Working While We Wait

by Mr. Kyle Cristofalo
Coordinator of Programs for Hunger, Poverty and Justice Issues

I have never been particularly good at waiting. When I was younger I would dread having to get my hair cut because the prospect of sitting patiently still for 20 minutes was too much for me to imagine. How could I sit and be calm when there were so many other things to do? What was the point of getting my hair cut if it would just start growing back the next day anyway?
I was the same way in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Each year, starting as early as November, I would scour my house in search of Christmas gifts my parents may already have bought. I would beg my mom to tell me what presents I could expect. I would offer to give some of my Christmas money to my sisters if they would do undercover investigation work for me. Despite very rarely succeeding at finding out what presents I would get, I still tried every year hoping that maybe I would locate the secret treasure I longed for. My mother would quickly reprimand me each time, noting that I shouldn’t be so concerned about my presents. I’m sure she said more, but it was as if she we were speaking different languages. She clearly could not grasp the urgency with which I spoke.

Advent is supposed to be a season of waiting. Derived from the Latin word Adventus, which means “coming,” we are called to eagerly anticipate the birth of Christ; celebrating the event whereby God came to the world in human form. We are called to suspend our earthly temptations to be completely overwhelmed by Christmas preparations, and remember that our celebrations have nothing to do with presents, but everything to do with the advent of the One in whom we trust for salvation. We wait, in addition, for the time when our Savior will return again, confident in the knowledge that Christ’s work on earth is not yet finished.

But is waiting the proper response? Do we miss valuable opportunities for mission by remaining silent? My questions do not derive from my previous admission of impatience. In fact, as I’ve grown older I’ve come to appreciate the time to silently wait for the time when suffering will be no more. Instead, it comes from my unyielding belief that we have been called as God’s partner in the ministry of justice and reconciliation. It is important for us as Christians to understand that waiting does not negate the call to action; we can never be numb to the problems of this world even if Advent calls us to a time of waiting.

In the book of Amos the prophet angrily admonishes the Israelites for their penchant to over-ritualize their faith. God hates that they have chosen to focus so completely on rituals while simultaneously oppressing those who are innocent. Without an ethic of justice and actions to back up their offerings, the gifts become an affront to God.

We must ask ourselves if we too are guilty of such self-serving practices. Have we been numbed by this persistent call to wait? Do we wait on God to fix the day because we cannot be bothered to act as God’s partner? Our call to be followers of Christ does not allow us to sit idly by and wait for better days. Our commitment to follow Christ compels us to understand that a world “where justice rolls on like a river and righteousness like a never ending stream” will never come if we do not act. We must commit ourselves daily to be co-workers of Christ, not only praying for a new world in which our swords are turned into plowshares, and every person is given access to basic human rights, but doing our part to make it come faster. As we enter this Advent season I pray that you will join me in committing ourselves to be the change we seek. The change we so desperately need. With God’s help, I know it is possible.