Waiting around. This is all something that we have done. In our everyday lives, we all wait around at some point. Whether it is waiting in line at the DMV, at the grocery store, or at this time of year waiting in endless lines at the post office to send gifts to loved ones far away. Often times, we are frustrated when we have to wait. Standing in line, or waiting for a co-worker or classmate to finish their part of the project, so we can get on with our part, can be frustrating. It keeps us from doing what we need or want to do.

However sometimes waiting can be a good thing. It can heighten our anticipation of seeing a loved one we have not seen it quite some time. Waiting can make us fully appreciate what we have, and what we can look forward to. Waiting is a theme throughout our readings for this first Sunday in Advent, the first Sunday of a new church year.

In fact much of Advent itself is about waiting, the type of waiting which can be an end unto itself. Advent is not simply about waiting for Christmas to come. We are not simply hurrying to get through Advent just to get to that most holy day, the Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Day. One writer said: "Advent is not like waiting in a doctor's office for a flu shot when the doctor is running late. This is more like a minor inconvenience. Advent is more like waiting in the doctor's lobby with a potentially fatal case of pneumonia and not knowing for sure that there is even a doctor at the office. Advent is more about the type of waiting that leaves us in the darkness; a longing for a God that we are not even sure is there for us."¹

In the reading from Jeremiah, we hear the words of the prophet describing the coming of the Messiah that would fulfill all the promises that God has made to the Israelites. This prophecy was made during a critical time in the lives of the Israelites. Jeremiah himself was under arrest and the Israelites were on the brink of disaster. These words offered hope in a time of great pain. Hope will come, and in the meantime, we wait and persevere.

The Gospel reading this morning comes near the end of Luke, but it leaves us with the same sense of waiting, longing, and hope that the beginning of the Gospel sets up. In the beginning of the Gospel we hear a lot of dramatic language about what the coming of the Messiah will bring about. In the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, found in the first chapter of Luke, we hear about the rich being sent away empty, the proud being scattered, the mighty being casted down from their thrones.² John the Baptist echoes these grand claims when he proclaims that "all flesh will see the salvation of God."³ Something great and powerful is surely on its way.

But then Jesus comes, and for a long time things are very quiet. Sure he is healing people, performing other miracles, and teaching the people about God, but no mountains or even hills are being made low⁴ as John the Baptist said they would. The rich are still rich, the mighty are still on their thrones, and the poor are still poor. This doesn't sound at all like what Mary was singing about. The people are left waiting and wondering if Jesus was indeed this Messiah. John himself even wonders if his cousin was indeed the Messiah.⁵

But Jesus reminds his followers, and us today, that his kingdom is of a different nature than the kingdom of this world. And in our Gospel reading this morning, we hear finally Jesus talking about the events that would precede His coming in a cloud with power and great glory.⁶ And it sounds a great deal like what John was talking about. We can almost hear him saying "Finally, now this is what I was looking for." And we can picture Mary smiling sweetly to herself, knowing all along that this was who Jesus was. Again we are left waiting with hope for the day of His coming.

We can get so caught up in the waiting for signs and the dramatic language of the Gospels that we forget that this is not the whole story. We can't ignore the in-between. We can't forget all the examples that Jesus sets for us without the flair for the dramatic. The teachings, the healings, the examples of love that Jesus shows throughout Luke's Gospel, and indeed all the Gospels. Yes, we wait and hope for those signs, but we have things to do in the meantime. This Gospel reading reminds us that there are two stories that intertwine during the Advent season. Yes, we have the baby Jesus being born in a manger to Mary, his mother. But we also have a second story. The story of this baby growing up, his ministry and teachings, his crucifixion and resurrection, and then his coming again in glory.

While we are waiting for the Son of Man to come again in glory and power, how have we as Christians been caring for the needy; are the homeless being housed? How in these times of economic hardship are the unemployed being supported? How are the sick being cared for? How are the terminally ill being prepared for death? Have we as Christian men and women been alert to what is taking place all around us? Hopeful believers do not wait idly by. We must responsibly carry on the work of Christ in the world today.

We wait with patient expectation for the day of reconciliation and peace; we should wait in joyful hope that what is to come will come soon. While we wait, we should faithfully fulfill our responsibilities. While in Advent, we may be filled with a sense of longing, a sense that we are waiting in the dark, but through this we, as Christians, believe that we have a future worth waiting for, that there are promises that God will keep. And so we look expectantly to the Day of the Lord, that future day of ultimate fulfillment.⁷

^1
2 Luke 1:46-55
³ Luke 3:6
⁴ Luke 3:5
⁵ Luke 7:20
⁶ Luke 21:27
⁷ Preaching the New Lectionary, 8