Advent Reflections: December 5

2 Peter 3: 8-15 BibleGateway.com

In the Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You'll Go, there is an excerpt about waiting.

The Waiting Place ... for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come,

or a plane to go or the mail to come,

or the rain to go or the phone to ring,

or the snow to snow

or waiting around for a Yes or a No

or waiting for their hair to grow ...

Everyonme is just waiting.

Sometimes Advent feels like that. Waiting for what is to come, preparing for what might be, and in the midst of all that anticipation, maybe even forgetting the true reason for this season of waiting.

So, while we are "hastening for the coming of the day" as 2 Peter suggests, let us use this time for some spiritual formation by actively waiting. May our anticipation spur us to wait with new eyes and hearts alert to our surroundings - by finding ways to be agents of change and hospitality in our community and to the stranger whom we will surely encounter in the living of these waiting days.

We wait for you, Emmanuel. And we wait upon you in our service to one another. Make our waiting time worthy time. Use it to form us into the heralds of the new creation. And let us know that you are near as we wait. Amen

Jackie Saxon, Admissions Counselor
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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