Are We Preparing?

December is a month of anticipation and waiting. This leads to questions like “What do we anticipate?” and “How do we wait?” For us Christians we wait for more than a day; we await a Person—Jesus Christ reigning in glory. We prepare the way of the Lord, which adds another question: “For which Lord are we preparing?” What or Who is our “lord”? Sometimes we fear we give our allegiance to presents and parties—not that we intend to; it just happens in the busyness. In the Christmas rush, I’m sure we remember the Babe in the manger. But the themes of social justice from the prophets remind us to remember the real events in our world—the suffering, the anxiety, and hopeless–along with the promises of joy and peace. In a word, we need to recognize Christ in Word and Sacrament, in tinsel and requests to share our bounty, in people waiting in line, in the Scrooges, and in the saints. Take a breath. You are waiting for God’s coming in you.