Advent- Living in the in-between times

I’ve just been stopped still, drawn in by the picture in front of me.  It’s framed perfectly, though not on any wall.  In fact, I’m outside and the frame is purely of my own making.  In my mind’s eye, as I’m walking outside in the fresh air of a crisp, dry November day in Dublin.  

I’m stopped still and savouring the beauty of three trees in transition.  Two are dressed for Autumn, and one has shed its leaves in readiness for winter. Their beauty arrests me, and I stop to allow my senses drink it in.  In fear of forgetting it in my mind, I capture it on my phone.  



The picture before me speaks of change present, as well as of change yet to come.  There is more to this than just the beauty of the picture of the in-between time, as autumn moves to winter.  It’s personal.  Could it be a portent of what’s to come, or maybe just a picture of the present?   


I’m walking in the grounds of a Dublin hospital.  

In a season of waiting.  

An in-between time.  


I’m an inpatient, waiting for the day for my procedure to be done. 

I’ve been waiting for almost six months to get a bed in the hospital and so am happy to be here.    

This waiting is something I’ve learned to live with for over three years now, since my bleed on my brain and the tests and interventions that have followed, all in the hope of preventing a recurrence.  Or, you could say, all in the hope of putting this behind me.  Such was the promise that this procedure offered.  


Yet, the days following my picture perfect moment in Dublin saw me turned around again at this door of closure or completion.  Whilst the procedure saw me further along it didn’t resolve the issue at hand.  Further intervention is needed.  The journey will be continued.  I find myself in an in-between time.  


Advent season

These thoughts are on my mind afresh as we make our way through this advent season, which itself is an in-between time.  A time of expectation and the promise of the precious presence of loved ones, sharing and celebrating life together.  A time of high hopes… which may leave us feeling low, as they remain unrealised.  Reality brings us to the present with a bump.  In this advent, I find myself in conversation with those grieving the loss of loved ones, struggling to provide for their family, and feeling far from home, to name just a few examples of those for whom life is less than what they hoped for.    


In the Christian faith advent is a time between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ.  The One whose coming into this world was to bring salvation to a world suffering and sorrowing from the curse of sin.  His life and death and resurrection were all that was needed for this renewal to be realised.  Yet, we live in an in-between time.  One in which we encounter loss, lack, and loneliness.  One in which we await His coming again to bring the blessings of His salvation to bear on the whole of creation.  A day when hope will be fulfilled.  


As Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was no stranger to suffering, wrote, 


“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” 


Thin Spaces

As I’ve found myself waiting over the past few years there have been times of being set aside.  Of being displaced from my normal rhythms and routines and being disrupted from my hopes and plans.  To pretend that such times were frustration free would be foolish, but to tell you such times were heavy with hardship would be dishonest.  In such times aside God has been present.  


In Celtic spirituality there is a belief in thin spaces, which are places or times in which a veil between this world and the other world can be crossed over.  It comes from the Latin for threshold, or doorway.  A time between here and there.  A place between heaven and earth.  


Could this season of advent, or our times of waiting and transition, our in-between times, be where we might know God present with us? 


At advent, as we make time to reflect on the story of Jesus’ birth and also are drawn hopefully forward to His return, we can know HIs coming to us afresh in the present.  Immanuel- God With Us.  


Prayer

Lord Jesus, who came in love to bring light to our darkness, 

As we feel the shadows of suffering and sorrow in this sin cursed world  

We are drawn forward in hope to the brightness of your coming again


In this our in between time

This our window of waiting

This our thin place of the advent season


Come Lord Jesus, bring your love and light again we pray.  


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