Waiting

The hours and days seemed so long to her as her illness gradually robbed her of independence, and then movement, and activity, and a measure of joy and finally consciousness.

Waiting is hard to do, and it has always been so.

Let's think for a moment of two Old Testament stories:

It is just before a major military campaign and King Saul is impatient.

The prophet Samuel was supposed to be at headquarters much earlier to lead prayers, to make sacrifices, and to ask God's direction.

For some reason, Samuel is delayed and King Saul waits and waits, and finally in impatience goes ahead and performs the ceremonies himself.

Samuel at length arrives and announces that Saul the King is a fool.

“You could do all the ceremonies in the world, but none of them will force God to do your bidding.

You must wait for God to say what is the right time.

It is not up to you!”

This is the beginning of Saul's downfall, trying to force God's hand.

Another story:

the prophet Elijah had just bested the prophets of Baal on My Carmel, but Queen Jezebel has vowed revenge on him.

Elijah in terror runs far away to hide, and complains bitterly to God: “Why didn't you do what I wanted there when I was on the mountaintop?

When God is finally able to get his attention and get him to quit complaining,

in the still small voice God says that in his good time he will do what is needed.

It is hard for Saul, for Elijah, and for any of the people of the faith, and yet they, and we, must wait on God's good time to act.

Why bother?

Because of their confidence that God has not forgotten, that he will yet do as he has promised.

Thus we heard that great vision of the final banquet in the prophet Isaiah.

Says the prophet:

On that day, at that banquet, we will say,

“this is our God for whom we have waited..., the Lord, in whom we rejoice and exult in his deliverance.

We have the vision of John the Seer in the book of Revelation.

The white-robed ones who surround the throne are those who have have held on, waited, and endured the great troubles.

God will be with them, he promises, with all of the old separations overcome.

And we have the words of the Lord Jesus in the gospel of John, where he assures us that the content of his relationship with us is love, a love that will endure, onto which we can hold, for which we can wait expectantly.

The visions are powerful,

the promise is sure,

the hope is genuine.

The wait is over now for Betty;

but we are still in the midst of it.

The question always is how shall we best use the time that we have, and the answers will be as different as we are different one from another.

While she was still at home, Betty tried to work out where she thought her various possessions could best be used and by whom.

I hope she got that done while her mind was still clear.

Then after the difficult days of getting medicine adjusted came the OK days, and we were able to bring a group from church to visit with Betty one day, and she conversed with a bit of the old sparkle and even a bit of a joke.

And then we shared Holy Communion.

Given the circumstances and her abilities, these were things that were using the time well.

Because this waiting that we are to do is not just a passive hanging around, but we are to be living in ways that point toward our hope.

Jesus says in the Gospel of John that his love for us is the basis of the new heaven and the new earth...

...so we hear that as Good News and join Betty in trying to put it into practice at least a little bit right now in anticipation of that final day.

We hear the prophet Isaiah say that God will finally wipe away the tears from us, and so even now the tears of sadness do not overwhelm us, but are tempered by the anticipation of what God will do with us in the end.

It is a busy kind of waiting in which we are engaged.

For Betty the wait is over.

She doesn't have to worry about getting anything; everything she is is now available to give, and among them:

all of the various objects that she left behind for folks to use,

the attitudes, the joy, truth, and beauty which she shared in conversation,

the faith in the Lord Jesus, and a community of believers in which to enjoy it.

Yes, Betty, received all of those things and in turn is now engaged in giving them away.

And she has already discovered that it was worth the wait.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.