*awkward silence*
Ooooh, we’re not good at waiting, are we?
It’s awkward. It’s uncomfortable.
Even for a few brief moments.
We generally don’t like waiting.
Think of the last time you were stuck in the check-out line…
Think of a patient waiting to hear medical test results.
Think of a person in the final weeks of pregnancy.
We don’t like waiting because we aren’t in control.
Things are happening that will affect us, that we can’t do anything about.
We try to control them:
In the checkout line we check our phones, chat with other customers, sing songs in our heads – BUT No number of dramatic eye rolls can make the check out line move faster.
The medical patient will make notes, pray, make contingency plans for the plethora of ‘what if’s – BUT No number of bargains with God brings those results faster.
The pregnant person counts weeks; checks scans, watches their body changing. BUT No number of encouraging comments to a baby bump will induce labour.
We can’t control time.
So instead, While we wait, we start looking for signs.
We’d like to have a sign that counts down for us: ” your wait will be this long”
But we know that life is seldom that structured, and seldom that accurate.
So we look for other signs.
Some are subtle; others are not.
Isaiah is speaking to people who have ignored the subtlety for far too long; and now he calls upon God to break forth: tear open the heavens and come down.”
That’s a rather abrupt, almost violent entry.
Yet hear the tone of Isaiah: not one of fear or harshness; but a plea. The people have turned so far away from God that they need to be reminded and called back.
God did not turn from them; they run from God.
It’s a cautionary tale for us all: to stay faithful to God.
Just as Paul writes to the church at Corinth: who were waiting for the second coming imminently: before Lunch would be fine, thanks, we waited all day yesterday and he didn’t come.
Paul prays for strength for the people – to wait to the end;
With a word of promise:
God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
And Jesus himself speaks of these really shocking and inescapable signs: of changes in the skies, both day and night; of visual appearance of the second coming.
BIG signs.
And then he moves to a very normal example of change: the fig tree.
Basic, common. But equally important.
The apocalypse – today’s theme – is about signs.
Apocalypse isn’t meant to be the stuff of nightmares: but unveiling.
Revealing what is underneath.
The other side of the veil.
Takes
How do we wait:
With renewed focus: the whole season of Advent is focused around the waiting for the unveiling of the kin-dom of God.
And scriptures and tradition tell us how.
Scriptures tell us Now: be ready!
Prayer, meditation, connection.
The scriptures also tell us: Not Yet.
Be patient, be alert, be faithful.
It’s a struggle – now and not yet.
The world goes through struggles:
suffering of biblical proportions: literally.
Wars and violence around the world;
increasing need in our communities;
ongoing gender-based violence
Yet happy-decorated twinkling pre-Christmas culture:
Lights and packages and songs and
It’s discordant; as the world pulls us different dichotomies:
The world wants us to be optimistic.
God calls for us to be hopeful.
NOUWEN QUOTE
And we wait.
We wait for resolution of conflict, for justice to reign, for grace to surround us all.
We watch for opportunities to bring about the peace we seek; the love we crave, receive, and share; the community we are already in.
We wait poorly; humanly; authentically.
We wait in hope.
We wait in prayer.
We wait in God’s good hands.
We wait: for Advent.
Let us pray.
CELTIC PRAYER
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