S11: E1: Hope Makes the Drowning Man Struggle
S11: The Waiting Room
E1: Hope Makes the Drowning Man Struggle
Hope makes a drowning man struggle!
More on this shortly. First, an introduction to the season of Advent and why I am writing about The Waiting Room in a set of four blogs in as many weeks.
The Waiting Room in Advent
Advent is unavoidable, no matter what your beliefs, not just in terms of a Christian observance, but also in the commercial marketplace. Like so many observances, retailers seize the opportunity to make a profit.
It is the beginning of the Christian calendar in preparation for celebrating the incarnation of Christ, or His first coming. According to tradition, the four candles of Advent – available in most stores – symbolize a significant emphasis in personal preparation.
The first candle, also called the Prophet’s Candle, represents Hope because Old Testament prophets, especially Isaiah, waited in hope for Christ the Messiah.[1] The purple color of the candle symbolizes preparation involving repentance and fasting.
The second candle, also known as Bethlehem’s Candle, represents faith. For example, the prophet Micah had foretold that Christ would be born in Bethlehem, which is also the birthplace of King David.[2] The second candle is also purple symbolizing preparation for the coming King.
The third candle, known as the Shepherd’s Candle, represents joy because the angels announced that Christ came for humble, unimportant people, like shepherds, who were filled with joy.[3] This candle is colored pink to represent preparation involving joy or rejoicing.
The fourth candle represents peace and is called the Angel’s Candle because these celestial creatures announced that Christ came to bring peace, not only between God and man, but between each other.[4] This color is also purple to represent preparation to receive the love of Christ.
In addition to this annual time of preparing with the symbolism of four candles, Advent also refers to the period of time between the ascension of Christ and His coming again – or simply put in this blog – the space between two worlds where we live. It is here where we meet the drowning man.
The Drowning Man
There are many recorded accounts that could be called “almost-drowned”[5] where vivid experiences are explicitly shared. They involve consciousness, lungs burning like hot lava, brutality where everything goes black, sheer panic, and shock. Neurologists and phycologists point out these terrifying sensations inform us we are still alive, albeit for a few moments.[6]
Now imagine yourself in that horrifying terror. Your boat has sank leaving you adrift at sea with no life jacket. Suddenly, through seething pain you hear the sound of a rescue helicopter. Is it a hallucination or is it real? You can’t see it through the towering waves, but you hear it. This is no time to process and be logical, but in that moment, there is hope – and it makes you struggle through the seething pain. And that’s all it takes, the sound of hope in the waiting room between two worlds of life and death.
Ask someone you know who has journeyed through cancer treatment, or deeply grieved the death of a spouse, lost their job, gone through a divorce, and faced rejection for the nth time. Drowning does not always involve water, but the terrifying sensation can be the same. And yet, in the darkest days of life there is the sound of hope.
Unexpected Rescue
The Exodus story perfectly describes not only the drowning man, but a drowning nation.[7] However, we tend to misread or misinterpret the cries of the drowning in this story. The sons of Jacob had multiplied in Egypt becoming a large nation, and a new Pharaoh had come to power who had no regard for Israel. So, he enslaved them. Their pain was more than they could take. Like a drowning man in seething pain, we read:
“The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob” (Exodus 2:23-24).
They did not cry out to God, they simply cried out in their pain, and God responded because of promises He made. Think about your friend with a diagnosis of cancer, bereavement, job loss, divorce, and profound rejection simply crying out in their pain. Not to God, but because of the pain. Yet it is God who responds, our Hope, and rescues us.
Between Two Worlds
Christ has come in the first Advent fulfilling what the prophets in the Old Testament spoke about – and because He died and has been risen – Christ will come again fulfilling all Scripture in the Second Advent. Between the world of the first Advent and the second where we wait for His coming again, personal and national pain can feel like the drowning man. But in the waiting room, between both worlds, we can pray with confidence the prayer of Jeremiah:
“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:21-23).
On this first week in Advent, prepare your heart to celebrate that Christ has come, born of the Virgin Mary. But also prepare your heart for Christ to do something new in your heart. Christ came to reveal His Father and proclaim that He is now our Father.[8] He is closer than you think.[9]
I’ll conclude this first of four blogs about The Waiting Room with two verses from St. Augustine’s Prayer Book:[10]
“O King of the nations, chosen and precious cornerstone, binding in one all peoples: Come quiet the strife that afflicts your children. O Emmanuel, the promise and fulfillment of all promises: Come and bring among us the joy of your kingdom.”
Why not pray through these two verses with the passage from Jeremiah. Your heart will love you for it!
[1] Isaiah 6, 9, 11, 28, 29, 40, 42, 53.
[2] Micah 5:2
[3] Luke 2:8-20.
[4]Luke 2:14.
[5] Chris Broughton, “Experience, I nearly Drowned, The Guardian, Sept. 24, 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/24/experience-i-nearly-drowned
[6] Tipton M, Montgomery H. The experience of drowning. Medico-Legal Journal. 2022; 90(1):17-26. doi:10.1177/00258172211053127
[7] Book of Exodus, Bible.
[8] John 20:17/Matthew 6:9-13.
[9] Proverbs 18:24.
[10] St. Augustine Prayer Book 2012th edition, A Litany Based on the Great “O Antiphons”. Forward Movement, 2014.