long waits

okay, so first off, i've gotta say that this actually happened...
i was there.

this phys-ed intern from another school has been sitting in one of the chairs outside the principal's office for an hour and a half, when he is sent to meet the athletic director who is on the phone in his office just off of the gym. the intern is motioned to take a seat, and no sooner does he than the athletic director hangs up and says 'just wait here' and leaves, not returning for another hour and a half.

finally, the athletic director returns, grinning. he thanks the intern for waiting and says that the intern needn't stay any longer, as it is now lunchtime. the intern is a little frustrated by now and pushes back with 'well, i feel like i'm being given the run around- i've been here all morning and have tried to be patient as i've been shuffled from office to office. there's no way i'm going to leave here after all that without the set of long weights that i was sent here for!'

the athletic director looks him in the eye and says
'yes, those were very long waits, weren't they?'

then he winks.

henri nouwen writes:
Waiting seems a dry desert between where we are and where we want to be. We do not enjoy such a place. We want to move out of it and do something worthwhile.

israel was a people accustomed to long waits…
in egypt for over 400 years
in the sihn desert for 40 years
awaiting fulfilment of the genesis 13 promise for 700 years
awaiting fulfilment of the Messianic promise for 1000 years (from david to Jesus…)

and through all this time of waiting, it was the role of the prophet to be instrumental in keeping the eyes of the people on the promises of God… to remind them of the love and care of God AND of God’s greater purposes and picture.

the picture of God is a big picture
the song of God is a long song
the story of God is an epic story...

an epic story that can be taken in by the eye of God at once from God's vantage point, outside of time and circumstance, but which takes thousands of years to come to realization in our own temporal realm, with each of us only getting a brief, 70-year glimpse of a tiny portion of the larger work that is God's ongoing passion play- this cosmic drama in which we all have a key role.

it's like treebeard the ent tries to explain in lord of the rings:
You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say. (JRR Tolkien)

so in isaiah 9.6-7, the prophet reminds a waiting people of that which they already know:
“a child is born” – the Messiah will come as a human being,
“a son is given” – the Messiah will be of divine origin.
“reign on David’s throne” – he will be of David’s line
and that by his coming, light will dawn again in the land of the shadow. (9.2)

so as we move into the season of advent (from the latin word adventus, meaning 'coming') we embrace, yearly, a period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus.

but we need to be reminded of so many things, it seems.

this is why every year we move through the advent calendar, opening a door each day which reveals a new and exciting gift. this is why every sunday in the advent season, we focus upon one of the four big themes of this waiting. this is why we light a new candle each week to signify love, peace, hope or joy before coming together to celebrate the birth of Christ, the embodiment of these things and God's rich redemptive gift to all humankind, on Christmas.

because we need to be reminded of them.

for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (john 3.16)

when i was very young, my grandmother gave me a little plaque with this verse on it. somehow, just by looking at this plaque i memorized the verse (didn't even need to go to biblegateway.com to post it here...)

and yet it is so easy to forget that the story of Jesus' coming, begins with God's eternal love for us all. called 'the gospel in a nutshell,' john 3.16 doesn't read 'because you were all going to Hell and God felt sorry for you, he sent his son...' Jesus presents the love of God as the reason for all that follows, only mentioning the heroic soul rescue at the conclusion of his 'mission statement.' perhaps this is reason enough to light the love candle first in our season of waiting.

God, in total freedom, has decided to love us… Jesus is the revelation of God’s unending, unconditional love for us human beings. Everything that Jesus has done, said, and undergone is meant to show us that the love we most long for is given to us by God- not because we’ve deserved it, but because God is a God of love. Jesus is God’s most radical attempt to convince us that everything we long for is indeed given us. What God asks of us is to have faith in that love. (Henri Nouwen)

after all, being loved and loving typically makes waiting feel less like a desert and more like an overture.