“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16

Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot keeps running around in my head as I consider the talk from yesterday, and the concept of waiting. The conclusion is particularly telling. Vladimir asks his friend Estragon, “Shall we go?” and Estragon replies, “Allons – y” – Let’s go.”…but neither moves, and the curtain drops. It seems as if they have discovered that it is futile to wait – Godot is never coming – and yet they have nowhere else to go.

Beckett’s play stands in stark contrast to the redemptive movement that we celebrate at Advent. A hymn implores, “Come, Thou long expected Jesus,” and He has in fact come to fulfill the longings and dreams of the heart. The coming of Christ to bring the presence of His Spirit to the hearts of those who receive Him puts to death futility and presents a clarion call to action, not immobility. The question is – will we act, or will we wait?

We wait around for “something to happen” in our spiritual lives way too much. This week as we enter into Advent – the reminder of the coming of Christ so that fallen humanity could return to Him – seek to engage the Spirit of God and participate more fully in the Presence of God within your soul.

As a spiritual formation exercise:
Read John 14-16.   In this section of John’s Gospel, Jesus is talking in detail about the coming of the Holy Spirit to the lives of those who choose to be His followers.
Select and reflect consciously on three aspects of the promises that Jesus makes to you in this passage, and choose to engage with Him in prayer about how you can participate more consciously in those realities.