Advent Reflection | Thursday, December 10
Today’s A Weary World Rejoices story comes from Ryan Panzer:
In 2010, the Wisconsin Badgers won the Big Ten Championship and earned a trip to the Rose Bowl. As a member of the UW Marching Band, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to travel to Pasadena, CA for a New Year’s Day showdown with the TCU Horned Frogs. With numerous pep rallies across Los Angeles, as well as the famous Rose Bowl Parade, the trip was far more than a football game.
After three days of non-stop, sun-splashed performances around Southern California, the big day arrived. The wake-up calls started at 3 AM (just three hours after our New Year’s Eve Pep Rally) so the band could be in position for the start of the Rose Parade. The whistle sounded, the cameras rolled, the band stepped off. There we were, high-stepping our way down the streets of Pasadena, blasting “On, Wisconsin” and “You’ve Said it All” to hundreds of thousands of parade viewers. At the conclusion of the parade, we were filled with adrenaline, and thanks to the parade sponsors, some In-N-Out-Burger, in order to sustain us through the four-hour football game. We were elated, we were exhausted, we were overjoyed with the opportunity, we were beyond tired.
The game began. We played in the stands. We marched our halftime show. We cheered on the team. And then we lost. Some questionable play-calling combined with some uncharacteristic miscues led to an outcome none of us in the band expected, that continues to disappoint some of us to this day!
A Badger victory in the Rose Bowl would have been a happy culmination of years of grueling practice and days of non-stop performance. But in that weary moment, when the lights of the Rose Bowl dimmed and we boarded a redeye back to Madison winter, we looked back on the experience with something far greater than fleeting happiness.
We looked back with gratitude for the years of friendship and camaraderie the band had offered. We looked back with an appreciation for the chance to represent the University on such a grand stage while escaping the Midwest winter. We looked back on that trip, and our experiences in the Badger band, with joy.
To follow Christ in this weary season has been a reminder that the life of faith is not a life of immediate happiness. The life of faith is a life of perseverance, a life where we can rest assured that even in our weariest moments, joy follows in the morning. Joy is rarely about exuberant celebration. It is instead about the quiet moments, when the light of Christ subtly breaks into the world, filling our days with hope.
Psalm 30:4-5
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night; but rejoicing comes in the morning.
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