Each night of #Advent, candles are lit in the middle of our dinner table, a simple reminder of our worship in waiting. Surrounding these sacred symbols are not only fish sticks, mac and cheese, likely-to-be-reheated adult food, and Peppa the Pig decor leftover from our youngest’s party, but also the sounds of chaos customary for meal time in a family of six. Silent night is not exactly our experience. All is most definitely not calm. Still the candles are there in the midst of it all, flickering faithfully despite the madness.
There are a lot of false expectations for our worship- what it is supposed to look like and feel like. This time of year is especially vulnerable to the idol of perfected praise and adoration. What if worship, though, is more like being aware of the faithful flickering of God-with-Us in the midst of the chaos around us and within us. Maybe worship is merely choosing to light the candles again and again when you really just want to bypass the ritual and get through dinner as quick as you can with minimal damage. And when you neglect the practice because you didn’t have the brainpower to remember the lighter or the energy to get up and get it, worship is illuminating the wick again the next day when your kids reminded you to do so.