O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love!
With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call,
As noiseless let Thy blessing fall
As fell Thy manna down.
Advent is about waiting, not tapping our foot waiting for Christmas to get here. Not the hyper waiting of children for Christmas Eve when “Santa comes”. Instead it’s a ‘pregnant’ waiting, because as The Rev. Laurie Brock or The Rev. Mary Koppel say in their blog, “God needs holy things to gestate within our souls and within our communities. These holy ideas, understandings, insights, and actions all need time to become.”
Advent is
waiting that invites us into the “Sabbath rest”. Whittier, knows that our
busy-ness can “drown the tender whisper of Thy call.” In this season when
culture is more obviously at odds with worship than the rest of the year, we
are invited into the “silence of eternity, interpreted by Love.” That is the
waiting of Advent-waiting for the Christ child, yes, and looking forward to the
second coming, yes. More than that, Advent can be a time of waiting to hear
God’s call and feel “blessings fall as fell Thy manna down.” Waiting is not an easy thing to do, esp. amid the excitement and clamor of the season, and yes, the busy, hecticness too. But like a pregnant woman who needs to rest more often, so we must pause and listen for the sound of the loving, whispered call-perhaps to new ministry, perhaps to renewed vigor, perhaps to further quiet time.
I invite you to take a bit of quiet this week, just to gestate and consider the season of Advent itself and the promise it holds out of birth and rebirth.
Next week, we’ll take a look at the final 2 verses of the hymn.
