Niche Followers

My children call it, quietly, “Dad’s obsession.” My dream is that they mean that fondly and are not suggesting that I suffer either from an organic disease, like early Alzheimer’s, or have an emotional disorder.

What stresses them is my habit of straining to see a “God-thing” in the most ordinary of circumstances. For instance, I enjoy thinking that the gifts bestowed by the Wizard of Oz on the scarecrow, the lion, and the tin man, are not brain, courage and heart, but rather, represent the gifts of faith, hope and love. Likewise, I claim that Superman is our culture’s effort to deal with the complexities of Jesus’ having both a human and a divine nature. I see The Lord of the Flies as a tale of good and evil that rivals Genesis, and ET as a resurrection story. You get the picture.

My kids avoid me like the plague during the season of Advent! Weary of my theological lenses, my now adult children have long tired of playing the game. “So, Dad, what are visions of sugar plums dancing in children’s heads really all about?” “Hey, Dad, when folks camp out all night on Thanksgiving to be the first inside a box store on ‘Black Friday,’ what sort of biblical wilderness event is that, Exodus, or Jesus in the desert?”

The season of Advent seems to be a good time to give those lenses a rest. Our culture doesn’t offer too many pre-Christmas experiences that make a pair of “God-thing” lenses useful. It’s a tough time to “sell” practices like waiting and preparing when everywhere we turn we’re seduced to make right-now purchases of ready-to-wrap products whose prices have been reduced.

There is, though, a fun quiz-show on National Public Radio. Its host asks questions of famous people to “fill-in the-blank” with names of significant persons, places, and events that average readers of newspapers and watchers of TV news could have, should have, noticed. The contestant with the most correct answers wins bragging rights. The show’s name is, “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!”

While the show isn’t as famous as Desperate Housewives, it does have a niche market. That’s where those lenses may yet come in handy. Advent, too, has a niche following.

We still know believers eager to wait and prepare for the once again coming of Emmanuel, God-With-Us. Even the average among them refuse to play games, don’t need to win and reject bragging. Culture doesn’t easily seduce them. Without straining, they see a God-thing most everywhere. This time of year you’ll usually find them at ___________? Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!