ITS ADVENT!
What’s that about? The word, ADVENT means “the arrival” or, the
coming. It’s a wonderful season and it
is rich in meaning and accomplishment. However, it involves something that I just hate… waiting!
I had to go to the doctor today, and
you know what that means? Waiting. They
even call it a “waiting room.” As soon as you enter a waiting room, you start
to feel uncomfortable. There
is something about the not-knowing how long you will be there for. And then,
there’s the uncertainty of what the doctor or whoever it is will say when you
finally get in. You rehearse what you will say. You get fidgety and keep
looking at your watch. Most of the time, the magazines are old, and the room is
boring. The silence is an irritable one; you can feel the stress arising from a
room full of people with sighs and annoying movements, and their own worries
and preoccupations. You look around for the newspaper and once locating it,
make a mad dash for it, just wanting to distract yourself, redeem the time. You
start feeling restless and in-between.
And then, when the call finally comes, you never feel prepared.
It always feels like an unexpected and rude interruption, “Mr. McGarrah,” even though
it was what you were waiting for all along. I hate having people announce that I’m waiting to see the doctor.
Mary had to wait. Pregnancy is a time of waiting.
In the days before ultrasounds, it would probably have been
several months before the bulge was prominent enough to be confident, before
she felt movement kick to know that it was a new life and not a tumor growing
inside her, making her feel nauseated.
While she waited, I wonder what her thoughts were? I wonder if she ever doubted the words the
Angel spoke to her? I wonder what her thoughts were about God?
James writes, “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until
the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its
valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.” James 5:7 We are also called to be ones who wait.
For all the doing, the rushing of this life and our Christian
endeavors, this is a very passive command. It calls us to trust in what we
can’t see, remembering and leaning on God’s words as Mary did, choosing God’s
promise over our self-doubt. We wait for Christ’s return, living in the waiting
room, without knowing when it will happen. To wait is to surrender our
control. To wait is to trust in God.
When that Day comes, it will undoubtedly feel like an unexpected
happening, no matter how prepared we think we have been. There are too many
magazines in this life for us to flip through, it is too difficult to wholly
commit ourselves to live in a state of constant preparedness to really
acknowledge that this day could be our last. We are so easily distracted.
The Early Church had a word they often used, “Maranatha! Even so, Lord, come quickly.” I don’t want to
wait for heaven with a sense of impatience and irritation at this world. I want
to remember that Jesus is coming again, and that He will bring restoration in
His timing. I want to learn to wait like
Mary.
This Sunday we’ll be capitalizing on the times in which we live
as we look again at
Ezekiel 38-39. We
had such a great day last week. I can’t
wait to see you this week! Until then,
“Maranatha!”
Loving You, Loving Him, and trying to love waiting…
Pastor D
PS – If you’re looking for a unique and wonderful Christmas
gift, why not check out one of the books in our Library. It’s called “Enter His Gates” and it is filled
with lots of amazing insights that link the Believer with their Jewish Roots.
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