December 1st - an absent presence

Presence in absentia: the photograph represents both an absence which is unmissable and a presence which is unmistakable. The snow lying on the ground is clear evidence that something substantial was there while the flakes were falling from the night sky. That something was gone by daybreak but no one could argue with the fact of its having being there in the first place. The vehicle was a very tangible reality and a fact beyond disputation.

For me Advent has this same sense of presence in absentia: we wait, we hope, we feel longing and expectation; there is a tingling sense of promise in the chilly air. God is on the move again. The Spirit of Divine love is stirring up wistfulness, wonderment, remorse and regret. Darkness is prepared for enlightenment, evil for surrender, yearning for fulfilment.

All around us the quiet work of love, compassion and prayer leaves an outline of presence in our common experience. Unseen, elusive yet tangible is God's being with and amongst us. The sense of 'in retrospect' clarity is characteristic of God's presence in absentia. The poet-priest R.S. Thomas understood this aspect of God with us better than most and expressed it par excellence. Just a few of his lines unpack the truth to which the photograph points:

He is such a fast God, always before us and leaving as we arrive...


It is this great absence that is like a presence, that compels me to address it without hope of a reply, It is a room I enter from which someone has just gone, the vestibule for the arrival of one who has not yet come...


Advent conveys this presence in absentia with marvellous imagination and such resolute faith. So we are encouraged to trust and look forward. The presence of God is unmistakable.

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From Dave Perry's marvelous Visual Theology blog with thanks