What are we waiting for?

The first week of Advent was this past Sunday. You may not be from a religious tradition that celebrates or any religious tradition at all but this is the beginning of the liturgical Church calendar and the season that proceeds Christmas. The four Sundays before Christmas mark the season of waiting for the advent (from the Latin adventus meaning "come") of Christ. In sermons throughout this season you will hear correlations drawn between a child's eager anticipation of Christmas morning and how we ought to look forward to the coming of Christ and the salvation of the world. That analogy is great the first time you hear it but here's my problem. He already came. And went. And came again. Maybe I'm crazy because my beliefs on the Second Coming are a little (way) less literal and apocalyptic. But why are we waiting around?

Look, (sorry, I'm about get real Christian here, if you aren't into theology, now's the time to go get a drink or popcorn) Christ already did His thing. He gave us the road map and He opened the gate. I don't get why we (Christians) ponce around so much waiting for more. We wait upon the Lord and we're waiting for the Day and we treat our planet like crap because it doesn't matter, we've got a heavenly home waiting. And I think that is BS. Heaven is here, now, and within our grasp. It is our choice to make heaven on earth, "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me" and whatnot. I recently heard peace described as everyone doing God's will. Whether or not you believe God has a will or even if there is a God, I think we can all agree that peace is a good idea and, if we all worked at it, that'd be awesome. But we don't and I think Christians are particularly at fault because we hype it all the time and then twiddle our thumbs waiting for Christ to come do it for us. This has got to stop! If you want the Christmas spirit to really live in everyone's hearts this season, stop sending out Christmas cards with the 'Christ' part of Christmas highlighted and maybe act a little nicer to people on Black Friday or any day for that matter.

I'm just as much to blame and we're all hypocrites and I get that total world peace is a BIG dream. But even if we tried, just a little? If we stopped waiting and wondering and actually did something about it? To quote Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, "As my father told me when I said I'd never get that job in a bar: 'Honey, your odds go up when you file an application.'" So, this year, Advent is not my season of waiting or anticipation but my season of Carpe Pacem. I'm going to go out there and own this Advent. I hope you do too.

BTW, I have no idea how I'm going to do this. Be nicer and more perfect than I already I am? Impossible.