Preparing with Hope - Advent Week 1

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Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.

–Luke 2v25-32

REFLECTION

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Advent is a season for waiting. It’s one of many reasons celebrating Advent feels like an anachronism in the modern West, where waiting a few extra seconds for our favorite show to stream can provoke exasperation (and perhaps a quick glance at our social feed, to ward off momentary boredom).

Our allergy to waiting crops up in a thousand small moments. And then there are the big things — the tests of patience that can make or break us. Waiting for the person we’d like to spend our lives with. Or for the test results from a medical screening. Or for the long-sought reconciliation with a family member. As spiritual director Gemma Ryan says, waiting is hard because it reminds us that we’re not in charge, we’re not in control. It grates against our pride.

In Luke 2, Jesus’ first weeks on earth intersect with a man named Simeon, an aging Jerusalem resident waiting for God’s comfort and restoration in a period of political oppression and the darkness of a 400-year prophetic silence.

Waiting helps us slow down and become aware of what we’re waiting for, and just as importantly, how we’re waiting for it.

Until Simeon cradles the hope of Israel in his arms, both he and Israel are waiting. But small clues about the way Simeon inhabited this in-between space, a period that apparently spanned most of his life, are instructive. We read he was “righteous and devout” — a shorthand way of saying that he lived in right relationship with others and had intimacy with God. And twice we are reminded that he was highly attuned to the voice of the Spirit.

Simeon helps us see that waiting is actually a gift. It helps us slow down and become aware of what we’re waiting for, and just as importantly, how we’re waiting for it.