At Work in the Waiting
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sermon Notes:
At the end of the sermon, listener’s are invited to reflect on their own waiting to the background of Stuart Townend’s song, “How Long“.
Scripture:
Isaiah 40:1 – 11
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Read more…
Mark 1:1 – 8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Read more…
2 Peter 3:8 – 15
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. Read more…
Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Read More…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
Henri Nouwen, in his book Finding My Way Home, wrote this: “A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.”
I confess, I find waiting hard. Knowing that something is coming or something is changing – it’s hard to stay put and wait for it. Maybe it’s a new job or a new course or a new home; maybe it’s a new baby or a wedding or a holiday; maybe it’s a vaccine; whatever it is, waiting is hard. And these days, nothing seems quite so hard as waiting for God’s promises of a new creation in which there is no more mourning or crying or pain.[1]
And yet, as hard as the waiting is for me (and perhaps for you as well), I’m struck by the question – by the wondering – if it’s even harder for God. Have you ever wondered about what it might be like for God, who loves us in a way we can barely comprehend, to watch and listen as we systematically and violently destroy this extraordinary planet, as we insult and fight each other, as we oppress each other? Have you ever wondered what it might be like for God who could, with a word or a gesture, bring it all to an end and install His kingdom right now, and yet chooses to wait?
In 2 Peter 3:9, we’re told that God waits because God is patient. God’s love of us outweighs His impatience. It is His desire that no one be left behind, that all come to repentance – to that place where they also long for Jesus’ return – that inspires Him to wait. And I am convicted that I do not love like God loves. My love for people does not outweigh my impatience. My impatience for God’s kingdom perhaps suggests that I’m o.k. if some are left behind. This, I think, is the “something hidden there [in the waiting]” that Nouwen was pointing to.
Advent is about waiting. And I wonder if we are willing to really wait in these days leading up to Christmas. Are we willing to wait in the kind of way that invites insight and conviction? Are we willing to wait in such a way that when the waiting is over, we will be found to be a people of peace? Are we willing to wait, even while in the waiting we cry out “Come, Thou long-expected Jesus”, trusting that God’s timing is better than ours?
As you prepare for Sunday, I invite you to contemplate these words from 2 Peter 3:11 – 12: What sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?
And when you have a handle on the ought, perhaps spend some time contemplating this question: What sort of person will I be in leading a life of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?
[1] Revelation 21:4