The run up to Christmas has become one of the most obvious symbols of our deeply consumerist culture. A central part of this culture is the desire for instant gratification and frustration at any sense of having to wait for things. Obvious examples of this include the endless day-time commercials and letters we receive offering us credit and the adverts a few years ago promoting a certain credit card as being able to ‘take the waiting out of wanting’. Much of the cause of the financial crisis we are now enduring is fairly obviously tied up with these attitudes.
Part of the value of Advent is the way in which it challenges these attitudes by reflecting the Bible’s emphasis on the importance of waiting for the blessings that God has promised us. During Advent we will think in turn about the key figures traditionally remembered by the church during this season – Abraham and Sarah, the Prophets, John the Baptist and Mary. In each case these people were made promises by God that they then had to wait to see fulfilled. The aim of this series is to give us a deeper understanding of the God-given value of waiting and the liberation this can bring us to make the most of our present situations as we wait for what God has promised us.
