Friday of the Third Week of Advent
There's a kind of joy that you get in anticipation of something good happening - this time of year, it's mostly children that we see with that kind of joy. They are so excited for Christmas that they're joyful about it, because they can almost, almost, almost see the lumpy stockings, and taste the chocolates, and the Christmas dinner.
Adults experience it too, though: knowing, with near certainty, that an important contract will be signed, or a patient will pull through, or a raging wildfire will finally, inexorably, be extinguished, though it is not yet completely out. This "almost-there" joy is real, but it doesn't allow us the kind of relaxation and rest that full-on joy allows. The fire is still there to be put out, work is still there to be done. Yet we can do this work in joy.
Today's scriptures speak to us about this "almost-there" joy, and they invite us to revel in it. In the first reading (Song of Songs 2:8-14), a woman has been waiting a while for her beloved to come home. She names all the things that are over and past: the winter is gone, the rain is done, flowers are starting to bloom. But she is still waiting: the couple in love is not quite reunited, and we can sense both the pang of separation and also the exuberance of her "almost-there" joy.
Christians throughout the ages have meditated on the Song of Songs as a love poem about God and us. In this season of Advent, God lovingly invites us to be with him, to anticipate life and love with God in this kind of exuberant way.
The gospel reading (Luke 1:39-45) features Mary's journey to visit Elizabeth. There are several kinds of "almost-there" joys in this story. Elizabeth is further along in her pregnancy than Mary, so perhaps Mary can sense the joy of anticipation. But Elizabeth, too, experiences this joyful anticipation once she knows that Mary's child is the long-awaited Messiah.
How amazing it is to think of how close Jesus is, then. The infinite God has already become humbly human yet we still have a while to wait. God is already present among us, which is a cause for joy, and yet we still have some waiting, and working, to do.
Today, let us pray for God to make us aware of all the ways he's already here among us...even while we wait for God's full presence. Let us pray for this kind of celebratory joy in the mist of our watching, waiting and working.
- Jana M. Bennett