What Do You Mean Wait?

Let’s face it, waiting is not easy. No one really wants to wait. In fact whole industries are made up to deliver things quickly. Think of fast foods, over night delivery, or even, I just saw an add for same day delivery. No one really likes to wait. Yet, like me, you probably were told, “Patience is a virtue.” and “Good things come to those who wait.” Although, on the other side, my mother always told me to, “Hurry up, we don’t have all day.” When I would shout back, “Wait.” She would always tell me, “Weight’s what broke the wagon down.” So which one is important? Although, I will have to say, during the past year or so we have learned a little patience. We have stood in line because of limited capacity and have not complained. Although, that may be offset by how fast everyone now seems to drive and their greater disregard of traffic laws. Waiting is not something we look forward to (unless it is for something we do not want to happen). We wait because we have to.

What makes waiting easier is that we know that what we await will arrive. The delivery services are good at this. Weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, and Easter are marked upon the calendar. We can check off the days and wait patiently.  But what about waiting for something that you are not sure of, of something that is not scheduled? How can you wait for a promise that does not seem possible? That is the situation in our lesson from Lamentations today. Lamentations is five poems written after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Each chapter a separate poem. (These poems may have been written by several people and later assembled together by an editor.) These poems express the loss that the people of Israel had experienced, the longing for what had been, and a call to God to “Hurry up.” They were waiting for salvation and God was taking God’s own time about it. That is how the people waited for the seemingly impossible. They wait by “bearing the yoke in youth, sitting alone in silence, putting their mouth to the dust, and to give their cheek to the smiter.” Well, that’s not the way we want to wait. That’s just too hard and inconvenient. 

There is certainly a virtue in waiting. The opposite only makes life more difficult. You all know – all have experienced – the fact that when you hurry things up is when you begin to make mistakes. Impatience brews anger and anger begets rash words and deeds – the road rage, fights, and gun violence we hear of all the time. All because we do not know how to wait patiently. So take direction from Lamentations and from God. While you wait, pray. For that is what Lamentations really is; a prayer to God. Then find something to do, someone to help. It does not matter if it is physical work or conversation with another. There are plenty of opportunities for you to live up to the life that God calls you to using the gifts God has given you. 

We too, like the Israelites, are waiting for salvation. The salvation promised by Jesus and given from the cross. Unlike the Israelites we are not forced to wait in servant hood or a foreign land. We are gifted and graced to live a life of love and caring for others. With Jesus at our side we can lament and work because our whole lives are prayer to God.