Brother Jesus,
we know the pressures of the season,
the push to shop and buy,
the rush to wrap and bake,
the urgency to decorate and celebrate.
After a solitary Advent last year,
the pressures are doubled
and the push is on, as if
to make up for lost time.
Slow down, you tell us when we feel the squeeze.
Be still for at least a few moments every day.
Do less for a while. Do less, you say,
and we want to,
not because the omicron variant
of the coronavirus threatens
a repeat of last year,
but because we desire you,
because we don’t want to miss you,
because we need time to prepare
to mark again your birth in our world
two thousand years ago
to see the ways you come
into our world every day
to long for you to come again
and complete in the world
God’s work of creation
and bring this
bitter
beautiful
broken world
to its perfection.
Help us, our Jesus,
not to numb our aching for your presence
with food and drink and heart-racing activity.
Help us, our Jesus, not to get so caught up in bustle
that we lose all sense of you.
If the gifts we order don’t arrive in time,
we’ll be ok.
If we don’t get out to every party and parade,
we’ll be just fine.
More than fine, in fact.
Because this is a time to slow down
to be still
to pray
to wait
and wonder
and watch for you.
Jesus who came,
Jesus who comes
Jesus who will come again,
help us to pay attention,
to keep breathing,
to sit still a while,
so that we will know you
when you’re here.
Come, friend Jesus,
come now
and make us yours.