Waiting for Christmas…

This Advent season, we’ve been gently engaging the idea of “waiting”. We haven’t been terribly strict about it, but I think we’ve made some progress in the direction of making room for the coming of the “Other” – Christ as the one that crosses our path unexpectedly. This week I heard an interview with a writer that caught my attention because it was on the topic of waiting, and in particular on why waiting for Christmas is an important thing in our culture of instant gratification. So, just to get our imaginations leaning that way, I’ve included a blurb from her blog on the topic and a link to her blog to view the cartoons that go with it. Scroll down to read it and then click on the link at the bottom to view the cartoons on her blog. Let it open your own mind, heart and life to the question – “What am I waiting for?”. Then come out on Sunday morning at 10:30, and we’ll continue down that path together.

Peace to you,

Tim

Death of Anticipation – Jenny Rosenstrach

We live in a culture that can’t seem to abide waiting. Movies and television are on-demand, delivery is just-in-time, messaging is instant. But for many children, that grinds to a halt once-a-year. Because nobody rushes Santa. For Jenny Rosenstrach, the anticipation surrounding Christmas is a delicious pleasure.
And it got her thinking about the consequences of losing anticipation for such long stretches at other times of the year. Jenny Rosenstrach is the author of Time For Dinner. She writes a blog called Dinner: A Love Story. And she has just re-posted an entry she calls The Death of Anticipation.

The Death of Anticipation
December 10th, 2010 · 9 Comments · Kitchenlightenment

It’s hard to wait for Christmas. Why? Because it might just be the only thing in the world kids are forced to wait for. Herewith, a timeline chronicling the demise of excitement, suspense and the simple pleasure of looking forward to something. (First published in Cookie; Text by me; illustrations by Brian Rea.)

Click on this link for the cartoons associated with this topic:
The Death of Anticipation