In these cliché-ridden times, one
of the most frequently heard is, I can’t wait… I can’t wait to go on holiday… I can't wait to get a haircut... but you may have no alternative. Waiting, I think of
as the first theme of Advent, and it matters that we know how to wait. Remember the Stanford marshmallow test… Put a marshmallow in front of a child, tell the
child he/she can have a second one if he/she can go 15 minutes without eating
the first one, and then leave the room for 15 minutes. Contemplative people can learn waiting quite
well without marshmallows because we see the point. The point is, while waiting may inconvenience
me, and probably will, and may not improve me as a person to know, it is also probably
not about me. It is about other needier
patients; or it’s about people doing their best in trying conditions... or inadequate management… or simply too much needing to be done. In recent times we have had dramatic displays
of people unable to wait for restrictions to end, becoming angry, risking
mental health, defying the law, listening to lies…
But why is waiting such an Advent
theme? …simply that waiting is salutary, it is not yet having, it is decidedly
not instant gratification, it is the state of not possessing or controlling… waiting
is always “not yet”… it may be “if ever”.
So, waiting puts our ego in check.
It is the appropriate attitude to God.
I waited patiently for the Lord, sings the Psalmist; he
inclined to me and heard my cry. I
wait for the Lord, my soul waits / and in his word I hope; / my soul waits for
the Lord / more than those who watch for the morning… I am weary with my crying / my throat is
parched. / My eyes grow dim / with waiting for my God… Be still before the Lord
/ wait patiently for him…[1] The Psalms are full of waiting. If you can’t wait, you can’t pray much
because you are busy fretting, or grizzling or being upset about time passing uselessly
by. So it is that the first thing contemplatives
want to do is set time aside. We appropriate
time from our busy schedule. We
designate it for waiting, specifically not for getting something done. We choose to be present, as untrammelled as
possible; we choose to pay attention; we choose the present moment… each
successive present moment, as we are still and as time moves on by.
Paul informs the believers in
Rome, If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.[2] “What we do not see…” Now faith, says the writer to the
Hebrews, is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not
seen.[3] We wait because, mercifully, at the end of
the day (cliché-time again), we are not going to bring in the reign of God.[4] For
all our good works – and they are many and admirable… and indeed we had better
achieve the necessary climate changes – we do not bring in the kingdom. God’s Advent arrives quietly, despite us, and
God’s rule comes into waiting and watching hearts and minds.
[1]
Psalm 40:1; 130:5; 69:3; 37:7
[2]
Romans 8:25
[3]
Hebrews 11:1
[4] I
recall, from back in the days when we had grand church parades, a parade of
some earnest men’s organisation; they insisted on singing what they called
their official hymn: Rise up, O men of God! / Have done with lesser things.
/ Give heart and soul and mind and strength / to serve the King of Kings. We could have (but didn’t) substitute a verse
on their hymn-sheet: Sit down, O men
of God! / His kingdom he will bring / whenever it may please his will / you
cannot do a thing.
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