Wow, this year has flown by. We are already approaching the beginning of another liturgical calendar year. It seems just a few days ago we were in the midst of Advent, counting down the days with anticipation that we would see our Lord born once more. The king of all creation there in a lowly hay manger among the cow slobbers, born into the bottom socioeconomic level, born to a displaced couple who were homeless for the night! Does that seem a bit upside down to you? A king born where you would least expect him to be?

We, the people of the church, are in the symbolic time of waiting, waiting for the Christ to reveal himself in our world. This fall or should I say winter, has a definite advent feel. We had a cold snap with early snow and freezing temperatures, preceded by a, shall I say, less than productive growing season. We are in the midst of trade wars and we don’t seem to be making any ground in the war on hunger or the fight for peace. 

People are being displaced all over. Central Americans are waiting at the border. Syrians are running everywhere to find shelter and refuge. Californians are moving away from the flames that engulf their forest lands. Midwestern farmers are giving up ways of life that have been in their families for generations. It seems a cold, cold fall and early winter. 

It makes me think hard about the Christmas hymn “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

I guess it makes it easy for us to see how the people of the tiny occupied nation of Israel felt. They had heard for centuries of the coming of the one who would save them from their woes. The promised one who would change everything! The one who would restore everything for them. Yet they waited in darkness. It is also easy to see why the early church picked these darker days of winter to symbolize our waiting for the birth, the rebirth of a savior, a healer and redeemer. 

But wait a minute … no wonder it seems like just yesterday, it was yesterday that I was anxiously waiting to see the face of my savior. And I saw him on the face of a little tiny baby all wrapped up in a blanket with just his eyes peeking out. I saw him in the face of a mother shopping with three little stairstep blond boys in tow. I also saw Christ in the eyes of a 90-plus veteran who was suffering from an accident from which he may not recover. Scared and confused by dementia, and in intense pain, he still could find comfort in a prayer, a kind word and the touch of another. 

I saw Christ in the work of doctors and nurses rushing around the VA hospital working to heal and comfort those in need. I saw Christ in the hands that held out a cup of coffee, or offered a smile and a listening ear by those volunteers who spent their most precious resource with others, their time. I looked around at all the handicapped and the sick veterans who knew well the concept of giving of themselves for others, and there was the Christ! 

So as we symbolically celebrate advent, this time of waiting, may we actively seek the face of Christ in those around us. Christ is coming into your life even as you read this! Get ready he is coming! 

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Lance Smith is pastor at Zwingli United Church of Christ in Monticello.