Zechariah 7:8-8:8
Psalms 40, 51, 54
Revelations 5:6-14
Matthew 25:14-30
“O Lord make haste to help me” – Psalm 40: 13
“Come on Lord, hurry up! I have so much to do and so little time to do it all.” This is how we may feel at this time of the year, whether it is in our preparation for the Christmas season of gifts, parties and fun, in our wait to find a new Rector for our church or in our impatience at looking for the best way to serve God and our neighbors in the year to come.
In the Christian church Advent is the time when we wait in hope and joy for the coming of our Savior. Yet it is also traditionally a solemn time in the church, as evidenced by the liturgical use of the color blue (now replacing purple). So this time of preparation can be spent in haste or more slowly, with prayer, praise and confession.
In our Home Group we have been studying the impact of a great disaster on a community and their struggle to recover and rebuild their lives. Like them we have many things to do, for sure, but while we wait in hope we must first be sure that what we are hoping for is what God is also hoping for in us. This is difficult. But I think we can only begin to discern what God wants for us through communication with Him in prayer and reflection.
We pray that “Christ will come again” but most of would say (or at least feel) not yet Lord – I have too much to do! Christians have waited nearly 2000 years for His coming again, so it may be fitting that we greet the commemoration of His birth with joy. The Lord will surely help us if we let Him. So be calm, be patient and be faithful.
Ron Merrett