The Advent season is one of waiting. How do you wait? Be honest - do you ever wait in the hope of escaping our reality, or in despair watching the world around us in conflict?
Earlier this year another season of waiting occurred - waiting for the much anticipated pink, dance routine-filled Barbie and its brooding counterpart Oppenheimer’s opening weekend at the cinema. In Barbie, the ‘Real World’ (Hollywood doesn’t have the patience for subtlety) collides with Barbieland as Barbie loses her naivety, meets her creator and finds new purpose and hope in the messy world of humans. In Oppenheimer, we’re confronted with humanity’s capacity to play God, and what it feels like to have ‘near zero’ chances of destroying the world.
Globally, we waited in anticipation to spend over half a billion dollars to go and watch a film either about how our world nearly ended, or to escape to an alternative one. I enjoyed both films on the big screen, and the experience has left me pondering for many months since.
In Barbie, the only way in which the world could be understood as something good and to be enjoyed was by thinking of something that was entirely separate and removed, other. In Oppenheimer, we were shown the reality of this world but in a way that made us wish we could escape to another one.
In Advent, we are invited to wait, not for escape or in despair, but in confident hope of a world renewed and restored. Our ‘Real World’ collided with God’s kingdom in the Christ Child, Emmanuel, God with us, after centuries of anticipation from God’s people. ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ (John 1:14) We are waiting in the real, messy world for Christ’s return, but we don’t wait in vain. This advent hope shapes how we wait, love and serve the real world. We wait, serve and love with boldness, perseverance, resilience and defiant hope in Jesus.
We don’t need another world to escape to, like Barbie, and we don’t need to despair over this world, like Oppenheimer. We wait as people of confident hope.
How will you wait this Advent?