I hate waiting in lines. I’m the kind of person who will settle for a salad bar in the dining hall when the lines for the unique food options are too long. Or sometimes I would prefer to sit and talk at a table waiting there instead of standing in a line. Something about waiting in a line causes me to agonize over the slow movements of the people in front of me.
Unfortunately, when I hear others speak of the waiting of the Advent season, I associate it with waiting in lines. That is what the Advent calendars with little chocolates make me think of. Probably since my childhood when I was counting down the days until Santa visited, Advent has felt to me like waiting in a line, slowly marking off the numbers in front of me before my number is finally called. I couldn’t wrap my mind around what kind of hopeful waiting Advent offered us besides the hope that the waiting would be done.
But this year, one of my responsibilities is to be a professional on-call for King’s College. In this role, I take about one week each month to be the point person for any incidents or emergencies on campus. For that week, I’m expected to stay within 15 minutes of campus and follow-up on anything that may arise – from fire alarms and student conduct violations to mental health and medical emergencies. Some weeks I receive mostly informational calls that inform me of what happened but with little need for follow-up. Other weeks, I receive a few calls that require in- person intervention. These experiences have been really beautiful and an incredible way to minister to our campus community.
But I want to talk about the waiting that I experience as the professional on-call. This kind of waiting is very different than the waiting I experience in lines at stores or in traffic. I am not staring at my phone, neglecting all of my other responsibilities, waiting for a call. Rather, I’m expected to keep up with the regular work, prayer, and routine of my life. All the while, I need to be prepared to receive a call and change direction at a moment’s notice. I would describe the experience of waiting while serving as the professional on-call as a sort of ever-readiness and steady heart. I can’t lean too hard into the anxious waiting otherwise I’ll use up all my adrenaline and be exhausted after one day of being on call and out of energy for the next six days. On the other hand, I can’t get myself too deep into any setting without the option of stepping out and responding to a need. I experience these on-call weeks as an experience of staying sharp and ready to respond but with the mentality of a longer trek or journey instead of a sprint or day-hike.
This seems to me more like the waiting Advent invites us to. Our God will come to us. While we will celebrate the coming of Christ on December 25, we really do not know when our God may come to knock at the door of our hearts. Sometimes God calls us away from the direction we are moving into a new direction. Sometimes God calls our attention to something already present that we may not have noticed before. Whatever the call may be, Advent invites us to the readiness to respond whenever the call may come.
Br. Jimmy Henke, CSC
Published 29 November 2024
Cover Image: “Waiting for Christ” (1881) by Asta Nørregaard
