13 May 2005

250 Words About Waiting

This week’s devotional is titled “waiting to receive instructions.” The Scriptures and prayers are centered around waiting. It’s quite appropriate, as we are in the seventh week of Easter waiting for the celebration of the Holy Spirit’s arrival on Pentecost Sunday.

Think of all of the waiting we do in the Christian calendar year. Advent—waiting for the arrival of the Christ child. Lent—waiting for the crucifixion and waiting three more days for the wonderful resurrection. Then immediately we begin waiting for the Spirit. For those of us who don’t like waiting, we finally get ordinary time until November when we’re not waiting for anything.

But we are. As believers of Christ we cannot go a day without waiting because we believe in the promise of Christ’s return. I empathize with the early church who waited more expectantly than we. While they waited for the return of Christ, they never saw him.

It must have been frustrating. We hear promises that our scarlet sins will be made like snow (Is. 1:18), though we see our sins ever before us. We hear every knee shall bow to praise God (Phil. 2:9-11), though we know so many do not believe. We hear that swords will become plowshares (Is. 2:4). But we know war in Iraq, conflict in the Congo, genocide in Sudan. So we wait.

But the early Christians teach us a lesson. We are people of hope, after all, and hope carries such high expectations. Hope waits, already claiming the victory!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In THIS moment,
WAITING for you,
WATCHING for you.."

In THIS moment,THIS very moment, NOW!, as I wait (What a joke!) "to receive instructions" and WATCH for God, I am IMPATIENT and TIRED. I am WEARY and WORN. I am FRUSTRATED that He has not answered me with a rapid response. I need HR Block! I need a burning bush or a a smoking blade of grass even! (I'm not picky!) Somethin'! I'd even take being swallowed up by a flood, or a whale (Told you I'm not picky!), but not this state of nothingness! I hate nothingness!

Yet in my nothingness, you, Ciona, have reminded me to hope and with hope comes having and not having at the same time because hope has as its ally, faith.

So I say to God that
I am "WAITING...
(Okay, so I'm still a little impatient. God couldn't change me all these years. Did you think your meditation would change me in a second? I'm trying! Perhaps I'll get it before long!)
for you,
WATChing for you,
Waiting for you,
in This moment...
I'll search 'til it's You that I find."

Thanks for reminding me that God's time is not ours! And thanks for reminding me of those beautiful words that Tom Lane sings...Be blessed as you have blessed others.

i'm waiting...forever if I have to...(See! I've stopped shouting. It's working. You're really good. Perhaps you could send this meditation to George Bush.. you know, that little war thing he's got going on?)

Ciona said...

Tom Lane is wonderful! Good song for this blog . . .