Scripture: Romans 8:25-26
But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience. In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans.
Thought for the Day: The season of Advent is counter to the cultural ideals promoted between Thanksgiving and December 25. Advent stands firmly in opposition to what commercialized Christmas looks like. These four weeks require us to wait for what has not yet arrived. And if we wait, as Paul suggests, for what we don’t see, we must do so with patience. In this waiting, we are left feeling a bit uncertain in regard to what it is we should be doing. The radio is telling us that grandma got run over by a reindeer, and we are to rock around the Christmas tree and follow it with some pumpkin pie. As people who seek the coming of the Christ child, we groan deep within ourselves for an alternative to what society claims to be important. We might hang our socks near the fireplace in hopes that St. Nick will make an appearance, but if we have spent time patiently and prayerfully preparing ourselves in the Advent season, we should not be surprised to see another pair of socks knocked off our feed by the nonsensical and nonconformist message found asleep in a feeding trough while angels announce, “This is Christ the Lord, the Source of Peace upon the earth.”
Prayer: Our world needs something different, O Lord God. Plenty of religious people claiming Christmas as a special time of the year, yet it looks like capitalism run amok while Jesus weeps for lost and marginalized people who continue to be used and discarded. As the Spirit groans within us for something real and beautiful, provide us tangible ways by which we can begin to live as those who have taken Advent seriously. Amen.
