How long, O Lord?
Dear First Pres SLO Family,
Grace and peace to you in the name of the Messiah Jesus, the one whose coming we celebrate, and whose return we long for.
As I’ve been saying, Advent is a season when we learn again what it means to wait—to cultivate a sense of longing and expectation as we prepare our hearts for Christmas. I’m feeling the need to wait for Jesus this week—I have a confession for you, but that’s for after this story.
When I was five years old I spent the summer with my family in southern Italy. We lived on a farm where my cousins lived—they didn’t have much, but I remember it being such a magical time of food and laughter and animals and other kids that I got to play with.
As the time came for us to leave and come back to California, my parents wanted to give a gift as a way of saying thank you for their hospitality. They decided on a television. Now there was no cable then, and so getting the antenna and wiring set up was quite a project. On the first night that the TV was operational, the whole family sat silently to watch the news. There were the usual world stories—I remember there being so much unrest in places like Paris and Rome. In the news that first night was a breaking story about a school bus crash, with the loss of a handful of precious children.
The program ended and my parents stood up to go to the dining room for dinner, but none of our Italian cousins moved. They were weeping at the news they’d just seen. There were only a few kids in their village, and that last bulletin about the bus crash upset them deeply.
As an adult looking back on that memory, it taught me something about the ways we can be desensitized to the repetition of sad or tragic events. The more times something happens, the less it impacts our hearts and lives. My parents had seen tragedies on the news before. My Italian relatives had not.
I say all of that because I feel sad about something I didn’t do on Sunday.
The town of Oxford in Michigan lost four high school kids to gun violence last week, and I forgot to mention it or lead our church family in prayer when we gathered for worship. I’ve been thinking about that, and beating myself up a little, to be honest. How in the world did I get so callous about events like that? How could I forget to pray for the families who lost kids who were only a few years younger than my own? What happened to my soft heart?
Of course, one answer is that it’s happened so often that I managed to forget about it. Gun violence in our culture is a stubborn problem, and our leaders have been equally resistant to finding any meaningful response. But politics aside, Sunday was a reminder to me that I can’t allow myself to forget to grieve the losses and offer prayers, no matter how repetitive the rhythm of shootings and death might be. Honestly, I can hardly keep them all straight.
That leaves me with an Advent challenge to myself, and to all of you. In Advent we’re meant to remind ourselves of our need for a Savior—the absolute necessity of God’s hand in confronting the evil in our culture and in our world…and in us. We’re meant to join with the Psalmist in the cry, “How long, O Lord?”
But we’re also called to act. If there could be one issue that drew all parties and views together, why can’t it be this one? No matter how futile it seems at times, it’s our calling as children of the Prince of Peace to try to bring some of that peace to the people who need it most.
For now, though, I’m sad about the hardness of my heart.
I know some of you will want to comfort me and say that it’s not my fault, that I have so many things to remember on Sunday mornings. But…I’m OK with feeling the sadness and guilt of what I see in myself. It’s a part of my Advent process to see the gaps and broken places in my own life of discipleship, and to learn to wait for God’s healing even there.
Maybe that’s something that would help you, too, as you move toward Christmas Day. Where do you need to be reminded of your need for a Savior? Make that question part of your own journey this Advent season.
We’re almost there, but we’re not there yet.
Blessings to you, and do everything you can to keep yourself and your neighbors healthy.
Pastor John
Some Important Updates
1. We continue to abide by the SLO County Guidelines for public gatherings, including churches. We will not be singing during services this season, though I do encourage you to do some serious humming!
2. There will be two Christmas Eve services, at 5pm and 7pm. Please make reservations in the church office. BOTH SERVICES WILL BE LIVESTREAMED AND AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE.
3. Please watch for announcements in the Peak and on the website.