Let the waiting begin

When I first opened the lectionary scriptures for this first week of Advent, I thought: Wow. This is dark stuff. Where are all the angels and cherubs and light breaking through the clouds? 

Psalm 80 asks God: "How long will you be angry with your people's prayers?" Isaiah complains: "We fade like a leaf and our iniquities take us away like the wind." Mark reminds us that heaven and earth will pass away. Only Paul is upbeat as he reminds the Corinthian church that God is faithful.

Then I recognized that all these passages are about waiting for deliverance from something and the anxiety that goes with the waiting because of circumstances of life. Did you know that depression in society increases during the Christmas holidays? At then same time, suicide is lowest in December. Holiday depression and anxiety are high this month but so is hopeful anticipation.

It's a kind of bad news/ good news situation. So let the waiting begin.

Allen