Dear Rose Park,
Last Wednesday I took Simon to get a haircut before the Thanksgiving Holiday. Simon gets his haircut at a barber shop called KO Cutz on College Avenue near downtown Holland. KO Cutz is owned and managed by local Holland boxing hero Johnny Garcia. As you can imagine, the walls of KO Cutz are adorned with all of the newspaper clippings, awards, and belts that Johnny amassed during his boxing career. But when Simon sat down in the chair to get his cut, I never would have imagined that I’d be reminded of the beauty of Advent.
A few minutes into Simon’s haircut, the door opened and another employee came into the shop. Everyone could tell she was a bit frazzled. She hurried into the door and was moving quickly around the shop as she discussed her very busy schedule for the day with Johnny. As she started to prep her station, I heard Johnny say, “Everybody take a deep breath. Let’s take our time because there is no rush at the barbershop.”
As I’ve had a few days to think about it, I wonder if Johnny is right. The barbershop is one of the last places in culture where there is no rush. The dinner table was once this kind of place, but now meals have been turned into fast-food drive-thru’s and quick bites to eat in the backseats of cars or in front of television screens. There are few places where we pause, take a deep breath, slow down, and simply be. We are constantly hurrying to the next thing. When we are in one place, our mind is already to the next place on our list. I’d like to ask: for what purpose do we participate in this endless cycle? It seems to me, we are so concerned about the next destination that we never truly recognize our current place; this unhealthy concern with the next thing is the antithesis of the season of Advent.
Advent calls us to pause and wait. It is a season designed to cultivate our awareness of God’s actions in the past, present, and future; we cannot become aware of what God is doing if we are so focused on what we are to do next. So, in this Advent season where the busyness of life not only continues but also increases, might you be able to cultivate an awareness of what God is going. Perhaps this begins with a moment of silent prayer each morning, a reading of Psalm 1 or Isaiah 40, or even a Jesse Tree Devotional with your loved ones in the hopes of our eyes and ears being opened to what God has done, is doing, and will do.
Even as you read this letter, may you take a deep breath as you anticipate the birth of Christ with confident hope and trust because there is no rush in the Advent season.
Grace & Peace,
