Active Waiting

Waiting is not a fun thing to do. Do you enjoy waiting? We wait in lines at six flags. We wait to turn left on Pine Grove. We wait for the phone to ring. We wait for Christmas. If you deal with the government at all you well know the meaning of hurry up and wait. And we’ve all heard that good things come to those who wait, but who enjoys waiting? I sure don’t. I want what I want right now. And I know that I am not alone. At the very least six year old Calvin agrees with me.

After consuming four boxes of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs breakfast cereal. Calvin finally has obtained enough proof of purchases to send in for an Official Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs Beanie; complete with a battery-powered propeller on top and a big star on the front. He proudly shows off his accomplishment to his best friend Hobbes. When Hobbes informs Calvin that he will have to wait six weeks for the Beanie to arrive in the mail, Calvin laments, “I’ll be OLD then!”

Calvin waits for his beanie. What are you waiting for? In the breathtakingly busy hustle and bustle we find ourselves doing a lot of waiting. You can tell how important something is to someone by whether or not they choose to wait for it. But waiting can be difficult. It is not always a fun thing to do. This doesn’t mean that it is a bad thing for us to experience, it just isn’t always that easy.

As you know Advent is a season of waiting and expectation. And not just waiting for Christmas to get here so that we can open our presents, or simply be done with the rush of the season, depending on how you look at it. Advent is a season of waiting and expecting. It is a time for us to take a step back and inventory all the ways that God comes and breaks into our world, with the light of his grace and mercy and forgiveness into our lives and community. Which he accomplished with his first coming, and with the gifts that he gives to us in his church.

Advent is a season of waiting and expecting Jesus to return in all of his glory that from that day on we would experience life with our God as it was meant to be experienced; a new creation with no more sin, sickness, suffering, injustice, death, evil. Everything that is wrong with our world will be made right. It will be better than anything we can imagine. It is something that we are to look forward to with great anticipation and expectation and hope. But it is also something that we have to wait for.

The Old Testament lesson from Isaiah paints a beautiful and wonderful picture. The wilderness shall rejoice and it shall blossom. Now the wilderness here is basically a dessert. It is a dry place where there is very little life. Being in the wilderness is a difficult place to be. Israel wondered in the wilderness for forty years. Jesus fasted in the wilderness for forty days. In the ancient world the wilderness was the place where demons lived. It wasn’t exactly a great vacation get-a-way.

So, for the wilderness to blossom with life. Well that is pretty significant. That is kind of a big deal. And this is the image that Isaiah paints for us. Good news is announced. The effects of this news is that weak hands and knees can be strengthened and firm. Anxious hearts will be calmed with the words, “Be strong! Fear not! Behold, you God will come and save you.”

Just as the desolation of the wilderness will be undone, so too will the brokenness in this creation be undone. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The lame will leap like a deer. The mute will sing for joy. The wilderness, the dessert will have water, and not just a little bit of it, but pools of it. There will once again be life. And God’s people will return home in safety and joy never again to be trouble or sadness.

This is certainly a great day to look forward to. It is what John the Baptist was looking forward to. He knew that the Messiah would bring it about. But we see an interesting story in our gospel lesson. John sends his disciples to ask Jesus a question. You see, John knew that Jesus was the Messiah. He knew that life was about to get much, much better. The injustices from the Romans were going to be dealt with. Life was going to be the way that it was supposed to be. God has finally showed up to save his people from their plight, because life was pretty rough for them.

But things weren’t going as he expected them to go. Things weren’t going according to plan. Can you relate to that? Do you know what that feels like? It is a terrible feeling. It is an awful feeling. John is experiencing this feeling. Things are not going exactly the way that he expected them to go. Because the entrance of the Messiah should bring about the exit of the Romans, it should be the removal of the corruption and injustice that is going on all over the place in that society.

John is experiencing this feeling because he is in prison. Wait a minute here; that is not the way this is supposed to work. That is not what is supposed to happen. John is a great man here. He is a prophet. He speaks for God, and he is thrown in prison. Why? Because the king didn’t like his message. So John begins to scratch is head and he sends his disciples to Jesus. “Are you the one to come, or shall we look for another?”

John is not trying to be disrespectful or anything like that here. It is a good legitimate question. Is this the moment we have been waiting for, or do we need to keep waiting? Because in the moment that we are waiting for this kind of thing doesn’t happen. The way that Jesus answers this question is absolutely awesome. He points John back to this picture of Isaiah. It is a much bigger picture than what most of the people of Jesus’ day were looking for in the Messiah.

Jesus tells them to go back to John and report what they have seen and heard. The blind see. The lame walk. Lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised. The poor have the good news preached to them. The creation is being restored. The effects of sin are being undone. This happens wherever we see Jesus go. This is what he does. In the presence of our God the creation is made right. Brokenness is gone. People are made whole.

This is bigger than getting rid of the Romans or corrupt rulers. This is God restoring his creation. This is the healing of our God coming directly into our world. This is a pretty big deal. As big as the wilderness suddenly being full of life and blooming. In Jesus the effects of sin are undone. And this is the message that he sends back to John.

The wait was over. Jesus, God in the flesh, truly God and at the exact same time, truly a human being has come to live among his people. Through his life, death and resurrection he gives to us forgiveness life and salvation. And he undoes for us the effects of sin, death and the devil in our lives. This means we can live in freedom, hope and peace. And let me tell you, those things are pretty rare in our world.

Of course while we do get to experience those things, and we certainly do, we do not yet have them in all their fullness. That day is coming. The cereal box tops have been sent in, now we just have to allow the time for delivery. So while we can live in the confidence of knowing that for Jesus’ sake we live as God’s dearly loved and forgiven daughters and sons, we are still waiting to see the creation be restored in all of its fullness and glory.

We are still waiting for that great and awesome day when Jesus will come back and make everything right, where he will make everything whole. We are still waiting for that day where we will get to experience life as it was meant to be lived. So what do we do while we are waiting?

This is where James’ words come in handy. Be patient and endure. Now I know that being patient is a virtue, but that doesn’t make it fun. And yet what we are waiting for is well worth the wait. But I would also like to suggest that waiting and patiently enduring are not passive activities either. We know that our Lord is coming back. We know the glory that awaits and how awesome these things will be. We know that we have life and forgiveness and salvation for Jesus’ sake. As we talk about waiting, then, we are not talking about a passive activity. We are not talking about sitting around, staring up at the sky and not doing anything. As God’s people, waiting is a very active activity.

For us as a community of faith we wait actively as we carry out the work of ministry together. This is something that we all need to do together. It doesn’t work if we leave it to just a handful of the people. But everyone in this congregation has gifts and talents that are needed for the people of Faith Lutheran church to carry out work that God has given us to do.

So we support the ministry with our prayers. We study and learn God’s word together as we participate in small groups and education classes. We worship together. We give our offerings and tithes and pledges. We support the ministry by serving as leaders in the congregation and taking part in voters meetings. We support the ministry by reading the news and notes and being aware of what is going on in the congregation.

Now I do not say these things to induce guilt. Because life motivated by guilt is not true motivation. But I say these things so that you will see that not only are they important, but they are simple ways for us to serve, and we serve because as we do this, we are taking and proclaiming the gospel, the good news of God’s love in Jesus to our world.

So for us as Christians, waiting is not a passive thing, but a very active thing. It is my great joy, blessing and honor to be here as your pastor and to wait with your for the return of our Lord. As we prepare to celebrate his first coming, may we also look forward to his second coming with great joy, anticipation and waiting. Amen.