Meditation for November 28, 2007

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Psalm 130

 

1  Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord;

 

2  Lord, hear my voice!

    Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

 

3  If you, O Lord, were to note what is done amiss,

    O Lord, who could stand?

 

4  But there is forgiveness with you,

    so that you may be revered.

 

5  I wait for the Lord, my soul waits for him;

    in his word is my hope.

 

6  My soul waits for the Lord,

    more than watchmen for the morning,

    more than watchmen for the morning.

 

7  O Israel, wait for the Lord!

    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

    and with him there is plenteous redemption.

 

8  It is he who will redeem Israel from all their sins.

 

Advent and Waiting for the Lord

 

What is the most difficult waiting you have ever done?

 

For you women who have been pregnant, was it those last few weeks of your pregnancy?

 

Was it a time when you were waiting to hear a medical diagnosis, for you or a loved one?

 

Was it when you were waiting to hear from someone who was not home when he/she said they would be?

 

Was it when you were waiting for yourself or a loved one to finish up a tour of active duty in the Armed Forces?

 

Was it a time when you were waiting to see if a relationship that was in a bad place could take a turn for the better?

 

Was it a time when you were standing in line for a long time, or a time when you were stuck in a traffic jam when you were trying to get to the airport?

 

I remember a time when I climbed Long's Peak by moonlight with a few friends when we were all working at the YMCA in Estes Park.  We made such good time that we were on top well before sunrise.  I took a down sleeping bag along, but I let a young woman friend (who I had a crush on!) use it.  I was so cold, even though it was summertime.  I remember waiting for the sun to come up, wishing that it would hurry up!

 

I think we often associate waiting with times of frustration and impatience ("I don't have time for this right now!") or fear ("I don't know what is gong to happen, and I fear the worst.")

 

Advent is a time of preparation for the Lord's coming.  As such, it is also a time of waiting.  I remember listening to a tape by the Catholic priest Henri Nouwen years ago.  The tape was about Advent.  Nouwen made the point that Advent waiting is an active kind of waiting, not a passive waiting.  We wait on tiptoes, looking to see how the Lord will show up.  We wait with eager anticipation.  It is an involved, full-body experience, you might say. 

 

The Psalmist in Psalm 130 knew something about what is was like to be a night watchman. Think of people who stood on the wall surrounding the city - all night long - looking for intruders who might attack by cover of darkness.  You can imagine how eager such a person would have been to see the sun begin to rise over the eastern horizon.

 

The Psalmist says that he waits for the Lord, "more than watchmen for the morning."  The Psalmist is waiting for a word from the Lord. (see verse 5)  That word could take different forms.  It could be:

    - a word of hope

    - a word of consolation or comfort

    - a word of salvation or deliverance

    - a word of forgiveness

    - a word that is an answer to prayer

    - a word that brings healing or reconciliation

    - a word of love or affirmation or reassurance.

 

The word could be almost anything, depending on your circumstances.  But the word, that unique word - the word that comes only from God, and which can touch us in a way that only a word from God can - is needed.  Sometimes we are desperate for this word from God.  And so it is eagerly awaited.  We pay attention.  We look for it on tiptoe, like a watchman waiting for the first indications of sunrise.  We listen, like we've never listened before.  We thirst for God and His word to us.  As we hear in another psalm: "O God, your are my God; I seek you, my soul thirsts for you..." (Psalm 63:1)

 

Imagine for a moment what it was like for those who lived in the time of Jesus, who were eagerly awaiting the Messiah.  Was this Jesus fellow the Messiah?  Could it be him?  They had been waiting and waiting and waiting, more than watchmen for the morning.

 

That is the kind of waiting we need to be doing this Advent. (Advent begins this Sunday, December 2.)  Where will the Lord show up for you and for me?  Are you desperate for His word, for His appearance, for His presence with you?  If so, then don't spend all of your free time this December in shopping malls, fighting the crowds.  Do a different kind of waiting. 

 

Do the kind of waiting that involves some quiet, some prayerful listening. 

Do the kind of waiting that is involved when you read the Bible.  You have a very good chance of hearing a timely word from God in the scriptures.

Do the kind of waiting that involves a certain attitude or perspective... the kind where you wake up in the morning and say, "Where am I going to see God today?  In what person will I see God?  In what words that are spoken to me?  In what aspect of nature?  In the words to which song?  In what circumstances of my life will God show up, and suddenly be right there with me?"

 

Do that kind of waiting this December.  Wait in the way that the Psalmist waited.  "My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning."