Just waiting…
All good things come to those who wait, so they say, but waiting can seem interminable. If it’s something we’re fearing, perhaps exam results, a dreaded appointment, or some inevitable consequence, the waiting is filled with nervousness and trepidation. If it’s something good we’re expecting the waiting just drags on and on. Yet wait we must, because everything comes in it’s own time.
Advent is a time of nearly – but not yet. We are waiting. Waiting for the birth of Jesus. Waiting for his coming in glory.
Not all waiting is good waiting, but Advent is. The third Sunday in Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday, or Joy Sunday – the joyous anticipation of the Lord’s coming.
This Sunday’s lectionary readings point to joy as an active choice. Life is not always joyful. There are trials, difficulties and traumas. But God is coming. Not to a perfect Utopian world, but to the reality of life as it is.
Zephaniah gives the call to sing and shout and rejoice. The King of Israel is with them, there is no need to be afraid. Judgement is coming – but so is redemption. The day is coming.
In Philippians again the call is to rejoice. The community faces challenges – but God is with them, they will experience his peace. The Lord is coming soon.
In Luke the people want to know what to do, how to behave, and by John’s answers they begin to wonder… Could he be the One, the Messiah? No says John, it’s better than that. One who is greater is coming.
Wait, but while you wait repent. Do the right thing.
The King is coming. Coming to where you are. Coming to this world in it’s joys and in it’s sorrows. Coming into need, pain, loss, sorrow, oppression, injustice. Coming to bring – and to be – the Good News.
When I was a girl, I used to get so excited about Christmas, I would be awake at 3am to open my presents. I was just so desperate to see them come. I wonder if I get that excited by the prospect of Jesus’ coming? Longing to see him come?
Can we wait, with longing, with hope and with love? Ready to welcome Jesus, this Advent, this Christmas, and everyday?
There’s a light upon the Mountain
- There’s a light upon the mountains,
and the day is at the spring,
When our eyes shall see the beauty
and the glory of the King;
Weary was our heart with waiting, and
the night-watch seemed so long,
But His triumph-day is breaking, and
we hail it with a song. - In the fading of the starlight we can
see the coming morn;
And the lights of men are paling in
the splendors of the dawn;
For the eastern skies are glowing as
with lights of hidden fire,
And the hearts of men are stirring
with the throb of deep desire. - There’s a hush of expectation, and
a quiet in the air;
And the breath of God is moving in
the fervent breath of prayer;
For the suffering, dying Jesus is the
Christ upon the throne,
And the travail of our spirit is the
travail of His own. - He is breaking down the barriers,
He is casting up the way;
He is calling for His angels to build
up the gates of day;
But His angels here are human, not
the shining hosts above,
For the drum-beats of His army are
the heart-beats of our love. - Hark! we hear a distant music, and
it comes with fuller swell;
‘Tis the triumph song of Jesus, of
our King Emmanuel;
Zion, go ye forth to meet Him,
and my soul, be swift to bring
All thy sweetest and thy dearest for
the triumph of our King.
Pam's Perambulation 