“Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent. One waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other – things that are really of no consequence – the door is shut and can only be opened from the outside.”
An Advent Reflection from Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
With this insight from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written as he sat in a Nazi jail, we begin Advent.
Waiting. Hoping. Doing inconsequential things. All in anticipation of the door being opened.
What Bonhoeffer experienced as he waited in a prison cell can be compared to those who wait in poverty. They wait. Patiently. For the door to be opened.
The poor know how to wait, and it’s another way they can teach us who live in the fast pace of the developed world. We need to learn the skill of waiting not just to simplify our lives, but because that’s how God works in our lives.
Bonhoeffer also wrote:
“For the great and powerful of this world, there are only two places in which their courage fails them, of which they are afraid deep down in their souls, from which they shy away. These are the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ. No powerful person dares to approach the manger, and this even includes King Herod. For this is where thrones shake, the mighty fall, the prominent perish, because God is with the lowly. Here the rich come to nothing, because God is with the poor and hungry, but the rich and satisfied he sends away empty. Before Mary, the maid, before the manger of Christ, before God in lowliness, the powerful come to naught; they have no right, no hope; they are judged…. Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.”
Forgive me, Lord. Forgive us all. For we will not let go of these worldly things we so love. Help us set aside our arrogance and pride. Teach us patience and humility. Not for our glory, but for Yours.
Come, Lord Jesus, come.