The
Meaning is in the Waiting
December 1 / 2013 Matthew
24:36-44 and Isaiah 2:1-5
I hate to wait. On Black Friday – I made the mistake of going
shopping – I was in the Wiarton grocery store picking up 6 or 7 items, hard to
imagine that Black Friday had come to Wiarton – but the store was crazy busy
Friday afternoon at 5 pm. (I think it is
crazy busy every Friday afternoon at 5 pm- but that is beside the point) I was in the express line, trying to save
some time because I had the girls with me– there is an oxymoron – express lane. There were only two people in front of
me. I thought I had made the right
decision using the express lane. The guy
directly in front of me though, was still shopping as he waited and I watched
as he went from 12 items – the maximum allowed in the line, as he added chocolate
milk – 13 items, crackers -14 items and two pound of butter – 16 items, and a
chocolate bar – 17 items!! – as I stood there getting more and more frustrated the
store opened another line but the guy behind me went to the front of that line and
by the time I could move my cart with my squirming baby fighting me to get down
on the floor, two more people had pulled their carts in behind him – and so
moving to the other line seemed ridiculous.
When I finally had succeeded in checking
out all three people in the other line where long gone from the store – and I
was in a cranky mood – the girls were fussy, and we were running late to pick
up Michelle. I hate to wait. But it is advent and in advent waiting is
what it is all about. Advent waiting - Waiting
for the Christ – the Christ of the past - to come as a baby in Bethlehem, the Christ
of the present to come among us now and the Christ of the future to come once
more when God’s kingdom is on earth as it is in heaven. Advent, which begins this Sunday – today - is four weeks of active waiting.
A colleague
shared this about advent this week: “Advent
is not mentioned in the Bible. Advent is a theological space, which
allows us a quantity of time…a space if you will…to breathe in how God comes to
us through a baby.
It is a
space that quickly begins to shrink as the days move quickly, towards December
24th and 25th. To be honest, there are times when I
wish for days of quiet, days spent basking in the silence in order to fully
begin to absorb the mystery of Emmanuel, “God-in-us”.
Advent
is a liturgical space. In worship we will light the Advent wreath and our
singing takes on a different ‘flavor’. The church has changed with the
addition of greenery, the Nativity scene, the Christmas tree, and many other
wonderful visual arts to remind us…we are in a different space…theological and
liturgically.[1]
It is advent time, and the readings have shifted as
well. Advent is about preparing us for
the coming of Jesus – the coming of the kingdom of God and that is very
apparent in the apocalyptic reading – the end time images we read this morning
in Matthew – be prepared writes Matthew for no one knows the day or hour – be prepared
and keep awake – for the time is imminent –the son of man is coming at an
unexpected hour. Be prepared.
Be prepared – that is the motto of the Girl Guides and
the Boy Scouts – being prepared for them was about having a map and a compass
and a Swiss army knife before you set off into the bush to go for a hike. It was about having a water bottle and
medical kit in case of emergencies.
Being prepared for the coming of the Christ is a little like that –
metaphorically speaking of course.
Much of life just happens, no
matter what we do to prepare we can’t always predict what is going to happen, we
can’t prepare for every eventuality. In the past few weeks we have heard of
typhoons and storms, scandals in the Senate and at Toronto City Hall – I am
pretty sure that neither Mr. Duffy, Ms Wallin or Mayor Ford were prepared for
the public scandal that their decisions created – in fact had they known what
was to befall them they might have prepared differently and not made the
choices that they made. Being prepared
is hard - at 10.25pm pm Friday evening, Scottish time, a Police helicopter fell
on to a pub in Glasgow. When you go to the pub, or out for dinner, do you plan
what you will do if a police helicopter crashes into the building? Of course
not. There is no way to prepare for
something like that.
But there is a way to prepare for
the coming of the kingdom. There is a way
to be ready for the unexpected hour that Matthew is preparing us for.
I suspect being prepared is about
knowing who we are, what we believe and being authentic in our faith and
action. It is about being a Christian in
the truest sense of the word – kind of like the map and compass of the boy
scouts. It is about knowing God and being aware of how we should be living,
what God expects of us as God’s people –
It is about how we care, for
ourselves, others and all of God’s creation
It is about how we treat each
other to each other’s faces and behind our backs as well
It is about being able to forgive
and move on from difficult situations, and maintain relationships even if you
have been hurt
it is about being loving instead
of judging, living in compassion instead of criticism
it is about being a caring
neighbour even if our neighbour does not look like us or act like us or even
have the same frame of reference we do
even if our neighbour does not
have the same faith as us or even any faith at all.
Being prepared is living in the
way of Christ.
Today we lit the candle of hope – hope in the world now and also in the
past as listened to the voice of Isaiah the prophet of old –
Isaiah was writing at a time when
for the people of Israel there had been little to hope about; they had spent more
time warring with other nations, and each other than anyone could remember.
Life was not hopeful... yet into this time of hopelessness came Isaiah’s
prophecy – a day when all God’s people would come together; would forget their
differences; would be united in returning to God – gathering at God’s mountain
– people from all nations, united in peace and love of the Creator.
And that day becomes God’s day –
the day when the Christ comes and God gets in and it is on earth as it is in
heaven when all that humanity chooses to follow God’s ways. Living as God’s
people, loving, accepting and caring for each other as brothers and sisters,
all God’s children. And living in God’s
peace.
And thus giving up arms: turning
swords to ploughs; spears to pruning hooks.
And gathering into the light.
This is what we are waiting for – this is the kingdom of God – this is
for what we are preparing and we do that by living that way before it actually
come, this paradoxical Christian life that has us living in the Christ as the
Christ is here and as we wait for the Christ to come.
A fellow preacher this week
reflects on this paradox as she writes: “Imagine
how life would feel if we had even a tiny inkling of that!
Our world is full of violence and
war; distrust and corruption; disease and sickness; poverty and injustice....
all things that were also prevalent all those thousands of years ago... the
exact situation that Isaiah was talking into.
How can we not relate?!
But how would it be – what hope
would we have, if we began to trust in these prophecies?
This advent, as we think about
the things we hope for; think about how we can be the change... step-by-step –
little-by-little until we can realise that vision.
We may not be able to change the
whole world
But we can change our part of
it....
Whether we are supporting
disaster relief for the people of the Philippines
Or we are praying in solidarity
with the people of a tiny wee pub in the city of Glasgow
Or we are coming together,
inviting others in, welcoming new people into our fellowship – we need to start
somewhere...
And that is hopeful!
So wait for it – this Kingdom time of God’s for it is
in-breaking into the world as I speak.
A fellow
preacher reflects: “Not that our
ancestors waited in stasis. They didn't. They told stories, they sang, they lit
candles, they had rituals and prayers and feasts to celebrate the coming of the
sun with the solstice. They, with their own liturgy, honored the time of
waiting.
In our let's-go-let's-go-let's-go world, we don't huddle around the fire and wait anymore. We keep doing. We don't let winter's darkness coax us into her resting, her waiting. The Church tries. We remind people of the beauty and value of waiting and watching. Hard as it is to imagine, a season focused on waiting and watching isn't that popular with the secular world.
We clergy talk about Advent and the holiness of waiting. Holy, yes; fun, no. Waiting is annoying. Go to the Department of Motor Vehicles, then tell me how much you like waiting. But…waiting is necessary. It's a vital part of this human experience. We are quite an impatient species, and yet, we must wait. We must develop and sit quietly and wait. We grow and develop over time, and we must wait while we do so. When we are wounded, either in heart or body, we must wait as we heal. Wait and rest. When we are experiencing a change and shift in our soul, which we all do in our lives, we will gestate and wait until God and our wiser soul-self deems it time for the change to be born.
So waiting, while not fun, is a deeply valuable spiritual discipline.[3] The meaning is in the waiting – the living in the in between – in between was was, what is and what is to be. It is a delicate balance this in between time – but we have food to sustain us while we wait – we will share bread and wine and commune with each other in just a few minutes – and we have friends to wait with us as we prepare for the Christ, and ultimately we have God, who breaks into our lives even when we are waiting, supporting, encouraging and just being present. The meaning of all of this is in the waiting. Happy Advent everyone!
In our let's-go-let's-go-let's-go world, we don't huddle around the fire and wait anymore. We keep doing. We don't let winter's darkness coax us into her resting, her waiting. The Church tries. We remind people of the beauty and value of waiting and watching. Hard as it is to imagine, a season focused on waiting and watching isn't that popular with the secular world.
We clergy talk about Advent and the holiness of waiting. Holy, yes; fun, no. Waiting is annoying. Go to the Department of Motor Vehicles, then tell me how much you like waiting. But…waiting is necessary. It's a vital part of this human experience. We are quite an impatient species, and yet, we must wait. We must develop and sit quietly and wait. We grow and develop over time, and we must wait while we do so. When we are wounded, either in heart or body, we must wait as we heal. Wait and rest. When we are experiencing a change and shift in our soul, which we all do in our lives, we will gestate and wait until God and our wiser soul-self deems it time for the change to be born.
So waiting, while not fun, is a deeply valuable spiritual discipline.[3] The meaning is in the waiting – the living in the in between – in between was was, what is and what is to be. It is a delicate balance this in between time – but we have food to sustain us while we wait – we will share bread and wine and commune with each other in just a few minutes – and we have friends to wait with us as we prepare for the Christ, and ultimately we have God, who breaks into our lives even when we are waiting, supporting, encouraging and just being present. The meaning of all of this is in the waiting. Happy Advent everyone!
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