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FOR TUESDAY, ADVENT II
“Can you recall a character in the Bible who waited? What were they waiting for?” by the Rev. Anthony MacWhinnie, St. Monica's, Cantonment
Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for Isaac… Twenty-five years! Can you imagine? In this day and age, I get mad when I have to wait a few seconds for a webpage to load! And get this, Abraham was already 75 years old when he received the promise that Sarah would bear Isaac. He was no spring chicken when he received a promise of what must have seemed like an impossibility! And what did Sarah do? She laughed! Of course, she did, because she was 65 at the time! Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" It seems impossible. It seems ridiculous.
But it came to pass!
It happened! What’s funny to me is that Sarah laughed, and then they named their son “Isaac” which means “one who laughs.” It’s just perfect. It’s just so real, you know? But that waiting part… They waited faithfully yes, but did they doubt? The Bible doesn’t really say. They were obedient to God in their lives, surely, but also just as surely there had to be human emotions involved.
And that brings me to the hard part of waiting. Waiting can be awful, right? And that’s because we never know, for sure, if the thing we are waiting for will come to fruition. When it comes to people, or things, or really just the things of this world, we can’t know for sure. We just can’t.
But, we CAN know with God. God’s promises are always true. Always! So, in Advent, we wait. But we wait with hopeful expectation. It’s not a matter of IF our King will come. It’s a matter of when! So laugh, always! But be sure, your waiting will be rewarded.
Reading for the week: Isaiah 11: 1-10
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the
ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
Collect for the week:
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Join us this Advent as we explore what it’s like to wait! We are offering a collection of daily questions and reflections inviting us to consider what we experience and learn in our waiting, and how we find God - and God finds us - in our waiting.
Each Sunday a brief video will be shared on Facebook and Instagram to introduce us to a focus and reflection for the week. Each day a question will be posted for us to ponder. You are invited to share your own reflections by replying to these posts or reposting on your personal social media. Please follow and use #diocgcwaits. Be sure to follow our diocesan social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram; search: DioCGC.
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