“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple. (New International Version)

Nobody wakes up in the morning, sits up at the end of the bed, and says to themselves, “Well, today, I think I’ll be anxious, go to the bar, drink, and feel awful.” No, of course, we don’t do that. Instead, we are more likely to sit up and, at least, long for a good day and maybe even pledge to change some things; and at most, we make some good solid plans about how to have a fulfilling day.

Yet, for all of us, there are times when we find ourselves in a place in life we neither expected nor wanted. For sure, we cannot control the world and the circumstances and people within it. However, we can take charge of our own hearts and ensure that they do not become weighed down. In such a position, it becomes difficult to pray and have an accurate awareness of what’s happening around us.

This is precisely why even the Lord Jesus himself took the initiative to have regular times of withdrawal in order to connect with the Father in prayer. He could only give from the largess of his heart and soul. If Christ needed to pay attention to the Father, the world, and himself, then how much more must we regularly reorient ourselves so that grace and wisdom rule our lives, instead of anxious dissipation?

We are now in the first season of the Church Year on the Christian Calendar – the time of Advent. Advent literally means “anticipation” because Christians everywhere anticipate Christmas, the coming of Jesus the Messiah. 

While we wait, we pray. Jesus himself tells us to watch ourselves, stay awake at all times, and keep on praying. There is no patience apart from prayer. Show me an impatient person, and I will show you a person who has little discipline for prayer. But show me a patient person, and I will show you a person given to prayer in all circumstances for all kinds of matters.

This season of the year, despite all of its secular busyness and rush, is one of the most ideal times in the Christian Calendar to reconnect with a disciplined prayer life. Many Christians throughout the world desire more of God than a once-a-day “quiet time.” They want their entire lives to be a continual offering of prayer and connection with Jesus the Messiah. 

If one is not in the habit of punctuating each day with short, designated times of prayer, then perhaps begin taking the time in both the morning and evening to intentionally read Scripture, sing, and pray; this may be the best place to start. More outgoing persons may want to recruit others to participate with them. Yet, however its done, allow this Advent season to be an intentional time of reconnecting in prayer.

Let your longings translate into realizations. As we devote ourselves to basic spiritual disciplines, it helps us connect with others in basic human kindness – which is a basic foundational human need that keeps us away from a frivolous life of worrying, and leads us to a fruitful life of love and community.

People become trapped when they spend too much time alone with themselves, or in too much time with others who are only trying to deaden their physical and/or emotional pain. In both cases, they become trapped in their heads, thinking irrational thoughts and believing concocted conspiracy theories (or complicated end times scenarios). This is, at best, a dead end, and at worst, a one way road to destruction.

There is no substitute for prayer, spiritual reading, and wholesome community. Without these, we shall inevitably amble down a path of temptation and get lost in our heads. Christianity, for me, is unintelligible without the hope and the promise of a new and coming order of love, peace, and justice.

A great reversal of moving from anxious worry to ebullient hope is rooted in being able to understand that the words and ways of Jesus will not pass away. And that will only happen if we can locate ourselves as those who are spiritual beggars, in need of continually begging (praying) and searching (reading) for the words of God to become a reality in everyday life.

Our present contemporary life, daily experiences, and world situation is being called toward a future of God’s promises becoming fulfilled. And, at the same time, the future state of justice and peace is being called to our present circumstances, so that we can have a glimpse and glimmer of the hope which awaits us. In other words, the coming of Christ is the future which gives shape to our life today.

Today is the day of encountering the gracious God because tomorrow is the day of judgment, the time of the second Advent… sounds like it’s time to pray!

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all sorts of people everywhere may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and forever. Amen.