December 2013 – A Seminarian’s Letters Home

To the membership of Circle of Faith Parish:

Greetings to you all from Evanston, IL! Here in the Chicago area, something tragic began to unfold about a month ago. The tragedy was that a handful of radio stations began playing nothing but Christmas music, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, mere days after Halloween had passed. All right, perhaps tragic is a strong word, but it’s still depressing to see how our culture jumps to celebrating Christmas so early. Because when we jump to celebrating Christmas immediately, we bypass the great treasure that is Advent.

One of my favorite pieces of literature to reflect on during this time of year is the famous play Waiting for Godot. In it, two characters (who are not the brightest bulbs on the tree) are waiting for somebody named Godot to arrive. They wait, and they wait, and they wait, getting up to all sorts of funny antics in the meantime. In the end, they’re wrestling with their own doubts of whether this guy will ever appear. We, too, wrestle with that doubt all year long, as we plead, “Come, Lord!” But unlike the two characters in the play, we savor our Advent time, for we know that in spite of our doubts and our questions, the One for whom we wait will indeed come. After all, we do not wait for Godot. We wait for God.

Journeying into the joyful hope of Advent, let us pray for God’s blessing, using these words:

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. With your abundant grace and might, free us from the sin that would obstruct your mercy, that willingly we may bear your redeeming love to all the world, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. [ELW, Advent IV]

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Your fellow member and pilgrim,
Carl P. Rabbe, M.Div.