ADVENT 3A - Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 1:46-55 (Song of Mary); James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 - 16 December 2007 - A sermon preached by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

 

Can We Wait Together?

 

INTRODUCTION - Frustrating Waiting

 

What is the most frustrating waiting you have ever done? One of the scenarios of waiting that has to rank right near the top is when you are waiting to find out what the medical diagnosis will be for yourself or a loved one. Another kind of waiting that can be very difficult is when you are without a job, you are looking for a job, and your status of being “in limbo” drags on for a lot longer than you thought it would.

 

What is difficult and frustrating about this type of waiting? Well, especially in the case of waiting for the medical diagnosis, and probably in the job hunting example, too, there is a sense of being totally out of control. What can I do until I find out this diagnosis? Nothing, that’s what. I think most of us feel, at some point, “Tell me what is wrong with me and then I’ll know what I’m up against.” But while we still don’t know what it is, we feel lost, alone, impatient, angry - even at wits’ end. And when we don’t have a good sense of when the job offer will finally come through... well, that can drive us nuts, too. There is a little more control you can exercise in the job hunting scenario - you can check for new job postings, make some phone calls, send in resumes to some newly identified potential employers - but there can still be a feeling of “I’m not in control here... someone else is in charge of my fate.”

 

ADVENT WAITING AND BIBLICAL WAITING, GENERALLY

 

Advent as a season has a lot to do with waiting. Is this the kind of waiting, then, that we have to look forward to - this somewhat passive, feeling out of control, frustrating, I-think-I’m-going-to-pull-my-hair-out waiting? The answer, fortunately for us, is no.

 

Advent waiting is primarily about waiting for the birth of the Messiah, or waiting for the return of the Messiah. Either way, it has to do with waiting for God to show up in a new way. So what makes this kind of waiting different from the unknown medical diagnosis or the prolonged period of unemployment type of waiting? The answer lies in the fact that the basic premises in Advent waiting - and the basic premises in Biblical waiting, generally - are different. I want to talk for a few minutes to talk about those key differences.

 

First of all, most of the waiting that the Bible refers to is waiting that is founded in a promise, and the one making the promise is not just anyone, but God. In our reading from James today, for example, we hear, “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You must also be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”

 

Jesus promised his disciples that he would return. That promise is like a seed being sown in the ground, James says. A sprout will be coming, then a stalk, then the grain, and then - in due time - the harvest.

 

Think of some of the most memorable promises that the people of God have heard God make over the centuries.

 

Abraham hearing that God would make of him a great nation, and that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed...

 

Moses hearing that, through him, God would lead the enslaved Israelites out of bondage, and back to the Promised Land...

 

The exiles hearing today’s words from Isaiah: “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’... And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isaiah 35:4, 10)

 

How about the Jews hearing, in a number of different ways, how one would come to Israel - a Messiah - and bring good news to the oppressed, healing to the brokenhearted, liberty to the captives, and joy to those who were in mourning. (E.g., Isaiah 61:1-3)

 

How about the young virgin hearing from the angel Gabriel: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High...” (Luke 1:30-32)

 

Or how about the risen but not yet ascended Jesus saying, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

 

Is it a little easier to wait when your waiting is based in these kinds of promises? You bet it is!

 

Second, Biblical waiting is active waiting. When the waiting is founded in a promise from God, we can eagerly be looking for signs that it is time to return to Jerusalem. We can eagerly plan for the coming of the baby in nine months. We can be on the lookout for the Anointed One who is to bring salvation and healing and freedom to his people. If someone like John the Baptist shows up, we can go see what he’s up to, and say, “Are you the Messiah?” Henri Nouwen says that active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening right now - where you are. Even if you may not understand exactly what God is up to, you recognize that God may very well be doing something that leads to the fulfillment of the promise, and therefore, you wait with anticipation.

 

Third, as James reminded his contemporaries, waiting for God is done in patience. Impatient people always expect the important thing will happen somewhere other than where they are, so they want to go elsewhere. Patient, faithful people understand that God can show up right where they are. Impatient people say, “I’ll need to go to such-and-such a place to meet my future spouse. If I keep shopping around I’ll find the church that’s right for me. I’ll get the job I want if I move out of state.” Patient people remind themselves that God can show up to them in the next five minutes (or the next five months), in the strangest of places, through very unpredictable circumstances and through unexpected people, and everything can change in that moment.

 

Fourth, Biblical waiting is open-ended. The fulfillment of the promise will happen on God’s terms, not on yours or mine. We get a glimpse of this when Jesus talked to the crowd about John. “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? ... What did you go out to see?” He says that they were going out with certain preconceived notions. Some thought John would be a loser. Some thought they were going to get a chance to rub elbows with the rich and famous. Still others thought John might be a prophet. But even those folks didn’t have it figured out. As we are told elsewhere in scripture, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s ways are not our ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) We don’t get to tell God how He should fulfill his promises to us. Biblical waiting is open-ended.

 

Finally, Biblical waiting is not a one person or even a one family thing. Biblical waiting is about waiting together. The slaves in Egypt wait for a word from God that indicates that their burden will be lifted soon. The exiles in Babylon wait for a word from God that they can return to Israel and start rebuilding the temple. All of Israel, oppressed by Roman rule, looks for a sign that the promised Messiah might show up. And so it was that when Joseph and Mary took on the incredible call that was given to them, they were not alone when the baby was born, even though they found themselves in an unfamiliar town. So it was that when John suddenly appeared in the wilderness, it wasn’t just one or two people heading out to the banks of the Jordan River. Whole towns and regions were afoot, and when they all showed up, there was a crowd there.

 

Together we seek out God’s word. Together we look for the signs that God’s earlier promises to us will be fulfilled. This is why we need to be part of a community of faith. We celebrate what God has already begun among us. We support each other as we wait - actively, patiently, and openly - for God’s promises to be fulfilled. And we affirm the fact that as we trust in God and God’s promises, we are growing in our love for Christ, and in our love for one another. Biblical waiting is not about going it alone, or even about one family all alone, trying to make it in the world.

 

We do not wait alone to hear about the one having surgery. We do not wait alone to hear about the one who is desperately seeking a new job. We do not wait alone when we are pulling our hair out, wondering how we can really help a relative who struggles with mental illness. We do not wait alone when we have just gotten the news that a loved one has died.

 

We do not wait alone as we wonder how God is going to fulfill the promise of a new priest joining us, or as we are on the lookout for a new person to work with our youth, or as we pray and meet and plan for new classes and new retreats, or as we learn spiritual disciplines so that we can deepen our walk with Christ. We don’t worship alone or pray alone or sing alone or even read the Bible by ourselves. We wait and we grow, but we wait and grow with each other.

 

We do not wait alone for God to fulfill His promises, unless of course, we choose to wait alone. That, in my experience, is a recipe for the fire of faith going out. That is a recipe that leads to frustrated, impatient waiting.

 

This is a time of year when we are reminded that waiting can be a good thing, that waiting can even be an exciting thing. Do you remember what it was like to be a small child, counting down the days until Christmas morning arrived? Perhaps you are one of those adults who has never stopped counting down the days until Christmas! Advent waiting - Biblical waiting - is like that.

 

CONCLUSION

 

If you are the one waiting a word on an uncertain diagnosis... if you are the one desperately waiting to hear the good news that a job is open, and you are the person that the company wants for that job, keep the faith! And allow us to do all that we can to keep the faith with you, and support you in your waiting.

 

Remember the promises that have been made to us by our Lord. Remember this one, for example: “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isaiah 35:10) Remember that you are not alone, and that you do not have to wait all by yourself. And remember that the One who makes the most amazing promises is also the One who is faithful to His word, the One in whom grace and love abound, the One who wants what is best for His beloved children

 

We wait, remembering the promises that God has made to us. We wait actively, patiently, and with an open heart and mind. And we wait - not all by ourselves - but together.