Advent|Do-ers & Be-ers

The Beatitudes

Advent is here and I have to admit that I am feeling some melancholy. This time last year I was in Israel-Palestine with Christian Peacemaker Teams. It was easy, I am aware of the irony, in that place to be a Do-er and and Be-er at the same time. Each day began and was framed by worship that was grounded in using The Beatitudes as a way in which to experience the Holy in places that were not always easy and in which the temptation for apathy and cynicism was always present. Using our hearing of The Beatitudes made it possible to be fully present as a Do-er!

As I walk into Advent this year, however, I think James’ words might be reframed to Christians in the 21st Century to read, “But be hearers of the word, and not merely doers who deceive themselves.” As opposed to, “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.” It seems that we stand in a bit of a tension with our consumerised holiday season to be always doing something: where every moment is filled with a meeting or party to attend, a gift to buy or a charity, NGO, Social Justice cause to support – all this doing is bloody exhausting! Furthermore, it seems we have stopped, been tempted, distracted (however you want to frame it) to let go of the Be-er, hearers, simply Being a people of faith.

Advent is a time for reflection, a time when Christians consider what the coming of the Light means: the coming of a human babe, who had and will inspire us to walk into places that are dangerous and challenging. The party is great; in fact it’s transforming, shattering and liberating! But … and yes this is an either/or situation, not a both/and, if we do not hear what should fill us to do, then can we truly claim to be living authentically as a people of faith?

This last Sunday, during UCiM’s weekly worship, the question occurred to my teammate after the Choir Anthem: Do we really want the Messiah to come? Do we really want to let the Light, which we see in Jesus’ ministry, interrupt our lives? If we do, do we consider what that in fact means? What would it mean for you as an individual and, perhaps more pointedly, what would happen to your community if the answer was YES?

Skid Mark

I am not sure if these questions are asked or offered rhetorically, but I hope they are, at the very least, heard reflectively. Perhaps they are questions of commitment, where the rubber hits the road, but if anyone of you/us feels/believes/longs for the answer to be YES, then these are questions that fit perfectly – in fact they are more than appropriate.

One of the reflective conversations that often occur in my networks, where people discuss Sabbath, revolves around Jesus’ constant hope and attempts to get away from the Crowds, to find some space to Be. The cynical side, as most of us teeter back and forth, says, “See even he couldn’t get away from them, from the demands, from the Doing!” As I have thought about the Blog, for this month, it occurred to me that the narrative of the stories, where Jesus tries to get away, have a nuance that perhaps we overlook – perhaps the Crowds did follow him, but it seems that if Jesus needed to reflect and simply Be, in other words he needed to recharge, he must have actually been able to do so just enough to continue to Do.

How do I know this? How can I imagine this? Well, perhaps I am projecting myself into the story (of course, that’s what makes a good story), if I never found time to Be, I can guarantee I would not be Doing for very long. I would get short and likely say something in my fatigue that would hurt another person seeking their own way and who came to me in trust. And, in most of those getting away stories, Jesus is not only present, some of his best ministry is modelled as the Crowds catch up with him!

So, as you need to in this season of Advent, I pray that you will find just enough space to consider the Light that we are all Called to Bear into the world, for which we are all called to be Do-ers. I pray that you may find the calm that is offered by reflection, just prior to the dawning of Hope that we call the Light – the Christ – and allows us to enter into places that can be dangerous, difficult, challenging and, ultimately, transforming.