Reflections for Youth - Advent: While we Wait

We are already more than halfway through advent!

Zoom! How did we get here?  

My grandmother used to say "hurry up and wait!" 

One of the scriptures we hear in church during Advent is the story about John the Baptist.  

Read Matthew 3: 1-12 

The Gospel writer Matthew describes John the Baptist as this big weirdo that lives in the woods, ate bugs and wore some questionable clothing.  John traveled around and was preaching to the Israelites  - telling them to "get ready" and "change their ways"  because Jesus is coming.  John tells people that one of the ways they can prepare for Jesus while we are waiting is to repent. 

We know what that word means, right? Repent means to feel or express sincere regret or remorse about something we've done wrong. The Greek word that we translate into English as repent is metanoia— which means to turn around.

This has got me thinking about magnets. We all know magnets work. They stick to metal and they stick to each other - unless one magnet is facing the wrong way.  If they are facing the wrong way they don't stick together and you can actually feel them push away from each other. 

In Matthew's scripture,  John is telling people to turn around because, just like the magnets, if people are not facing the towards God - not paying attention to God - we will have trouble connecting to Jesus.  The son of God is coming to earth John the Baptist warns.  He wants people to repent, change, and turn around so they won't miss connecting with Jesus

That's pretty much what this time of advent is all about. Waiting, reflecting, and preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We have time to turn our attention to God and prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

And like Tom Petty says, "The waiting is the hardest part."