The shadows of time – past, as well as future. What could have been in my life … as well as what might come of me. Hard to face, either direction. And why should Advent be a time to face them, now that Christmas cheer comes knocking on our door?
The prophet
Malachi waxes eloquent of shadowy time forward. Initially, he
is upbeat. He announces the prospects of consummate joy to come: “See, I am sending my messenger to
prepare the way before me,” he writes, “and the Lord whom you seek will
suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you
delight.”
Sounds
like Christmas certainty, to me! But wait – the prophet is not finished. There’s
still the other shoe: “Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand
when he appears?”
The
shadows of time forward. It takes a prophet to see and name the promise as well
as the peril. Who – indeed – can face up to their mortality? Who – indeed – can
face it down? For not all of
life’s advents may seem desirable to us. I do not necessarily look forward to
many things about older age. And certainly, not the end of that age.
As
for the age to come: Ah, the hope! Nay: the promise! But none of us knows that
time. For some, such a prospect may seem more perilous than promising.
And so each of
us is called in the Season of Advent, this time of preparation and readiness
for Christmas, to place our life in a healthy spiritual perspective. And to do
so by setting our face to the shadows of times past as well as future, with abiding
trust in God’s presence in the midst of the present.
- Times past: Facing, in the light of our release, the shadows of our regrets and our resentments.
- Times future: Facing, in the light of our faith, the shadows of our fears.
- Time present: Facing the shadows caused by … well … finding ourselves lost – stuck, even – in times past and times future.
This Season of
Advent: Calling us to embrace life’s advent by facing – and then containing –the
shadows of time. Dispelling the ghosts of Christmas Past and Christmas Future.
The Apostle Paul looks back from
his prison cell today, to the church he has helped establish in Philippi. He
faces the shadows of times past. And how does he respond? What are his regrets?
Do we hear any resentment? “I
thank God every time I remember you,” he writes. “Constantly praying for you
with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in
the gospel from the first day until now.”
And
then, having faced his past, Paul pivots to the future: “I am confident of
this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion
by the day of Jesus Christ.”
And
finally, the Apostle steers the Philippians back to the present: “It is right
for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart,
for all of you share in God’s grace with me.”
Sometimes,
it takes a prison cell – or some other detainment, or any sense of loss – to face
down and face up to the shadows of time, and in the process envision all of
God’s goodness clearly in the present. (Having personally served time in prison
– as with Paul, for being a witness to the Good News – I can attest to this
occasional phenomenon.)
Again,
hear Paul, deeply centered out of his loss and detainment: He looks at the past
with joy, not resentment … He looks at the future in hope, not fear … He looks
at the present, in sheer compassion: being held – and sharing all.
Powerless over
his captivity and his life unmanageable, Paul has embraced, and made friends
with, the shadowy destiny of his life. He has embraced God’s unveiling advent for
his life by facing down, and facing up to, the shadows of time.
