Advent: Urgent Waiting

Three Sundays ago began the season of Advent, the season of waiting before the birth of the Christ-child. Normally, this means a season filled with shopping, Christmas decorations, Advent wreaths, Santa Claus, poinsettias, carols, and liturgical color changes: my waiting is filled with doing and buying. The ironic thing is that all of the traditions and decorations fail to create in my heart the urgent desire for Christ’s coming. That doesn’t mean I love the Christmas season any less, but my waiting doesn’t usually focus on the coming of Jesus. Here in Nairobi, Advent feels a little different: the weather is hot, decorations are few, and the Church does not celebrate in the same manner, so I find myself waiting for the season to begin.
In response to the lack of Advent festivities, some of the volunteers and I created our own Advent wreath out of recycled materials: bottle caps, cardboard, and Safaricom phone cards. We hold our own candle-lighting services where we sing and pray and await the coming of Christ. It has become one of my favorite times of each week. Two Sundays ago we read Isaiah 11:1-9, we lit the Peace candle, and we talked of places where we have seen God’s peace breaking into the world.
Monday morning brought a rude awakening for me. I attended the launch of Picha Mtaani, a youth led initiative to promote dialogue and reconciliation in communities across the nation. On display in downtown Nairobi was an exhibition of photos from the post-election violence that ravaged Kenya in late 2007 and early 2008. The photos captured police brutality, charred shops, violent mobs, and tearful survivors. The exhibition is a graphic depiction of the worst that we as human beings can do to one another, and it offers a moving and disturbing cry for the peace that Yahweh promises where hurt and destruction will be no more. No more pangas, no more IDP camps, no more stones, no more tear gas. All of a sudden, the urgency of our need overwhelmed me, and the waiting seemed too much to bear. We need peace- real, sustainable, holistic peace. We need Christ to be born in our lives and in our world this day! As Advent continues, it is Christ alone for whom I urgently wait, and I thank God that this time of waiting can be filled with the shared work of peacebuilding here and now.

If you are interested in the exhibition, here is the website:
http://pichamtaani.com/home