"Looking Forward to Seeing You

December 6, 2021

Scripture

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.

(Luke 2:15-19NLT)

“Looking Forward to Seeing You”

What used to be a hackneyed phrase is now a meaningful expression of relationship. More and more we are “seeing” one another in person, it’s a very different “seeing”. Screen images reveal much but it is a lighted image we are viewing whereas in person light reflects from the faces of those we meet, revealing warmth and complexity in a very different way. So, we are indeed looking forward to seeing – really seeing- one another.

There is great joy in just being together. It is easy to underestimate how important kicking back over a drink and unstructured conversation is to us all. A lot of it can be superficial in its own way but that is important for releasing the tension of responsibility and careful scrutiny under which we operate. Sometimes the goofy is a doorway into a relaxed experience of silence and quieter conversation with God and one another – it opens up our shared hopes and dreams for now and the future.

It's that same spirit that energizes Advent. It isn’t that we don’t know Jesus was born 2000 years ago and lived among us but we look forward to really seeing him in these seasonal celebrations. We see him in many ways that aren’t physical but are deeper than we’d see on a screen – we see Jesus in our imagination and deep in our spirits.

Let’s say to Jesus “I’m looking forward to seeing you” in the hopes and fears we have now and for the future. Last Wednesday you received our 2021 Advent Prayers and a reflection I offered. All in aid of our “looking forward to seeing you, Jesus.” If you missed it here’s the link.

A Prayer from the Advent Card

Father in heaven, help me to learn from Mary, who pondered things in her heart. When I need Jesus, let me look with Mary’s way of contemplation: attentive, practical, affectionate. Like Mary, I want to reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation, on how God became man and lived with us, and on how Christ’s continuing presence quickens and transforms us. Amen (Emile Griffin in God With Us, Greg Pennoyer)