It’s almost here! During the time of devotion and meditation at the Christian Education meeting last Wednesday night- the term was used “anxiously awaiting.” Advent is our time of anxiously awaiting. That really struck me! I have heard this before and it is really not a surprise. Advent is a time of waiting. It is a time of preparation.
Think of the last time you were “anxiously awaiting.” It is a time of both fear and excitement. There are people in our congregation who are anxiously awaiting test results and treatments. There is anxiety around jobs or financial insecurity. There may even be anxiety for some young folk in our community around college choices, receiving correspondence, and choosing a major!
I am not good with “anxiously awaiting.” When I put my ministerial profile together and hit “send,” there was some finality and commitment to a time of ‘anxiously awaiting.’ The in-between period of interviews, emails and phone conversations is stressful. Then there is the time–after you received a new Call–of waiting to begin in a new-to-you church setting. (It turns out Tom Petty was right, the waiting is the hardest part.) During the waiting–everything is on hold. It’s not a fun place to be–but the end, the goal, the prize, the finish line, the light, the achievement, the clean bill of health, the birth–is (hopefully) worth the wait. And sometimes, it doesn’t go the way- you had hoped. And that is why we need God’s grace. And that is when we can be a source of God’s grace and mercy!
May you find hope in the hours of silence. May you find peace in the waiting. May you find joy in the anxious excitement. May you feel and share that love as you encourage others anxiously waiting.
Let us begin our time of waiting and preparation in the true spirit of the season.
Grace and Peace-
Rev. Will
