Waiting

Waiting is not something most people look forward to. We are certainly an impatient bunch. We get angry when the wait is too long at the check-out or when our meal has not arrived in a certain amount of time, which has made this year more frustrating than ever. We have been forced to wait. Look at the many examples. People waiting in long lines for food distribution, for Covid-19 tests, to vote, for a vaccine, and to get back to normal. It has been a hard year on patience and we see, even with the great rise in hospitalizations and deaths, that some are so tired of waiting they are done with it and going about as they used to. I suppose that, in part, comes from our world and culture that has been built around instant gratification. Now, with that phone of yours, you can do and get things that used to take weeks in one day. If you want to ask a friend a question, send her a text and she will respond instantly. Want something? Go on Amazon and order it and it is on your porch the next day (or sooner). Instead of teaching us what my mom used to always say when I got antsy, “All good things take time,” we are learning to be rude and angry when we have to wait. Those are two qualities that Christians should not incorporate into their lives especially since waiting is a Christian’s life.

We begin this month in Advent, a time of waiting. We wait with great anticipation for our Lord and Savior to come to us. It is the symbolic wait for his birth, the wait for him to come to us, and the wait for when he will return. Waiting that spans our whole life and the life of the world. This year Christmas will be different because of the pandemic. Yet that difference may actually help us to see what God has called us to be. We are called to be the examples of humility and acceptance – not to be the bullies of the world demanding more than our share or to be treated better than others and certainly not to be the first in line. In this time we are reminded of Jesus’ call, “To pick up our cross and follow him.” We who have been waiting our whole lives are called to show the world what it means to wait and how to celebrate when things do not go our way or happen as soon as we want them to. We can do this because every day we celebrate the gift for which we wait – Jesus Christ Son of God our salvation. We wait with great anticipation. We wait with patience. We wait by giving ourselves to the task at hand. We pick up our cross and share the love of God with the world showing them what we already know – the peace of God that passes all understanding and knowledge. A peace that allows us to live in a frightening uncertain time. Be God’s people actively waiting in a world that needs Jesus.

Peace,
Pastor John