O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer/Our spirits by Thine advent here,

O drive away the shades of night/And pierce the clouds and bring us light.

(“O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” 12th century Latin hymn.)

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him (Luke 2:25).

Living requires a lot of waiting—and it sometimes feels like bobbing about in a small boat on a large ocean. That waiting can be buoyed with anticipation, weighted with concern, or tossed by a wavering combination of both.

The original Christmas story lists drastically to the concern side. But it also bobs back to the anticipation side.

The closest example of such tension I can think of is pregnancy. Oh—wait—that isn’t just an example, that is the center of the story. 

Mary was miraculously pregnant with Jesus. Her long wait for His advent had bursts of anticipation which would have helped her stay afloat. (These would include her encounter with Gabriel (Lk.1:26-38), her greeting by Elizabeth (Lk.1:39-45), and Joseph’s acceptance of the angel of the Lord’s message (Mt.1:20-25).) 

But the steady concern, which would have started with her status as betrothed (i.e. not fully married), the Roman occupation’s dictate that all must travel to their homes of origin to be counted for the census, and the real down-to-earth experience of pregnancy, would have weighed on her.

In this week’s Scripture we find another—Simeon—who “…was waiting for the consolation of Israel…“ We are told that he was waiting because the Holy Spirit had revealed to him “…that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (v.26). 

Remembering that the Holy Spirit was also instrumental in what was happening with Mary, here we learn another valuable thing about waiting. When we know God is involved, we are more likely to remain afloat.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel expresses the process of waiting well. It begins, and often continues, in “shades of night” and “the clouds.”  Thereby begins the concern. 

Both Mary and Simeon would have experienced that. However, their concern would have been lessened and their anticipation strengthened by that Spirit-imparted knowing that kept them waiting steadfastly. 

How would you describe your 2020 waiting experience? Are the “shades of night” and “the clouds” prompting you to list toward concern? This hymn asks God to pierce the clouds, so we and our communities can ask that, too. As long as is necessary, we can continue waiting on the Lord.