Advent hunger

We had just finished the last chorus on the last hymn when my Smart Guy said,

“Krista, I am hungry.”

“Well, that’s great, we are headed home to eat now.”

“No, ‘rista I am hungry for THAT bread” pointing over to the communion bread.  Well, we walked over to the communion bread talked to the pastor about the bread and then Smart Guy got the bread he was so hungry for.

I have been thinking about the scene since….do I hunger for communion the way Smart Guy did? 

Advent is a time that we prepare the table for a main dish that we don’t know.  The hunger is there, and so is the feeling that the bread may never arrive.  This advent I find myself hungering for justice by asking the questions that I have faced in the past year.  When, O Lord, will everyone at least have a roof over their head?  When, O Lord, will people be seen for who they are, as your children?  When, O Lord, will your followers be more concerned about helping than judging?

But frankly, more than ever,  advent has also become practical for me.  We have prepared to have children for two years and they are here.  We have prepared to buy a house and make it our home, and while that didn’t happen, a new way of live is emerging in our new apartment.  I am done preparing.  Yet, in this phase I indeed am hungering….I want justice for my children, I want my neighborhood to be given the benefit of the doubt, and I want the communion bread to really mean something in my life.

More than ever, I want to be that the table when the main dish arrives this year.  I want to soak in the joy, peace, and hope and love only such a table can provide.