Expectant Waiting (12/01/2011)

Warren Sentinel Weekly Pulpit

Expectant WaitingReverend Christof A. Weber

Rockland Community Church

December 1, 2011

According to Wikipedia, “Advent (from the Latin word adventus meaning "coming") … is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.” Wikipedia goes on to note that, “Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the Second Coming of Christ. For Christians, the season of Advent serves as a reminder both of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting of Christians for Christ's return.”

In my sermon on the first Sunday of Advent, I encouraged the congregation I pastor to find ways to expectantly wait during this Advent season.

Waiting isn't one of my strengths. I find it frustrating to wait for the technician who has promised to show up sometime between noon and 5PM. The hours that pass by between noon and 6PM, when they tend to show up, seem to tick by ever so slowly. And it seems nearly impossible to be in a hospital room at just the right time to catch a doctor making her rounds. I don't like waiting in lines (which is probably the real reason I didn't succumb to my desire to try to get a great deal at Best Buy at 12AM last Friday morning). Waiting is hard … or is it just me?

In any case, what I wanted to help the people I pastor to consider was how we should spend our time waiting for our annual celebration of Jesus' birth and, maybe even more importantly, how we should spend our time waiting for his return. When I wait for the technician, my best friends are a couch and a remote. When I wait for a doctor, I usually try to pass the time reading. When I wait in line, I usually can't focus on anything but the fact that I hate waiting. At best, I'm usually a passive waiter.

But waiting to celebrate Christmas and waiting for Jesus' return should be anything but passive. Jesus, in Mark 13:24-37, calls us to be active waiters – expectant waiters. Tempting as it may be to just ignore the realities around us, believing that Jesus' eventual and sure return will make everything better, I believe that Jesus calls us to actively live out our faith in tangible, meaningful, and what I call, realational ways. We are called to live out our faith in ways that help to point others to Jesus and to the true significance of the Christmas story.

As people who live in the in-between times (between Jesus' birth and his return) we must also be very careful about who we place our hope in. Our true hope is not in our president or other elected leaders. Our true hope is not in the stock market or the global financial system. Our true hope is not in the Super Committee or movements like the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street. Our true hope should be grounded in nothing less than Jesus Christ, because, to quote the old hymn, “all other ground is sinking sand.” Hope in anything other than Jesus will lead, as we continue to witness, to unmet expectations and dashed hopes. And so, as we expectantly wait, I believe we are called to live out our faith in ways which tangibly demonstrate God's love.

On January 15, 2012 we will begin a church-wide study at Rockland Community Church of something called “The Story.” It is basically an abridged version of the Bible which takes readers chronologically from Genesis to Revelation. We will do this in our Sunday School classes, small groups, and weekly worship services. By the end of June, we will have covered the Old Testament. After a break for the summer we will complete the chapters relating to the New Testament in the Fall. If you don't already have a church home and are interested in learning more about the Bible, I invite you to join us for Chapter 1 on January 15^th. More information can be found at www.rockland.cc/thestory.html.