Monday, December 22nd

How many of “love” waiting? How many of you look at waiting and you are like, “waiting is so much fun”? It doesn’t matter what it is, big or small, long or short.

Waiting can be hard at times. It can be waiting in traffic, which I know we don’t have much around here, but as soon as you drive south, anything longer than 15 minutes, we get impatient. We think or say, “this is why I live in rural WI. I don’t have to put up with this.” Or waiting in line at the grocery store, maybe it’s just me, but I calculate the number of items, the speed of the cashier and then determine if I go in self-checkout or if I hop in line.

We struggle with waiting in part, we live in an instant society, anything we want, we “need” we can get, we can get with a click; answer to a question, ordering food and then having it delivered to your house, microwave food, instant potatoes.

Instant, now, don’t have to wait. We are allergic to waiting. Waiting is hard, because it reminds us, we’re not in control, we’re not in charge, it grates against our pride. Waiting then can fill us with worry, anxiety, fill our mind with doubts and questions; what else should I do, what else can I do, what if we don’t get the outcome we want?

Or let me ask you this question. How long would you wait for something? I get it, depends on what it is. Waiting at a stop light and the person in front of you doesn’t go, I’m only waiting five seconds before I honk my horn. But what about something more valuable? What about something that means more to you? Waiting for the “love” of your life. Waiting to get pregnant, waiting in pregnancy, waiting for the test results, waiting for the long-sought reconciliation with a parent, sibling, or friend. Waiting can be arduous, it can be defeating, it can feel hopeless.

I’m guessing, though, none of us had to wait 400 years for something? Of course not, considering our average life span, none of us are waiting 400 years for anything, besides our nation isn’t even 400 years old.

Yet, that’s where we pick up the story of Christmas for the Jewish people, not only were they waiting for the coming King, but it had been 400 years of silence from God. The last prophet, Malachi, was written 400 years before Jesus was born and these were the last words. Malachi 4:6- “He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” And then nothing, silence, the people of God were waiting, waiting for God to speak, waiting for the resolution of this verse, waiting for the next Messiah to rescue them.

I know it’s not Christmas day yet, we’re supposed to wait to read the Christmas story on Christmas day, at least that’s our tradition. And what you will be reading on Thursday. For the first part of this week I want to skip the Christmas story and jump to how Jesus comes
in our waiting. That’s been our discussion so far this season, the coming of Christmas in unexpected ways and that Jesus actually comes in our waiting.

Because that was true for one such character, how does it apply to you?

Flip your bibles over to Luke 2:22. Jesus was born and notice how we pick up the story. 22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”, 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

I know it may appear to be odd. But the Law of Moses was specific and Jesus went through all the things, circumcised on the 8th day. Then on this day, Jesus was 40 days old, and the purification ceremony took place with the dedication onto God. We also see that Joseph and Mary were peasants, they could only afford doves or young pigeons for the ceremony.
I highlight this, because even in the tradition, the Law of Moses, we see a glimpse of what we need to do in the waiting, be obedient and faithful. Joseph and Mary, in the chaos of the birth story from angels to shepherds, in the unexpected, in the small things, in the waiting, they were obedient and faithful. They obeyed God’s law and they were faithful in the journey.

Which means, how are we obedient and faithful in the waiting?