Posted on behalf of and with the permission of Jim Burklo (Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California)

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Not Yet

By Jim Burklo

It was Christmas Eve, and amidst all the bustle of family activity I asked who might be up for going to the candlelight service.  Everybody was engaged in cooking, eating, and talking.  But our three year old granddaughter perked right up and said “Me!  Me!”  She and her Iranian Muslim paternal grandmother joined me in driving to the church.

Before the service, I took little Rumi up to the altar of Mt Hollywood Congregational United Church of Christ in Los Angeles.  There were several crèches there, none of them with the baby Jesus in the manger.  “The baby is coming!” I told Rumi.  “They’re going to put him here!  It’s all about the baby!”

Then we sat in the front row.  Rumi’s eyes were aglow with the magic of Christmas.  She loved the music and the candles.  In the middle of the service, she bolted out of her seat, ran up to the altar, looked for the baby in the crèche, turned around, shrugged her little shoulders and said, for all to hear, “Not yet!”

Well, that made Christmas Eve for me.  And for a lot of others in the church that night.  There is a “not yet” about Christmas that inflames the imagination, quickens the heart, warms the soul.  She got it, and in that moment, so did the rest of us.

Christmas has come and gone for the season.  Some hopes and dreams were realized, to be sure.  Rumi was thrilled when it came time for all the children to come up to the altar on Christmas Eve.  There may have been fewer packages under the Christmas tree for a lot of people this time, but still there were enough to make it a good day for most folks.

Then came December 26,  with plenty of “not yets”left unresolved.  High-quality, universal, single-payer health care coverage for Americans?  Not yet.  An employment safety net that makes sure every American who is able to work can get a job?  Not yet.  Affordable higher education for every eligible young adult in California?  Once upon a time, but now, not yet.  An end to Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank, leading to a comprehensive peace agreement with Palestine?  Not yet.  Resolutions to the civil wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan?  Not yet.

How shall we live with “not yet”?  With frustration and despair,?  With anger that promises have been broken, lies have deceived?  With resignation and hopelessness, assuming that we shouldn’t expect much due to the immutability of “the powers that be”?

Or shall “not yet” keep our attention focused on getting Jesus into the manger, focused on manifesting divinity through our humanity?  Shall we take “not yet” as a sign that it is time for patient, persistent action for positive social change?  Shall we hear “not yet” as a call to engagement with the practical processes of making the world a better place for us all?

Rumi went back to her seat in the church, delighted that she got to put a figurine of the baby Jesus into one of the little mangers. Christmas Eve may be over, but the work of Christmas continues as we turn “not yet” into “now”.