Originally posted Dec. 1, 2012, at Church Outloud. Republished with permission of the author.
I sat on the edge of my bed the other night and thought how long I’ve waited for my “real life” to start.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” The adult koan. Reducing childhood to a time spent waiting to grow up.
Then they send you to school to drive the point home. The goal is to graduate, which means you are prepared for what comes next. Real life, presumably, which will start when you get out of school.
Actually, that was kind of comforting. How depressing to think that high school was “real life.” Turns out, that wasn’t far off.
We’re prepped and primped for some “real life” future.
What prepares me for Now?
Advent is not about more waiting for real life, when Jesus comes. Advent, I think, is more about waking.
Advent is about slipping off your shoes on the edge of your bed one night, switching off the lamp, and realizing that our “real lives” unfold in a thousand ordinary moments so staggering in their scope, we scarcely can take it in.
Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near (Luke 21:29-30).
Find a link to Charles Oberkehr’s entry on the blog Church Outloud at Lutheran Blogs.
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