Thursday, December 10, 2020

Ala Reid

Advent

If you took Latin in high school, as I had to do, you will remember that the word Advent comes from two Latin words: ad meaning “to” or “toward”, and venire: meaning “to come”. So, we are going towards a season that’s coming - Christmas! But for me, and perhaps for you, this year the joyous expectation of our celebration of the birth of Jesus is tinged with the sadness and losses brought on by COVID-19. Whoever expected this mess, this loss of life, the pain and struggle for so many people? My husband has Parkinson’s with dementia and lives in the memory unit at Sentry Hill. I can peek through the window and we had some 6’ distanced visits when the weather was better, but I have not touched him since March. That was not our expectation when he moved there.

When Rob asked me to write a reflection, the first thing that popped into my mind was Charles Dickens’ opening lines to A Tale of Two Cities. It seems to describe this year perfectly. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair …” Doesn’t that sound just like 2020?

But perhaps we can turn Dickens around and think of a winter of despair followed by a spring of hope. That’s what our Advent readings seem to be telling me this year, and that notion of a light at the end of the tunnel is very comforting. We wait for the birth of Jesus and we wait for a vaccine and to see our families and friends again. We wait, rather impatiently, but we must have hope.

In Mark 13 we heard, “Jesus said, “In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.”

The reading we heard from Isaiah 40, with those wonderful words Handel set to music, “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.” I have often felt that we are paying double over the past nine months!

And finally, when we get to the 3rd Sunday in Advent, Psalm 126 begins, “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then we were like those who dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongues with shouts of joy.” I am so ready for shouts of joy! How about you!

I hope your Advent season leads to a joyous Christmas and a 2021 full of shouts of joy!