the waiting room

from my sermon on the first Sunday of Advent, 11/29/09, from Luke 21:25-36

How good are you at waiting?

Three persons arrived at the Pearly Gates at the same time. St. Peter came but said he had some pressing business and would they please wait? He was gone a long time, but finally he came back and called one of the new arrivals in and asked if she had minded waiting."No," she said, "I've looked forward to this for so long. I love God and I can't wait to meet Jesus. I don't mind at all."St. Peter then said, "Well, I have one more question. How do you spell 'God'?"She said, "Capital-G-o-d."St. Peter said, "Go right on in."He went outside and got another new arrival, told him to come on inside, and said, "Did you mind waiting?"The man said, "Oh, no. I have been a Christian for fifty years, and I'll spend eternity here. I didn't mind at all."So St. Peter said, "Just one more thing. How do you spell 'God'?"He said, "G-o-d. No, I mean capital-G."St. Peter said that was good and sent him into heaven.St. Peter went back out and invited the third person in and asked her if she had minded waiting."As a matter of fact, I did," she replied. "I've had to stand in line all my life - at the supermarket, when I went to school, when I registered my children for school, when I went to the movies - everywhere - and I resent having to wait in line for heaven now!"St. Peter said, "Well, that's all right for you to feel that way. It won't be held against you, but there is just one more question. How do you spell 'Czechoslovakia'?"

How well do you do at waiting? How many shopping days till Christmas? Did you get caught up in the lines and the traffic of Black Friday? How soon did the stores start putting up Christmas decorations? The day after Halloween. There was one store, Nordstrom's, that said, we will not put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. One holiday at a time, they said. But most of this season is rush, rush, rush--a frenzy. There are so many ads, so many events....I wonder if we will miss Advent.

Advent means coming. We give thanks that Christ came in human flesh as Jesus the child. We anticipate Christ coming at the end of the age to bring all things to completion. I think that Advent is the Waiting Room of the Christian year. We live in the time between Christ who has come and Christ who is coming. Advent is the waiting room of the church year.

This idea came to me of course while I was sitting in Seton hospital in a .....waiting room. Shannon's mom was having surgery, and I was there waiting with Shannon and her sister. It struck me how many times I had been in this place...a waiting room. It struck how much of my life I had spent in waiting. We wait for someone in surgery, for test results, sometimes for the birth of a child (how appropriate for this season).

I bet you have done your share of waiting.....at the hospital, at the airport. I wouldn't be suprised if you weren't waiting for someone to arrive over the Thanksgiving holiday or to get a phone call that someone had made it safely home after traveling.

We know about being in the waiting room. It struck me what important work this is....waiting. What a privilege, what an honor, what trust...for someone to say, "Will you wait with me?"

We join a long line in the waiting room as we read the Bible. The LORD says to Abraham in Gen. 12, "I want you to leave security behind--home, family, country--and go to a land that I will show you." How long does that take? The people are in bondage in Egypt and cry out, "How long, O Lord?" They are set free but wander in the wilderness for how long. Entering the promised land, they eventually establish a kingdom that lasts only a short while before they are taken into exile in Babylon. Again they cry, "HOw long, O Lord?"

Then they are the cries of the sick, the poor, the oppressed.....insert your favorite Job story here....who say "Why do the innocent suffer...How Long O Lord?" These words sound awfully familiar to us today. How long will the unrighteous prosper? How long will Israel and Palestine continue to fight over this tiny strip of land? How long will people continue to medicate their feelings with alcohol and other drugs? How long will the powerful take advantage of the weak? How long will we suffer from depression and not feel like getting out of bed in the morning?

How long O Lord? This is what the disciples were asking about in this section of Luke. Now Luke is writing 30 to 40 years after Jesus spoke at a time when the Temple had been destroyed about 70 A.D. A generation had passed, and the people's worst fears had been realized. But Luke remembered the words of Jesus which gave hope.

First, "Your redemption is drawing near." Now all of the pronouns here are not singular "you." They literally say as we do in Texas, "y'all, you all." We were made for community. We don't go through this alone. What happens in an ICU waiting room? You become bounded together. "How is your dad doing today?" "His blood pressure was a little bit up which was a good thing." "Oh, I am so happy to hear it." Our vulnerability doesn't put up walls, it lowers them. I hope that we could see this passage is not about our individual survival, but that we are all in this together. We as a global community are in this waiting room together. We are all fragile. We need each other very much. The waiting room is a place for intimacy, for trust.

Second, "My words will not pass away." I need to teach you some theological jargon at this point. The word is "eschatology." It means the study of last things. But in my Aggie way of understanding, it means the study of lasting things. Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." The waiting room bring a wonderful clarity to our lives. What is really important? What can we let go of? The waiting room is the place to focus on what matters, what lasts.

Third, Pray. "Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that take place." What are you going to do in the waiting room but pray? The waiting room invites us to slow down, to turn to God, to pray. The waiting room is not a trap; it is an invitation to grow closer to God. Some of you may be rookies at prayer. We have Advent devotional guides for you. This is a great season to begin praying or to deepen your prayer life.

I have much more to say to you, but I can't get it into this sermon. Next week we will look at John the Baptist as a model of "the Waiter." Then the next week he gives us instruction on "what to do while waiting." I have more to say...if you can but wait.

The good news is that Jesus joins us in the waiting room.