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As is often the case with young men growing up in the same house, my brothers and I would frequently end up in impromptu wrestling battles. Less so my younger brother – although I have some lasting shoulder damage from the last time that I wrestled “Big Bill” – but there were many times when I went into a friendly, but physical, tête-à-tête with my older, stronger, bigger, quicker foster brother, Donald. As you can probably guess from my description of Donald, I did not fare all that well.
I actually never matched up well against either of my brothers, so, looking back, I am not sure I understand the appeal of these matches. I spent a majority of my time trying to avoid being pinned, broken in half or permanently twisted like a pretzel. My energy was spent fighting out of whatever lock-down hold Donald would have me in, to no avail most of the time. I was stuck.
I did not realize that there were benefits to that struggle until I had a wrestling unit in my high school PE class. No one expects the guy who is 6’0” and 135 pounds (182 cm/61 kg) to be able to hold his own, but I surprised my teacher, my classmates and myself because I did much better than I anticipated. Granted, I still didn’t win because my muscles for actually holding someone in place or pinning them hadn’t been developed – but no one could hold me down! The struggling I had done against the immoveable force called Donald prepared me for success in that unit. Unfortunately, that was followed up with a weightlifting unit, so my PE grade didn’t reflect the pride that I got from being good at not losing at wrestling.
In a similar way, our struggles in life and faith often give us a kind of strength that we do not expect. We build up a resilience that gives us the ability to “get through” things the next time we face them. This is the call of Advent: to pay attention to the waiting, to notice the struggle we are in, and to name it for what it is. Too often we expect our faith to give us immediate benefit and good results. While there certainly is immediate benefit to our faith, it does not always look as we believe it should. It sometimes comes in the shape of a cross that we must bear. It comes in the form of longing to see the fulfillment of promises that are both now and not yet. It comes by waiting with Jesus and with each other in the midst of pain and, therefore, seeing our strength grow through those struggles. As we wrestle against what seems like an immovable object, as we wait for Jesus in that space, we gain a strength that will endure.
I was reflecting on this struggle after the First Sunday of Advent when we talked about “Waiting with strength” as we read Paul’s words to the people of Corinth: “for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:5-7) God has given us what we need to live for him in the world, even in these crazy times in which we live. It is in the day-to-day struggle, the wrestling, the waiting, that we see that strength grow!
As we wait with Jesus, we are in the in-between space where we are struggling against the strong forces of the world. Yet we hold on and we wait with the strength that comes through a tested and true faith. We continue to build that strength that will surprise us and sustain us to the end, where we will see Jesus face to face and live fully in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, lets continue to wait with strength for whatever this day brings because the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God… for in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.…” (Romans 8:18-19, 24-25)
