Advent is about the coming of Emmanuel, which means “God with us,” and so as the fields outside our windows go to sleep, we stay awake and watch, holding to the belief that God is with us, is close and present, and that we will be healed.Tom's story drew me into the spirit of the season of Advent, my favorite of the church year, the season of the paradox of anticipation and recognition of the Kingdom of God, which is right now and not yet.
I want that belief, and that patience; I checked the box on the form choosing that. But it has not been forthcoming. I have instead been feeling a little — what is the psychiatric term? — cuckoo. My mind has been doing a Native American worry chant, WORRYworryworryworryworryworryworryworryWORRYworryworry … It’s not that I don’t have a lot of faith. It’s just that I also have a lot of mental problems. And I want to fix them all, and I want to do that now, or at least by tomorrow afternoon, right after lunch.
With thanks for the link to my friend Paul (A.) of the jokes. The story is no joke, but rather one of the loveliest of Advent stories.
