I’ve been thinking about waiting during the past few weeks. As many of you know I’ve been waiting for one thing for some time now, something that is very important to me – something that without which I feel incomplete this time of year. So much so that I’ve written a little limerick about my longing for this thing:
It’s December and things are not right
I’m waiting for visions of white
It should fall from the sky
But so far it’s been dry
In a snowfall my heart would delight!
You can’t take the Minnesota out of me! But this waiting is appropriate I guess, as Advent is the season of waiting. As Christians we are waiting for Christmas when the Christ child – our savior - comes into the world to bring us peace and hope and salvation. That’s what this season is all about, we wait and we prepare for this child to come.
But, I’ve also been thinking about how in our culture we don’t really like to wait. We like to have things instantly. For example - my 35 millimeter camera is virtually obsolete, the one-day or even one-hour processing time it takes is too long – with a digital camera I can not only see the pictures I’ve taken right away – I can print them from my home computer! No waiting!
If I wake up in the middle of the night with a great gift idea – I don’t have to wait until I have time to go to the store to check the price, availability, sizes, and color choices of that item – I can hop online and find out instantly. No waiting! No lost sleep!
I don’t write letters much anymore – I can’t wait that long for the person to get the information. It’s either an email or a phone call – even when I do write a letter or a card to someone - by the time they get it, its already old news. I can’t wait that long.
Right now I am waiting for a few gifts I’ve order online to arrive. But I’m not waiting as anxiously as I might be - because of a beautiful little thing called tracking numbers. Tracking numbers are the greatest thing – you go on the fed-ex or UPS website and enter the number and it tells you right where your package is. I don’t have to wonder if a certain package will arrive on time or not. I have come to love tracking numbers so much I felt compelled to write a poem about them, it goes like this:
There’s one gift for which I still wait
It’s my own fault, I ordered it to late
But I know, thanks to Fed-Ex
My Dad’s gift is in Texas
And will be here tomorrow by eight.
As a culture - we have been successful at cutting wait time down or out completely on so many things. But there is a problem – when it comes to the really important things – we almost always find ourselves waiting. When we wait for things like peace, wisdom, or forgiveness there is no way to go digital, there is no way to put a tracking number on it.
Maybe the reason that we’re so obsessed with cutting out the wait time in so many tangible areas is that there are so many other intangible areas in which the wait time is unknown, unpredictable, or uncertain. The reality is there are so many things for which we await an ending, a resolution, or an answer.
I know people who are waiting to adopt a baby. I’m fairly certain they would give anything to put a tracking number on that baby and to know exactly where it is and what the expected arrival date is. But yet, they continue to wait. And there are many families waiting for children, either waiting to adopt – or couples who continue to wait even through years of infertility.
Then there are many of you waiting for your children to grow up. This time not hoping the waiting will go quickly, but it is a waiting all the same – a waiting and a wondering what kind of people they will be – who they will become – and what kind of decisions they will make. Will they know right from wrong? Will they be confident and strong? Will they be compassionate and giving? Will they be people of faith?
And as we grow up we wait on other people, our siblings, our friends, and neighbors - The brother who has been hurtful and distant – The once best friend whose values have changed so drastically – The arrogant co-worker – the irresponsible or foolish relative – we wait on even those that betray and disappoint us dreaming that they might see things differently.
But then we wait on our own selves too. When will I ever be able to forgive my friend? Why can’t I forgive myself? Why can’t I just open up to this person who has become so distant? Why don’t I have more to give to God?
And we look at our world and we wait – we wait for peace in the Middle East – we wait for the end of AIDS in Africa – we wait for the children of the world to be fed and clothed and educated – we wait and we wonder where is God in all of this? Where is God’s promise of peace and hope. And then we look at God and we wait – we wonder if God’s Kingdom is really here on earth or if something more is yet to come. And like the children asked in their program – How long do we have to keep waiting?
And this is the point of our Advent waiting – something more IS yet to come – We know that Christ our savior is coming. We know the Messiah that the prophets promised is coming. And while we celebrate at Christmas this gift for which we are waiting now, we move into the New Year often still waiting for many of the same things. So what changes at Christmas? What changes because of the birth of Jesus? We might actually come out of this season feeling like nothing has changed, but the truth is – that everything changes.
I think what we have to do is rephrase the question. The question is not “when will I get the thing I’m waiting for?” When will this couple become parents? What will my child become? When will there be forgiveness in my family? When will there be peace in the world? The question really is – Is there hope? Is there hope for me? for my family? for the world? Without hope we remain lost and broken and afraid - But where there is hope – humanity endures, we carry on.
And At Christmas, with the birth of Jesus we are given this incredible promise of hope – the hope of peace, of love, of life abundant, the hope of salvation – an eternity with God - and that changes everything.
In Romans 5 - Paul writes: We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand: and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. He goes on to say that - hope does not disappoint us.
And so we wait, but we do not wait in vain. Our waiting comes with this gift of hope. And when we have hope we are able to see right here on earth glimpses of the things for which we wait. We see the miraculous blessing of the birth of a child, the incredible power of forgiveness, and the great joy of Christians working together around the world to bring peace on earth. This is the hope that comes with the savior born at Christmas.
So if you’ll indulge me I’ll end with just one more poetic attempt -
If we took a quick Christmas census
There would be something common among us
We want peace in the world
But to the mall we’ve been hurled
How long till the world knows our Jesus?
Jesus is this baby in the manger
Promised to a world in danger
A child born from above
To bring peace and love
For all people, even enemies and strangers
So we wait, and we question, and we prod
Because we know on this path that we trod
At the end of our rope
Jesus is hope
And for this we say – Thanks be to God.
Amen.