“Stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around you . . . remember that the lives of others are not your business. They are their business. They are God’s business . . . even your own life is not your business. It also is God’s business. Leave it to God. It is an astonishing thought. It can become a life-transforming thought . . . unclench the fists of your spirit and take it easy . . . What deadens us most to God’s presence within us, I think, is the inner dialogue that we are continuously engaged in with ourselves, the endless chatter of human thought. I suspect that there is nothing more crucial to true spiritual comfort . . . than being able from time to time to stop that chatter . . . ”
― Frederick Buechner, “Telling Secrets”
Buechner has been one of my favorite writers and speakers since the early 1970′s. His book “Telling Secrets” I share with many other people.
I am observing the Christian season of Advent up to the season of Christmas which begins on December 25. This is an ancient practice. The observance of Advent in our time fits with what Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law not to condemn it. This ancient practice is today counter-cultural even though it is far more traditional than what is happening around me. It fulfills what God intended for the world from the beginning.
In the practice of Advent is quiet and preparation for the coming & the return of the Savior. It is both/and. That doesn’t make sense in the modern contemporary world, yet it is what God did and is still doing. It takes time and quiet to live into this. You can’t “understand” your way into it. That is very counter-cultural today to not be able to “get it” so you can figure it out, control it and then do it “right.” This is more about being than doing.
Buechner writes about the internal quiet. That is what we need in this external raucous world we live in. It is what we need for Advent. There are many competing voices claiming to soothe, heal and ease our pain…just as there were at the time 2000 years ago. Jesus of Nazareth was only one of many would be claimants as the Christ/Messiah/Savior of that day. How could you sort out who was the one sent from God? Jesus was the least likely candidate because he didn’t meet any of the long held expectations and stereotypes of what a messiah would be. Consumer Reports would not have him on their recommended product list for messiahs.
How do you know who Jesus is today? How do you know what you are waiting for? How do you know who he is among us now? It is easy to to do Christmas! It is not easy to hear the voice of God direct us to the real messiah in a consumerist culture with many competing products that want our time, our devotion and our money with the promise we will transcend the difficulty, struggle and hurt in this world if we will consume them. The Messiah has far more competitors today than he did 2000 years ago. However, the internal human desire for something to “save” us is the same as It was then. And we think we know the “recommended” one just because we do church, or claim to be Christian or live in the so-called American Christian culture. All of that just makes it that much more difficult to discern (sort out) WHO is the ONE. It deludes us into thinking we know and just need to do “it” again this year to get it right. IT IS NOT THAT EASY!!! It is all the trappings of Christianity and Christmas of our culture that in fact have turned this into a difficult “where’s Waldo?” journey of Advent to hear the voice of God.
So it is time to LISTEN to the voice in our head . Is it it God’s? Time and quiet will tell.
