Weighting

I went to a church service last weekend to see my niece and nephew participate. It was, ostensibly (pause while I google ostensibly to make sure it means what I think it means...) an Advent Nativity service involving children and was, in many ways, just what you'd want from a church nativity service, with one boy's nerves getting the better of him as he dashed down the aisle to the bathroom, then back in time to deliver his line, pieces falling off the staging decorations, points where nobody seemed to know what was next. Wonderful.
It also had a slightly odd script which tried to include The History of Everything And The Entire Christian Story And Gospel into one morning. Some children were holding up planets for some reason and others were talking about miracles Jesus did, and so on. I suppose they were imagining that there would be family members there who don't usually attend church (as there were) so it would be best to tell them All About Everything in case they don't darken the door of the church ever again. I wonder, though, if it wouldn't be better to, well, let Advent be Advent, and let us wait along with those who waited for the Christ without knowing the end from the beginning, to explore doubt and patience and inbetweenness. And second of all, to not try and cram so much into the poor captive heathen in one go. Good teaching methods point to a path and trust the process and leave people with questions to pursue rather than bombarding them with more "Answers" than they came for (especially when what they came for was to see their little darling in an angel costume).

You keep us waiting. You, the God of all time, want us to wait for the right time in which to discover who we are, where we are to go, who will be with us, and what we must do. So thank you … for the waiting time. 

John Bell, quoted in The Westminster Collection of Christian Prayers, compiled by Dorothy M. Stewart (found here)

image by me