Advent in the Outfield

Not a Rockies game.  

Already, but also, not yet.

I was a baseball fan and so I was signed up to play tball.  Already a fan, but also, not athletic.

I was most frequently placed in the outfield.  A small girl in a big field of grass.

In true baseball the outfield requires lots of waiting,  punctuated by bursts of running and death defying catches.

In tball the outfield meant you waited through each inning.  I would eventually sit in the grass.  Pluck dandelions.

Advent is a bit like playing the outfield.

Many years later I was in the front row of the upper deck of Coors Field.  Perched high above homeplate on a windy summers night, we were offered two shows.

There was the one we paid for, the one on the field. The one with bats and bases and innings and plans and 'no crying'.

From our seats we could also see the Rocky Mountains to the west.  And across the front range of the mountains rolled a marvelous lightening storm.  Much to far away to cause a delay of a game, but close enough to offer the second show.  The crowd was ooing and ahhing for both games.

However the men on the field couldn't see the second show.  They had no idea that just beyond them was a creative light display.  You could see the outfielders looking around confused.  When the crowd oohs and ahhs and nothing just happened on the field, it would cause you to turn your head around too.

There are two shows right now.  One of the sugar plum fairy type and one of the stand in the outfield and wait type.  Advent is the second show and it is one of patience and remembering; one of staying awake and standing at rest.

It is strange how much work it can take to just stand still for a while.  To pay attention to the game and to let the other shows remain beyond your field of vision.  Or to find a way to experience both without denying the other.  I choose  muted sugar plum, always struggling to not be a 'but we are here to watch the ball game' fundamentalist.  Which is hard.  Folks who read newspapers at games irk me; folks who hang up their holiday stuff before St. Nicholas Tag make me shiver.  But like lightening that makes me jump, I have to recall that it is far away.  It is a choice, and I can think the lightening is beautiful and watch the game at the same time.

Advent.  Come Lord Jesus.