Rachel Tranter shares some reflections on Advent from the perspective of our Living Faith ministry.
15 December 2024
Waiting, always waiting
Advent is a season associated with waiting, a time when we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus as a baby at Christmas. This element of waiting and preparing is often lost in the busy-ness of the season, drowned out by the noise of Christmas songs and the panic of present-buying.
As an editor, I always feel like I am living months in the future. We commissioned Isabelle Hamley’s 2024 Advent book, Embracing Humanity, in September 2022. I started work on it in February this year, after the manuscript was submitted. Then I waited while, almost unseen, the book was being worked on by other hands in the content creation team: designers, copy-editors, proofreaders. The book went to press in June. Once again, we waited. The printers worked their magic out of our sight. And then – finally – the day of publication came.
But, of course, this wasn’t the end of the story for this book, as it was then taken up by our marketing and communications team to spread the news about it. We knew the book was brilliant, but once again we had to wait patiently while readers found it, liked it and bought it. Even now, people have only been reading it for a couple of weeks, gradually bringing to fruition Isabelle’s original vision.
As an editor, I always feel like I am living months in the future.
Many hands
The metaphor writes itself: God planned the incarnation of Jesus long before it actually happened – countless years before, in this case. Like an author crafting their manuscript, God prepared his people for the arrival of his Son. Other hands – the prophets and other biblical writers – worked alongside God to complete the work of preparation. Then – guess what – there was another period of waiting. For 400 years after the final minor prophet in the Bible, there was apparent silence from God; but that doesn’t mean that nothing was happening. Behind the scenes, God was working until, like a book going to press, God finally set his divine plan in motion by giving Jesus human life.
For Mary, the period between the annunciation and the birth of Jesus must have felt an eternity; editors know well the agonising wait for something that you know is coming, but you can’t yet hold in your hands.
Then – finally – the day of Jesus’ birth came. But, of course, that wasn’t the end of the story either. Amazing people throughout Jesus’ life – from Mary his mother, to Anna and Simeon in the temple when Jesus was still a baby, to the disciples after Jesus’ death, to all the saints of two millennia – continued to tell his story. They knew that this baby, this man, was uniquely special, but they had to wait for others to discover this for themselves.
This wasn’t a passive waiting, hoping that people would find Jesus by chance, like him and buy into his kingdom. Rather it was an active waiting, full of passion and a commitment to share the good news of Jesus as widely as possible.
Editors know well the agonising wait for something that you know is coming, but you can’t yet hold in your hands.
Still waiting
And even now, more than 2,000 Advents later, we are still waiting; waiting for Jesus to come again and bring to fruition God’s original and wonderful plan.
As an editor, I am so focused on the task in front of me – getting the book to press on time – that I can often miss the importance of what comes afterwards. The point of a book is not its publication – though that’s a key part of the process – but that it is read and used by people who need to hear its message. At Christmas, while of course we delight to celebrate Jesus’ birth, the good news of Christ is so much more than just his birth. Yet how often do those who come to our church services during the Christmas period hear that the nativity is about more than the already-amazing fact of God-become-man? That it’s also about new life, forgiveness and relationship with the Father?
The point of a book is not its publication – though that’s a key part of the process – but that it is read and used by people who need to hear its message.
Called to be co-creators
I am terrible at waiting. Aren’t we all? My way of coping with having to wait for a wonderful thing is to try to push it to the back of my mind, to try not to think about it, so when it does finally arrive it almost takes me by surprise. But that’s not how we are encouraged to wait during Advent. Instead, God invites us to embrace the experience of active waiting by becoming co-writers, co-editors, co-designers, co-marketers, joining with him in his constant, patient work of building his kingdom on earth.
The amazing thing about all of these roles is that they’re creative and that they’re tailored to each one of us: no two writers will ever write the same book; no two designers will ever create the same cover. In the same way, God’s relationship with each of us is unique, and what he asks of us is unique.
My to-do list when we get towards Christmas includes all the normal things, like buying presents for my family and friends, organising my diary for various get-togethers and making meal plans. There doesn’t seem to be much time for prayer and reflection as my social calendar fills up. But this is what God calls us to: to draw near to him (James 4:8), to remember him even among the chaos of the season (2 Timothy 2:8), to work on our head-attitudes (Romans 12:2) and our heart-attitudes (Psalm 51:10), to be generous to those who have little (Proverbs 22:9) and to share the story of what he has done for us (Romans 10:14–15).
As we live through another Advent season, whether or not you’re reading our Advent book, my prayer is that you will know peace and space in the midst of busy-ness. As you actively wait and ponder the wonder of Jesus’ birth, life and death, may you know God’s love for you, in a deeper way than you known it till now.
