Whisper Wow
ADVENT: DAY ONE
The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You walk up the steps to the front door. The empty windows at either side of it tell you nothing, or almost nothing. For a second you catch a whiff of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you’ve never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart….The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.
— Frederick Buechner
This is why I love Advent. It is a season of hold-your-breath anticipation. No one is asking you to believe something in order to make God like you and come near to you. There is no quiz at the end. It’s just: Can you be still for one moment? There is an unspoken trust in what is to come. The divine life is rushing in, and that doesn’t depend on whether you believe that or even care about that. It just is. If you do care, if you do want it, then all you have to do is be quiet, listen, wonder, pay attention, whisper wow.
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This message of serenity is such a gift in the post-Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas craziness of food, cards, gifts, decorations. Thank you.
Thank you, David, for the reminder to hush now in anticipation of the holy celebration that is coming. I needed it this morning because being quiet doesn’t come naturally to me. “Be still and know that I am God” is how I should begin each day, but maybe especially these days. What a beautiful start to this day and this season!
There is that old contemplative prayer based on that word of Scripture. A prayer we breathe…
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Oh yes, I know the moment. But how can it be–the quiet before the beauty more beautiful than the beauty?
And, as you say, all I can do to receive it is wait, be quiet and, if I must break the silence and say wow, say it in a whisper.
David, I’ve been revisiting C. S. Lewis’s The Weight of Glory. Your meditation reminded me of the passage where he speaks of the longing for “…the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard…” So, all that you and Beuchner and Lewis have said: that is Advent.
One final note: you evoked Advent in what you wrote but also in what you didn’t write: your comments on the Beuchner quote shorter than the quote.
Well done, David.
Well, the moment of anticipation is usually more glorious than the actual experience itself. (Like most vacations, e.g.)
And yes, Lewis’s sense of a scent of a flower we have not found, and a memory of a tune we have never heard is at the heart of Advent, as least for me. We long for something at once unheard of, and yet so deeply, rightly human. That is the sense in which I can wait for the “Second Coming.”
Thanks Uncle David.
You concluded …”all you have to do is be quiet, listen, wonder, pay attention, whisper wow.”
That’s guidance I will return to! It sounds easy, but it is NOT!
I desire this awareness right when I am even more distractible than usual!
This is why we began celebrating Advent by only decorating with incomplete nativities, greens, white lights and our Advent wreath. No Christmas music, no stockings, no Santa’s, no angels, no trees… They will come later. We want to use Advent’s simple decorations as visual reminders to return to the moment and reflect. Now we can also use the insight provoking engagements that you stated so well. Thank you David.
Ha! The “simple” things of the spiritual life are not, for that reason, easy. The simple things, like being still and knowing, are profound and take a complete transformation of consciousness to experience. So all we can do is start small and…practice. Every day.
What a wonderful way to start the Advent season, David, with your invitation to be quiet and listen as we wait in anticipation of celebrating the birth of our Savior!
Luke’s birth story makes it clear that this thing happened when no one was even noticing…except of course some no-account shepherds. So if we are to experience the Nativity personally–and not just as a churchly event–it’s all about stopping, noticing, listening, recognizing (!) and then surrendering our hearts.
Wow! And not in a whisper. . . .
Quite brilliant, David. And I’m in for the ride.
It’s been a long time since I felt something during this season. I’m going to give it a go. Looking forward to the rest of this series.
I’m more with you than you know, Dan.
I run around like a madman this time of year. Buying, eating, meeting, stressing. What a great reminder to slow down and just be with the Eternal Spirit.