As many of you may remember, the TV show M*A*S*H was about an Army field hospital during the Korean war. One of the characters was a Corporal named Walter O’Reilly. He was the company clerk. His nickname was Radar, because he knew things before everyone else did. A common scene found Radar announcing the arrival of new patients being brought in by helicopter. He would say, “Choppers coming!” To which someone else would respond, “I don’t hear anything.” And Radar would reply, “Wait for it.” Moments later the sound of a helicopter would break the silence.

That is the message of Advent. “Wait for it.” During this time we watch and wait and prepare to receive the Christ at Christmas. When we set out on our Advent journey it doesn’t always seem like Christmas. We certainly aren’t ready for Christmas. And that’s O.K., because we are not called to be completely prepared for the coming of the Christ (how could we be?) -- we are called to wait for it.

The Church liturgical calendar -- with Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost -- is something like a drama, providing a way for us to act out our faith. With its various themes we can spend time focusing on the important aspects of faith without crowding or rushing, because faith, like life, works best when we don’t rush it. We will do well to remember the important truth that God’s time is not our time.

And so we begin the Church year with Advent, which is a time of waiting and anticipating. We pretend for a moment that we don’t know the ending of the story. We join the prophets and the shepherds and the wise men as we look ahead to the coming of the messiah -- God’s promised anointed one. And the message of scripture and the message of faith is that we can wait in confidence, because God is trustworthy. Jeremiah speaks on behalf of God when he writes, “The days are surely coming when I will fulfill the promise I made...” In Luke’s Gospel we read about signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. We read about the whole world falling down around us and the whole of creation being shaken to its core. This is not a description which sounds very promising. It does not sound like the sort of circumstances under which we should be expected to exhibit much confidence in God. But, like the crew in M*A*S*H, we are simply reminded to wait for it. “When these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)

The message of Advent is one of hopeful promise. Even when circumstances and experiences would tell us otherwise, God can be counted on. Hope abounds. God’s promise is always the enduring word and that word is one of hope. But if the message of Advent is hope, the task of this season is one of sorting out priorities. We are watching and waiting for the active and definitive presence of God in our world and nothing will stand in the way of that reality. There is a difference, however, between God coming into our world and our being prepared to recognize and embrace that presence when it comes. “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with distractions ... Be alert at all times.” (Luke 21:34&36) The critical question for us in these days of watching and waiting and preparing centers around our priorities. How do we spend our time and our energies? What is really important in our living? Will Christ find a place to stay in our lives when He comes?

In our fast paced, hurried world our motto is often, “I want it all and I want it now.” In the days ahead we are called to “wait for it.” We may not always be able to see the reality of God in our world. We may not always be able to feel the presence of Emmanuel in our lives. But by faith we can have confidence that our hope is not in vain. In this season of Advent we wait to experience that which is already true. Hope abounds because God is alive and present in our lives and in our world. We simply have to pay attention. This is not a naive faith which ignores the realities of the world around us. Rather, it is a confident faith which trusts that God’s presence is capable of overcoming all of the dark, foreboding reality the world can throw at us. The question is not, “Will Christ come?”, but rather, “Will we be ready to receive Him?” Wait for it!