Most of the people that I love would tell you that I’m a person of ritual, formality, and precise repetition. I love patterns! I get up at pretty much the same time each day; I listen to the same albums when I go to the gym (and yes, I recognize that calling them “albums” places me in a particular generation); and I love to cook the same foods, over and over. Sometimes that desire for reiteration causes tension in my relationships; that said, usually people are grateful for the faithfulness that, in my attention to detail, I often evince. That sort of discipline not only helps me to manage physical and psychological pain, but also gives me a viewpoint that (I would like to think) is generally aligned with what God wants.
As I write this, it’s the beginning of the season of Advent, the season of hope, peace, joy, and love that heralds the birth of Christ. We who believe in Jesus of Nazareth wait expectantly for his appearance in our lives. That said, there’s a problem with discipline, even discipline that hopes for a great reward: as the late great practical theologian Tom Petty sang long, long ago, “The waiting is the hardest part.” Waiting is difficult, even if we have social and spiritual support in place. Thus, how can the Scriptures give us gentle disciplines that help us to wait for God’s love and justice?
When I can take time to centre, recharge, and rest, I can both do the work that God calls me to do, and to be the person God wants me to be.
Well, let’s start at the beginning. Even God rests sometimes. In Genesis 2:2-3, we read, “On the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation” (NRSV). In the New Testament, Jesus too takes this discipline seriously, because he definitely takes time to seek God’s will and to recharge for his mission (e.g., Luke 6:12-13, Mark 6:30-32, Matthew 14:1-13). Thus, we can see that one gentle discipline that helps us to be attentive in Advent to the coming of the Lord is rest.
That’s easy to say and hard to do, obviously, because most people—even the friends of Jesus—have families, bills to pay, and concerns that transcend the purely spiritual. However, I know from my own life as a highly driven person that I need regular breaks from written work, from going to the gym, from endlessly scrolling through Indeed and LinkedIn (an enervating ritual I wish on no one). When I can take time to centre, recharge, and rest, I can both do the work that God calls me to do, and to be the person God wants me to be. It’s not just about sleep, either. Rest can mean eating pancakes with family and friends, reading, playing video games, or drinking tea, coffee, or stronger drinks. Many activities are restful.
Rest isn’t the only discipline that we can cultivate as we attend to the Lord’s coming. Another important discipline, in terms of Advent hope (and hope in general!) is reorientation. In a physical sense, I embody reorientation a lot: I regularly forget where I am in space, and bump into things quite often, so specific activities or landmarks serve as focal points during my day. Stretching, prayer, and eating breakfast—usually with strong coffee—are all touchstone activities for me, because they point me in the right direction.
This aspect of offering God our attention in Advent may be especially important in this season of the world’s life because we live in tumultuous times.
In a theological sense, reorientation is one of the biggest things Scripture teaches us. After he alights in prison in Egypt, Joseph experiences a change of heart, from an overbearing confidence sure of its own gifts to a humility that thinks of others before itself (Genesis 39-41); similarly, after his first child by Bathsheba dies, David experiences a reorientation towards God’s purposes (2 Samuel 12; Psalm 51). Jesus, and after him Paul, also advocates for this turn towards God: “The Kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15, NIV; Romans 4:13-25). In our own communities, part of our Advent reorientation may include times of quiet devotion with Taizé songs, Christmas pageants, bake sales, and an abundance of worship services meant to highlight diverse aspects of our expectation.
This aspect of offering God our attention in Advent may be especially important in this season of the world’s life because we live in tumultuous times. Numerous organizations advocate for people on the margins of Western societies, and big issues are clamouring for our attention: for example, climate change is wreaking havoc is various parts of the world, multiple parties wage war for both just and unjust reasons, and the economic systems in which we are enmeshed exalt some groups of people and oppress others. In Advent, we are called to pray and act for what Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh call “the advent of justice.”
Finally, in terms of disciplines that can aid our attentiveness to God’s purposes in Advent, Jesus advocates a stringent discipline to the inner life that we could call renewal. In Luke 10, Jesus visits the sisters Mary and Martha; he praises Mary for her wholesale devotion to his teachings, but cautions Martha for paying greater attention to the cares of the world than to God’s things (Luke 10:38-42). Later on in Luke, he cautions his disciples to be ready for his coming, because “the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Luke 12:40). We are called to renew our minds and souls in Advent (Romans 12:1-2), in order to wait for God’s coming. There are many ways for us to do this. In Advent and at Christmastime, carols and other songs can both stir and soothe our emotions; baking and taking time to remember other Christmases is certainly a helpful source of renewal; and, at Christmastime and at all times, regular physical exercise is a wonderful way to refresh our minds to make ourselves ready to celebrate and honour Christ’s coming.
In this (relatively!) short post, I’ve noticed three clusters of disciplines that we can undertake in order to meet Christ in Advent. Different modes of rest, reorientation, and renewal can help us to prepare for what God wants us to do, and who God wants us to be. Hopefully, this brief list is a blessing to you and yours in this busy season!
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