From the Pastor

Waiting with Mary

by Chris George, Senior Pastor

Advent is the season of waiting. Nobody likes waiting alone. This is why we like to have a family member or a friend beside us in the waiting room before our surgery. This is why the ministers at Smoke Rise will make hospital visits and spend time praying and waiting with family before and after surgery. Nobody likes waiting alone. So, this year, I have decided we are going to wait together. We are going to wait with Mary. We are going to look at the story of Jesus’ birth through the eyes and experiences of his mother.

Many protestants in general and Baptists in particular believe that Catholics have made too much of Mary in the gospel story. But, I would argue in response that we have done too little. We have often minimized her part in the story. We have ignored the role she played in salvation history.

There is an old story told that when William Ralph Inge, the late dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, possibly the greatest church in Protestant Christendom, died and was ushered into heaven, Jesus met him at the pearly gates and said, “Ah, William, welcome. I know that you know my Father, but I don’t believe you have ever met my mother.”

This Advent Season at Smoke Rise, we are going to meet Mary, to watch her walk and to listen to her talk. We are going to learn from her and to wait with her for the Christ Child to be born.

I am going to ask you to do something difficult. It may seem almost impossible in a world that is trying to force us to fast forward to Christmas. I want to ask you to slow down. To slow down and wait.

Waiting is hard. Advent is hard.

Our culture encourages us to skip it. Christmas has come early this year. Home Depot and Lowe’s had Christmas trees in their stores in September. Not to be outdone, Hobby Lobby and Michael’s put their trees up in August.

I know the temptation to just take and spread Christmas out over weeks and months, instead of taking time at Advent to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of Christ. I recently heard the story of a woman who took Christmas preparation so seriously that she wrote the practice into her wedding vows. Just after “for better and for worse,” just before “in sickness and in health,” this woman had her husband commit, before God and the company assembled, that he would put up the Christmas decorations each year on October 1. I can’t verify if those vows have been strictly enforced, but I can tell you the couple has been married for more than 40 years.

This Advent, we as a church are going to do something counter-cultural because we believe that there is wisdom in waiting, even if it is not easy.  I pray that this Advent will help us see Christmas in a new light, through the lens of an expectant mother who is taking a journey.

Christmas can be chaotic. Advent can be cathartic. Advent is not meant to make us miss the fun, but to focus on what really matters.

So, let’s wait with Mary—with anticipation and affirmation, with celebration and preparation…