Advent, which starts on Sunday, is a season built around waiting.
The ability to wait is extremely important in the human life, particularly the Christian life. We must wait to grow up. We should wait to have sex until we get married. We need to wait until we have saved enough money to buy what we want. We must wait to advance in our jobs. When we are sick, we must wait to get well.
But, as my fellow Patheos blogger Adam Renberg points out at Anxious Bench, our culture and our technology all work against waiting. We demand immediacy. And our technology provides it. “We have not quite reached instant gratification here,” he says, “but we are getting close.”
People today often refuse to wait to get married to have sex–they say they can’t wait. We have devised credit systems to buy what we want now and figure out how to pay for it later. We now get mail instantly. We can order what we want online and it can be delivered in a day (or even the same day). Because we have forgotten how to wait, we get frustrated about our jobs and our lives. And when we suffer, we can hardly handle it at all.
The virtue that teaches us to wait is patience. The Bible says a great deal about the importance of cultivating patience. It is nothing less than one of the fruits of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Renberg says that one way we can learn to wait by cultivating patience is through the disciplines of the church year:
There are many ways we might facilitate the cultivation of patience in our lives, but one historical expression was through the liturgical seasons, especially Advent and Lent. These seasons emphasize repentance of sin and waiting on the coming victory of Christ. While this victory is already won, early Christians encourage us to participate in the expectant waiting for the full realization of the kingdom in our own lives and in this world throughout these seasons. In waiting, one has the opportunity to practice patience.
Advent is about how the saints of the Old Testament waited for the coming of Christ. And how the saints of today wait for the second coming of Christ. Children all psyched up for Christmas, with its presents and celebrations, learn to wait for Christmas day. As do adults. In learning to wait for what we want, we practice the virue of patience.
We often use “virtue” as a synonym for morality. But, strictly speaking, “virtue” means “strength.” Virtues were thought of as the strengths that enable a person to act morally. They had to do with character. To be sure, our virtues like our morality are lacking, which means that they need to be developed. The way that happens, according to the ancients, is by cultivating the habits of virtue.
The habits of going to church, hearing God’s Word, confession and absolution, and receiving Holy Communion can shape us and build up the so-called “theological virtues” of faith, hope, and love. Even non-believers, though, could develop the “natural virtues” of prudence, justice, courage, and self-control. Today, not only the theological virtues are neglected, so are the secular virtues. In these terms, patience has a theological side, relating to faith and hope, and also a natural side, relating to prudence, courage, and self-control.
Renberg goes into more detail about how the liturgical year works:
One wonders if our culture of instant gratification has seeped into how we think about theological realities and hindered our virtue formation. Why would we take part in Advent and Lent, when Christmas and Easter have already taken place? Why not decorate our houses for Christmas before Halloween? The ancients might help us, here.
First, they might argue that virtue formation is not supposed to be instant—it is the process itself which accomplishes the desired outcome. In this, waiting is necessary (though not sufficient), especially for the development of patience. Second, by putting in spiritual practices that emphasize our waiting on the Lord, we are reminded of what we are waiting for. The world is not as it should be, and there will be a time when all will be made new. Waiting and reflecting on our need for a messiah, therefore, allows us to recognize the evils in the world while practicing hope for its restoration. Third, this spiritual discipline allows us to experience the reality of Christ’s salvific work anew each season. Without periods of intense reflection, we might forget the overwhelming grace of God in the routine of life. In other words, we better understand the joy of the nativity if we consider the depths of our plight in Advent.
The point of Advent, of course, is not just waiting. It’s that what we wait for in patience actually happens. Jesus came. Despite all of the evils and tribulations we endure here, He will come again. And our lives, which consist so much in waiting, will have a joyous finale in the eternal life that Christ has prepared for us. Thus, Advent teaches us not only patience but faith, hope, and love.
Photo: Advent Wreath by Kittelendan, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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