What are we waiting for?

We continue to wait for Christmas. To what degree are we modeling the kind of waiting that is inviting (and welcoming) to skeptics and non-believers?

Psalm 27 cuts through the darkness and despair of life's burdens with confident words.

But so much of what everyone sees is unsettling at best. When we focus solely upon the "facts" of reality, this phase of history appears discouraging. We may wonder if we are making much progress towards relieving the world's pain and suffering. People have lost their jobs, many have loved ones in military duty overseas. Domestic violence thrives...increased numbers of aging people are facing poverty. A breakthrough in one medical mystery is followed by yet another mysterious and imposing disease. Each of us may find ourselves relating to the psalmist:

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.

And what of the church? Doubt...skepticism...desire for the quick and true fix...fear of change or desire for change... These are some of the forces that are stretching the fabric of the church...sometimes creating major rifts in congregations or denominations. What would happen, do you think, if each one of us in the church truly rested in the perpetual movement of God's heart of promise? What if we communicated calm, abiding trust to everyone we encountered? What if we took no part in the conversations which dwell primarily upon what is lacking ? What if we offered no part in placing blame, but rather pointed to ways we can participate in activities that communicate the faith-filled trust of the psalmist?

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

The world yearns for solid, secure peace. The people want to hear that something extraordinary is opening the prison doors and breaking the chains of injustice and suffering. So we wait. We sing with the psalmist. So today with all of you, I join my voice in the joy-filled proclamation that we are waiting for that which will most certainly occur...the sight of the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Truly, we are waiting for so very much more than Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008!