Advent: God's Gifts...Trust

(This year's readings will be a posted here. We will combine the stories submitted with the blog entries. If you put your e-mail in the box to the right, the post will come to your in-box.)

Week One: The Gift of Waiting...

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Psalm 27:13-14 

We are the best and the worst at fixing things. We think we are the best... especially if the problem is large, public, and far away from us. In that case, we know exactly what should be done, we know every part of the situation (even when we don’t), we formulate and express strong and correct opinions on what those people should do. But really...we are the worst at fixing things. Problems with people we love, institutions we support, work, school, even our very selves resist our best efforts at “fixing.” Even those far away problem that we are so sure can be fixed fail to yield their brokenness to those who would be "fixers."

The unfixable gives rise to one primary question of Advent, the question of “believing” or, better translated, “trusting” that we shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Believe me, not one of us is less than well aware of the brokenness in our world. It is, simply, inescapable. The gift of that brokenness is its insistent question--can we trust the goodness of the Lord?

Psalm 27 recounts the difficulties present in the psalmist's life--evildoers, armies, false witnesses, God’s own anger. But throughout the litany of harm appear statements of trust. 

Brokenness slammed into a family this year...and the ripples move outward and envelop so many of us. A beloved adult son, who struggled with mental illness for years, committed suicide. His threat was made; his girlfriend heard the shot and called police. Police refused to enter the home for hours because they were afraid they would be shot. He bled out on the kitchen floor. Tell me the layers of brokenness are not overwhelming. Our "best efforts" at fixing just prove we are the "worst." How, oh how do we who still live trust that we can find the goodness of the Lord?

We are gifted with trust through the work of the Spirit. Open that gift in this Advent season. Live each moment trusting that the goodness of the Lord is there to be seen in the land of the living. Looking hard may be required. Listening to other's report of "goodness" when we can only see darkness may be today's option. Understanding that trust defined as "living as if" may be how we are able to choose hope when grief and hopelessness seem to have won the day.

Translating the psalm in a more literal way may provide a pathway to enact trust in the darkness: Grab hold and never let go. Will to live courageously. Choose hope in God’s work.

O God who brings goodness where we live, gift us with trust. Give us opportunities to practice trust, friends to speak and act trust when ours is gone, and the courage to cling tightly to trust in you in all times and places. Amen.