I have been keeping vigil these days with a friend who has Lou Gehrig’s disease. 

In the hospital with pneumonia, he no longer has the muscle strength to cough forcefully enough to clear his lungs.  He is waiting for the doctor to come to explain the next procedure to be used to help keep him comfortable.  He is waiting.  We, his friends, are waiting, too.  We are anxiously keeping watch and hoping for his relief from suffering.

There are so many times of waiting and longing in our lives.  Sometimes, as with my hospitalized friend, we wait anxiously for what is clearly a relief from suffering.  Other times it is a waiting and watching for something joyous, like the birth of a healthy child.

Our Advent seasons may get covered over by the gloss of the culture, busy getting ready for another consumer oriented Christmas.  Yet as we dig down deep, we know that the Advent season is about a whole lot more. It is a time of waiting in anxious anticipation and in joyful hope.   Advent, like the hospital vigil, is a time of waiting and hoping for relief.   Isaiah longed for the one who would come to relieve the suffering of the people.  Advent, like the anticipated birth of a healthy child, is also about waiting in joyful hope.

Perhaps because we know more of the story, we may dismiss the serious longing of this Advent season.  Distracted by lights and activity, we may forget to get in touch with the waiting and longing of the people who lived before the time of Christ.  We may even try to forget our own longing. 

Clearly this week’s scriptures call us to pay attention and let go of distraction.  This is a season to take seriously our own longing and the longing of all creation for relief and joyful hope.