Waiting
We're somewhere around halfway through Advent right now. Signs in various locations remind us there are "only" two weeks to Christmas Day. Perhaps presents have begun appearing under your tree, or perhaps they're hidden away somewhere in a dark closet. Perhaps you haven't started shopping yet (yes, I'm looking at you!). Whatever the situation, we're waiting for Christmas to come. (The snow coming down as I write this somehow heightens my anticipation!)
We don't like to wait. We are an impatient society. Even if we're waiting on what might be potentially bad news, we don't like to wait. Tell it to me straight so I can deal with it. Or if we're waiting in the doctor's office to find out what might be wrong with us—we don't like to wait. We prefer to pay a little more for "overnight" shipping rather than wait the 2-5 business days "normal" shipping takes. We track packages online so we can know when they will show up. We get impatient when we're stopped by a train, when we have to stand in line for our coffee, or when there are more than two carts ahead of us in line at the check-out lane. (When I pull into a restaurant and plan to take it "to go," I count cars and try to guess if it will be faster to do the drive-through or to go in...does anyone else do that? I usually guess wrong.)
That's why, I think, it's so hard for us to imagine the way the people of old waited for Jesus. By the time what we call the first century arrived (though Jesus was probably born between 6-4 B.C. on our calendar), no prophet had spoken for 400 years or so. No new promises of a Messiah. No new word from the Lord. And yet, still, the people waited. Maybe this is the year. Maybe today is the day. From generation to generation, they handed down the stories, the hopes, the promises because they believed with everything in them that, no matter how it appeared, God would be faithful to his promises. No matter how long they had to wait, they knew God would come through. Countless folks who hoped and waited never saw the culmination of that promise. But some did. Finally, in the "fullness of time" (as the Bible says), the promise came true. The waiting was over.
Today, some doubt that Jesus' promise to return will ever happen. Or we live like he's not returning. After all, we've been waiting nearly 2,000 years since he made that promise. And yet, if God came through on his promises before, why do we doubt that he will again? And why do we live as if he won't? We're called, in some sense, to wait, to live in hope, to be ever ready for his appearing. Advent is a yearly call to not only celebrate his first coming, but to eagerly anticipate his second.
So...how are you with waiting?
We don't like to wait. We are an impatient society. Even if we're waiting on what might be potentially bad news, we don't like to wait. Tell it to me straight so I can deal with it. Or if we're waiting in the doctor's office to find out what might be wrong with us—we don't like to wait. We prefer to pay a little more for "overnight" shipping rather than wait the 2-5 business days "normal" shipping takes. We track packages online so we can know when they will show up. We get impatient when we're stopped by a train, when we have to stand in line for our coffee, or when there are more than two carts ahead of us in line at the check-out lane. (When I pull into a restaurant and plan to take it "to go," I count cars and try to guess if it will be faster to do the drive-through or to go in...does anyone else do that? I usually guess wrong.)
That's why, I think, it's so hard for us to imagine the way the people of old waited for Jesus. By the time what we call the first century arrived (though Jesus was probably born between 6-4 B.C. on our calendar), no prophet had spoken for 400 years or so. No new promises of a Messiah. No new word from the Lord. And yet, still, the people waited. Maybe this is the year. Maybe today is the day. From generation to generation, they handed down the stories, the hopes, the promises because they believed with everything in them that, no matter how it appeared, God would be faithful to his promises. No matter how long they had to wait, they knew God would come through. Countless folks who hoped and waited never saw the culmination of that promise. But some did. Finally, in the "fullness of time" (as the Bible says), the promise came true. The waiting was over.
Today, some doubt that Jesus' promise to return will ever happen. Or we live like he's not returning. After all, we've been waiting nearly 2,000 years since he made that promise. And yet, if God came through on his promises before, why do we doubt that he will again? And why do we live as if he won't? We're called, in some sense, to wait, to live in hope, to be ever ready for his appearing. Advent is a yearly call to not only celebrate his first coming, but to eagerly anticipate his second.
So...how are you with waiting?
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