I knew something was different about the world this morning when at 8:00 on Westheimer--(one of the top 100 busiest streets in the United States for all my non-Houston reader-types)--was filled with my car and about ten others. Seriously. Usually between 8:00 and 9:00 on a weekday morning, it's literal bumper-to-bumper Darwinian driving at its basest.
But this morning, Westheimer looked like a scene out of a 70s Christian scare-tactic rapture movie... or maybe the scene from 80s camp favorite, Night of the Comet--(I had to reach deep for that one, eh?)--or when old what's-his-name in Vanilla Sky runs out into an empty Manhattan street? (Okay, I think I have made my point.)
Even the guy standing in the median holding the $19 manicure placard gave me a look like, "Seriously? I shaved my back for this?"
As I turned off Westheimer on to Bering Drive, no one was doing the usual cross-lane-cut into the bank building on the corner. No one was riding my bumper as I pulled into the church parking lot. Where was everybody?
Something is up. Then I remembered this is the week before Christmas. How could I have missed that one?
This being a holiday week, especially for our church who has just walked together through the four Sundays of Advent, today just feels kind of slumpish. We went through the spiritual discipline/rhythm of Advent, anticipating the coming of the Messiah. It was fun, kind of like being a kid again. We know the Messiah has come; and we know he is to come again. Perhaps that's why this week may be the most important week of this whole season.
"The Advent Slump" may be the most realistic time during this portion of the Christian calendar. It most accurately reflects the way most of us live our Christian lives. We do not get to see the parting of seas or the tearing of the temple curtain. Instead, we go to the same church Sunday-after-Sunday. We wake up in the same bed. We order the same thing at our favorite restaurant even though other menu items look good. And somehow, in God's patient wisdom, he reminds us to look for his promises during those mundane moments when, if we are not careful, we might miss something extraordinary.
I have been waking up next to the same woman for almost twenty years. These days, trust me, I know that's a blessing. But the reason I never get tired of waking up next to her gentle face is the same reason I always order an old-fashioned cake donut on special family mornings: It's because one of my mentors taught me a long time ago the simple lesson, "Beauty's where you find it." (No, my mentor was not Madonna, but it's a good quote.)
"Beauty's where you find it."
So here we are this week in "The Advent Slump." Everything is slowing down. And when Christmas day rolls around on Saturday, by mid-afternoon most of us will be bored to tears. I can still hear Tracey Thorn's beautiful, haunting voice singing, "And every day's like Christmas day: It's cold, and there's nothing to do."
I hope this week for you, O faithful bloggerland reader, gets boring. I know many of you need it. You need a little down time.
During this last week of Advent, watch for signs of God's presence. God will be there.
God is still worth waiting for.
When God decided to share his presence with Elijah in 1 Kings 19, Elijah almost missed it:
"Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper."
Insurance companies call hurricanes and earthquakes "Acts of God." I'm not so sure. These days, especially during weeks like this one, I think it's subtler than all that. In fact, as I was driving down an almost deserted Westheimer this morning, and everything was unusually quiet, I swear I heard a whisper.
