LineaLanoie's Weblog

Seems about time to see if this blog can find new life. I wonder if things have shifted enough in how I use my time to allow me time to do some reflecting in this space.  Not sure anyone reads this anymore but mostly this is for me anyway.

I checked outside first thing this morning.  Snow again in the night.  Quite a lot.

Winter came early this year.  Now here it is, Advent already.

I seem to have expectations about Advent that are out of sync with the culture around me.  I wish I knew if this was a good or bad thing.  I love Christmas but it seems as if for most people Advent is simply a hurtling into Christmas.  As if now we are in for it in earnest so lets start the decorating and presents buying; lets get the latest decorations and put them up quickly before this season passes. 

There is a part of me that wants to do this too but am I just succumbing to the pressure of my consumerist culture? 

The other part of me screams, “WAIT!”  Advent is a time to wait.  But nobody seems to want to wait.  Including Christians.  They want to leave behind the purple of Advent and rush towards decorations – red and green and gold and all the sparkly things, the glitter and lights. 

It seems to me, and I may be wrong – as I usually seem to be – that we need to wait.  We need to consider the reasons for the waiting.  The whole universe waited for millennia till God sent his own son.  Then his presence was among us – he became one of us – was born, grew up in a human family, taught, was misunderstood, died, conquered evil and rose to offer us life too.  And now we wait for him again.  We need to remember that we are waiting people – waiting for our hope of a new creation, new life and freedom.  And while we wait we have his presence with us.  He did not leave us alone to wait in the dark.

There is so much we can learn if we take the time to wait.  A baby will arrive in good time.  Then we will celebrate!

I spent the day (well most of it) yesterday helping a friend move.  J is one of the women at Sanctuary Covenant where I am finishing up my pastoral internship.  Like many of the women who worship with us, she is single and has health issues that keep her from working a full time job. When an emergency arose in her life, she panicked and moved out of town to a situation that was way less than ideal.  Of course circumstances change and they did quickly – thanks be to God!  and she is back in the city now able to move into a new suite. 

Yesterday was moving day. I never thought that this would be part of my job description.  I had much loftier ambitions for the women – spending time in Bible studies and prayer together.  Did not think that in many instances I would be the answer God was sending them. 

I was not alone in this endeavour.  I have never seen men with trucks who so fully embodied the command to go the extra mile for someone in need.  They did so without any sense of obligation, did the job with cheerful spirits and gave freely of their time and fuel to drive the 150 or so Kms to get the job done.  A banker,an administrator, a student and a pastor all working together to help.

And I have to say, she needed to get her stuff out of there.  the “friend” that gave her a place to stay (charging rent of course) had the most filthy place – full of pet urine and feces, full of junk and boxes, full of nastiness.  No place for a human to stay!  We will never let her return to such horrid circumstances.