From the Pastor's Pen, November, 2005:

From the Pastor's Pen, December, 2005:

"Waiting"

How are you at waiting? If you're like most people, there are things you are not willing to wait for. I sometimes notice that, though I can be very patient SOME of the time, much of the time I dislike waiting. I want what I want, Now. You, too? It seems to be a symptom of our impatient society that we want instant results, never having to stand in line, never being put on "hold," and so on. Children (and adults) speak a truth when in excited anticipation of an event, they say, "I can't wait!" Christmas seems to be one of those things we "can't wait" for. Certainly in our culture, we see that "can't wait" attitude as the stores push Christmas up earlier and earlier.

In one church I served, I was preaching on the first Sunday of Advent and asked the rhetorical question in the sermon, "What are you waiting for?" An audible answer came from one side of the congregation as a woman spoke up, "Babies!" She was pregnant with twins (who were in fact born safely a couple weeks before Christmas). Like those long late months of a pregnancy, we have to wait for what we "can't wait" for. And the waiting is part of the reality.

The Church season of Advent is a waiting time. Originally designed as a penitential season, parallel to the season of Lent before Easter, Advent is a season of waiting for Christ's birth, and waiting for his coming again in glory to rule over all creation. While we want to jump ahead to Christmas, the season itself calls us to wait, to anticipate, and even to savor the moments in this "time in between the times." In this season, we light the candles on an Advent wreath as a visual enactment of our waiting. One candle at a time, those small flames push back the darkness. Week by week, we see the light of Christ coming nearer.

Mr. Rogers (of Neighborhood TV fame) used to sing a song on his show, "let's think of something to do while we're waiting." Like many of the songs he wrote for his program, this one acknowledged a true feeling for children (and maybe for adults, too). He was saying that it's hard to wait, and perhaps the best thing to do is to wait with a purpose---to find something creative, something useful, something helpful, not just to fill the time between, but to say that this time has a meaning of its own. Our time of waiting is not just being bored until the real thing comes along, but owning the truth that waiting has its own value.

That's the reality that Advent can speak to us. We wait with a purpose. We prepare our hearts and minds and lives. Even in the midst of shopping, baking, decorating, sending cards, entertaining, celebrating, and enjoying (you, like me, probably have 5 or 6 choices every day of seasonal events you could attend during December!), we are called to make a space for the Savior. We're called to remember who it is we're celebrating, who it is we're waiting for. "Let every heart prepare Him room," we sing in the carol, and that is the truth we are called to live. Every candle we light, every door on an Advent calendar that we open, is meant to help us prepare room in our hearts for Jesus.

In this holy, waiting, busy season, may we make room for Christ. As Jesus the Christ came into the world to become one of us, may we live for him. May our hearts make room for his love, his message, his grace.

Happy Waiting!

On the Journey with you,

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