Already? Not Yet!

advent - n.
  1. The coming or arrival,  especially one which is awaited.

  2. Advent - n

    1. The four Sundays leading up to Christmas.

    2. The coming of Jesus at the Incarnation.

    3. The second coming of Jesus.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language & Collins English Dictionary

There is a phrase that I have come to love and identify with. It's a phrase I first heard in seminary, but have since heard in several other places. It's a phrase that speaks of our place in the story of God’s salvation, the status of the Kingdom of God and the condition of our faith. They are "already and not yet."

For many, the season of Advent has been relegated to "the season we sing Christmas carols" or perhaps a season of preparation for Christmas. While these actions occur during Advent, they are not the primary purpose of the season. It is my belief that the primary purpose of Advent is to wait for God.

Our culture doesn't like to wait for anything. The idea of delayed gratification has been obliterated from our cultural lexicon. We nuke dinner, shop online, use credit rather than wait for payday, and use pay-per-view to watch movies when we want to see them! We want what we want, when we want it! But when we don’t have to wait for anything else, it becomes harder to wait for God.

During the season of Advent, we take a few deep breaths and remind ourselves what it means to wait. We look at the story of the Israelites waiting for their Messiah as a way to connect and identify with waiting. We too are waiting for the coming of Messiah. Jesus has already come to save us from our sin, and give us hope and joy for life, but we wait for Him to return in victory, breaking the curse that has been over creation since Adam and Eve fell away from God.

We are a people between salvations. We have already experienced freedom from sin and death because of Jesus, but we wait for that which is not yet: the Kingdom of God manifest on earth. We wait for the day that wars will cease, that oppression and prejudice are overturned, that famine and disease disappear. For this, we must wait. But we can actively wait. We wait, but still address the issues as God’s ambassadors, trying to lessen their negative impact. We wait, but while we wait, we work and we pray, "O come, O come, Emmanuel."

Homework this week: Wait.

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