The decorations are up, the tree is fully trimmed, the presents are wrapped and the family is gathered.  Everything is ready and we all kind of mill around, not doing anything in particular because we are anticipating all that is to come.  For the Larson family that means a worship service with our friends at LCC, then our annual Christmas Eve fondue followed by unwrapping the gifts from each other and the California family.  Then it’s back to church for the later service which is just different enough to be a new service.  It’s one of the most fun and anticipated days of our family year.  But with everything ready to go, we pass the morning uneasily, checking and rechecking on things, passing the time, and just waiting.

I wonder if this is part of the feeling I get sometimes about life and the church.  Sometimes it feels like we’re just milling around, trying to see what else we have to accomplish before the Big Day.  Not finding much, we take on individual tasks and ministries, but really we’re all just waiting.  We’re all waiting for the day that Jesus returns.

Today is the last day of Advent, our season of waiting.  I think it’s fitting that we begin the liturgical year with Advent, with waiting.  Jesus is coming, and so we wait for it.  And while Advent is about waiting for Christmas, it’s also about waiting for Jesus to come again.

I hope this unease we feel with the world around us is about that.  We’re ready for Jesus to come, and so we just have to wait.  And waiting is uneasy work.  What if we forgot something?  What if it doesn’t go as planned?  What if…  So it’s good to know that we await a God of grace and mercy, of joy and hope, of purity and unity.  And when He comes, the unease and waiting will be over and Real Life will begin.  I can’t wait!