My post from a few days ago, Advent Truth, was the first in almost six months. During that time some of you may have wondered, “What happened to Mike?” A few of you emailed or left a comment asking that question. It’s a good question and one I’ve been asking myself.

So, what happened? In short, I retired. I preached my last sermon at St. Philip’s and concluded my tenure there as rector. Cyndy and I packed our things and moved to Bastrop, Texas, about three hours from Uvalde. We unpacked and began learning how to be retired. That’s harder than it sounds, harder than I expected. It has made me have to look at what’s going on in what is happening. 

That’s the deeper question. What’s going on in what is happening? For me that question touches and pokes at things like identity, value and worth, grief and loss, meaning and purpose, freedom and structure, community and belonging, rest and healing, dreams and new opportunities.

What about you? Take a look at your life. What’s going on in what is happening? What is getting touched or poked?

I’ve recently begun thinking about my last six months as a season of Advent but I don’t mean Advent in the usual sense. For most of us, I suspect, the Season of Advent is a countdown to Christmas. Advent wreaths and calendars guide us through the days to Christmas. 

Even as I ask that last question I’m thinking, The last thing any of us need right now is another crisis. But that’s how I’ve come to see the past six months and it has reshaped my understanding of Advent.

Most of us probably think of a crisis as one of those “Aw, shhhiiioot!!” events in which something has gone wrong, something broke or failed. Things are falling apart. Life isn’t like it used to be. There has been a significant change or loss. There is difficulty, trouble, risk, suffering, danger. In general, we tend to see a crisis as a big mess and a problem to be fixed. 

The origin of the word crisis, however, comes from a Greek verb meaning “to separate, judge, decide.” The word originated in a medical context and referred to the turning point in the course of a disease when it becomes clear whether the patient will recover or die.

In that sense, crisis – a life or death turning point, a make it or break it moment – is a theme or thread that runs throughout the Season of Advent. Every year the Advent lectionary presents that theme through the same four Sunday pattern:

• The 1st Sunday of Advent is apocalyptic, the world is coming to an end. It happens in each of our lives. It’s not the literal world as much as it is a world or my world. My world ended the day of my retirement. Other times my world has ended when a loved one died, when I got divorced, when I left the practice of law to go to seminary. Every world-ending event presents a crisis. When has your world ended?
• The 2nd and 3rd Sundays of Advent present John the Baptist. We generally associate him with the wilderness and repentance. It’s a time of crisis, a turning point. Isn’t that really what it means to repent? To turn?
• The 4th Sunday of Advent is about pregnancy, new life, a future. We hear about it in the annunciation to Mary, in Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth (two pregnancies), and this year we hear about Mary’s pregnancy through Joseph.

Advent begins with an ending and ends with a beginning. But there is also all the in between stuff. Half of the Advent Sundays are about the in between stuff. 

Advent is a season in which something has ended, life is no longer like it used to be, and what will be has not yet been born or come into existence. We are betwixt and between. That time is often characterized by waiting and hoping, expectation and anticipation, wondering and not knowing. It’s liminal space, a transition between what was and what’s next.

Every crisis presents a choice, a turning point, a make it or break it moment. That doesn’t necessarily mean we choose, control, or determine the outcome of the event. Rather, we choose and control how we respond and how we mange ourselves in and through the event.

We either choose and turn toward beliefs, attitudes, words, and actions that protect, nourish, and grow life, or we choose and turn toward beliefs, attitudes, words, and actions that negate, diminish, and deny life. How we choose and the direction we turn not only affect our lives but the lives of others. We see and hear that in the daily news.

In a subsequent post I will offer St. Joseph as our Advent guide and companion and what we might learn from his crisis. We’ll look at four qualities of Joseph and how they might help us in our crises. For now, let me ask you this. 

Consider the following: your personal circumstances and relationships, your faith and spirituality, your civic and political life, the events happening in this country or the world, any other aspect of your life that catches or needs your attention.

• In what ways are you betwixt and between what used to be and what’s next? 
• What’s the in betweenness you are living?
• Are you at a turning point in your life today? What is it?
• What might this crisis be asking of you? 

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Image Credits:
1. Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash.
2. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.