December 9, 2021 - Advent Week 2

 

 


37 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

4 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Psalm 37:1-5

King James Version

 

 

Fret not. It’s easier said then done. We are living in an anxious time, a divisive time, an angry time.

 

According to “A struggling system Understanding the health care impacts of the pandemic,” commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association and released in November 2021 many of us are fretting these days. At the height of the pandemic self-reported levels of high anxiety peaked at 27% and high levels of depression reached 17% in Canada. While those numbers have lessened slightly, about a quarter of Canadians still reported severe levels of anxiety and 15% of us admitted to being severely depressed in June 2021.

 

It is hard not to be anxious in the face of uncertainty.  It is hard to believe that if we wait patiently for the right thing to happen, it will happen. If you are like me, you may be angry that greed, name calling, and ‘othering’ seem to be sure fire paths to wealth, influence, and political power. 

 

You may be tempted to rage rather pray. You many want to force your own vision of justice without asking God for guidance. But that is not what we are told to do in any of today’s readings. 

 

We are told to wait patiently and not only to wait, but to be joyful in that hard waiting — like children anticipating Christmas even before the first Advent candle is lit.  

 

During this Advent we may anxiously wonder if our prayers are heard. We may doubt that God sees us. Yet, if you are like me, when you sit down to spend time with Him, you may feel his presence surround you like a warm hug. Sometimes, it is only in quietly looking back from a safe place that we understand the times God gave us wisdom to avoid danger or brought help when we were too tired to keep on trying by ourselves. 

 

So, we wait as the ancients did for Jehovah to save us. We wait for justice, for prosperity, for the end to our shame. In the now and in the not yet between time, we know that Christmas will come, and Epiphany, too. Be not afraid.

 

- Jane Harris-Zsovan

 


 

 

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