The Christian season of Advent is very frequently characterised in the word “waiting”.
We do well as we begin this new liturgical season to remind ourselves of that Latin root of the familiar word ‘Advent’ – veni.
Veni speaks of ‘coming’ – the coming of Christ.
(we remind ourselves of the famous quote of Julius Ceasar “veni, vidi, vici” – I came. I saw. I conquered.)
Our early Gospel readings for this season suggest Christ’s second coming in glorious majesty, and then his initial ‘coming’ from the womb of Mary and the humbleness of Bethlehem.
These two great comings frame those regular, in- between, and at times unexpected, moments of Christ’s coming.
“This is my Body, this is My Blood” – how many times do I say and/or hear those words throughout the year. Said very specifically in the celebration of the Christian Eucharist; said less specifically and yet with equal realness during moments of encounter with another person or perhaps piece of music (Mozart’s Requiem for example, or Beethoven or Bach).
We also find the word ‘advent’ at the beginning of the word ‘adventure’.
The knights in Thomas Malory’s ‘Le Morte d’Arthur’ say to one another, “Let us take the adventure that God sends us”.
The metaphor of adventure is strong also in the works of C. S Lewis.
In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep is always harping on about honour and adventure. The little mouse’s courage pushes everyone on the crew to greater heights of courage because they refuse to be outdone by a mouse.
The others sometimes become annoyed with Reepicheep because everything is an adventure to him.
Any time they want to turn back or be cautious, Reepicheep pulls the adventure card, and they can’t turn back.
“This is a very great adventure, and no danger seems to me so great as that of knowing when I get back to Narnia that I left a mystery behind me through fear.” Reepicheep in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Again in the ‘Chronicles of Narnia ‘series in the last of the seven books, “The Last Battle,”. More than once, the major characters, facing an uncertain future or even death itself, place themselves under the “care of the Lion” and in courage and obedience to him say, “Let us now take the adventure that Aslan sends us…”
This Advent let’s make the season a time of adventure, and ‘Let us now take the adventure that God sends us.’
The illustration is from Chapter 7 of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The chapter is titled “A Day with the Beavers.” The children, Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund are taken to a meal with Mr and Mrs Beaver.