‘Look for the helpers’
While there are many helpful paraphrases of Scripture, one that I am often drawn to — because it does such a good job of bringing God’s Word to life for those of us living in the trenches — is Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase known as The Message. This past week, as we entered into the season of waiting and preparing referred to as Advent, I was struck by Peterson’s paraphrase of Jesus’ words from the 21st chapter of Luke: “Don’t let the sharp edge of your expectations be dulled by parties and drinking and shopping.” Jesus goes on to warn us of the danger all around, urges us to pay attention, and reassures us that help is on the way. From the sounds of it, one would think these words were written especially for faithful folks seeking to navigate this challenging season leading up to the celebration of Christ’s birth!
Let’s take a moment to focus on this matter of dulled expectations. If we were honest with ourselves, I believe we would agree that it is easy to go through life on autopilot, our hearts anesthetized and our spirits numbed by the sheer amount of ugliness and violence in our world. Even those of us who identify ourselves as people of faith fail to expect God to show up and do something extraordinary when we gather together to worship in our faith communities. The good news is, however, that God does show up ~ not because we have seduced God to do so with our clever worship services, but because God wills to do so. God breaks through the numbness, if we dare to give God a chance, and gives us reason to hope.
Hope is, without question, my favorite four-letter word of faith. It is so closely connected to another four-letter word of faith ~ WAIT ~ that in Scripture, the two words are often used interchangeably. There is a Russian proverb that reminds us the future belongs to those who know how to wait. Note: the proverb does not indicate that the future belongs to those who wait, but rather to those who know HOW to wait. The challenge is to redeem the time spent waiting instead of viewing that time as wasted or ill spent because we are accomplishing nothing. In the recently released movie Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh wisely reminds a very unhappy grown up Christopher Robin that “Doing nothing almost always leads to the very best of something,” and “I get where I’m going by walking away from where I’ve been.” In order to move forward, we must first stop, get our bearings and pay attention to God in our midst.
Because waiting is one of the hardest things we will ever do, Jesus assures us that help is on the way. We are not in this alone. The words of Fred Rogers come to mind — words that have been lifted up often in recent years in the aftermath of tragedy and unthinkable violence and destruction: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” What I have learned is that we all need help, both from the loving God who created us and from each other. I have been blessed to find myself surrounded by helpers in the community of faith I have had the privilege of serving for over 38 years, and I pray that you, too, will be able to find the helpers you need to carry you through the days ahead. I pray also that we will each seek to be helpers, using the gifts God has entrusted to our care, so that all may have reason to hope, not only during this season, but in the New Year to come.