Waiting

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 28, 2017

7 Easter A

         

          When I was a young, newly minted priest, many years ago, I served at St. James Episcopal Church in Piqua, Ohio.   One of our traditions there was to have the children draw a picture each Sunday based on what they heard in the sermon.  The children had to listen to at least some part of the sermon in order to get an idea, and I had to preach in a way that gave the children an idea for a drawing. The children would give me their drawings after church then several of us would choose one for the cover of the following week’s bulletin.  Of course, that meant that the cover was always a week behind, but no one cared.  Some weeks, the pictures the children drew were very insightful.  Other weeks, I could not image what I might have said that prompted the drawing of a tyrannosaurus rex. 

          One Sunday, having heard the story of Jesus’ Ascension, we got a lovely picture of Jesus going up into heaven.  The stick figure disciples looked sad as Jesus left them.  Clouds surrounded Jesus’ head as he went up, so Jesus had obviously left planet earth.  The child had clearly put some thought into how this could happen because, attached to the bottoms of Jesus’ feet, propelling Jesus into heaven, were rocket boosters.

          The two most often asked questions about the Ascension of Jesus are where did he go and how did he get there.  Today is the Sunday between the Ascension of Jesus and Pentecost, and while the questions about where Jesus went and how he got there are interesting theological questions to ponder, I think another question comes out of this story from Acts which is perhaps more pertinent to our everyday lives.

          Before Jesus ascends into heaven, the very last thing he says to his remaining 11 disciples is this: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Then, two men in white robes appeared with the disciples, just as two men in dazzling apparel had appeared at the tomb on Easter morning.  The men say to the disciples, in essence “Why are you just standing here?  Jesus will come back just the way he left.”  Then the disciples return to Jerusalem to wait for whatever is going to happen when the Holy Spirit comes upon them.

          What this story can teach us is how to wait.  Waiting is a common human experience.  We wait for all kinds of things.  We wait for a long-anticipated event, like a graduation, or a vacation, or a new baby, or a new job to begin.  We wait for the more anxiety provoking events in life, like a test, or a diagnosis, or the resolution of an unpleasant situation.  On this Memorial Day weekend, we remember those who waited for news of their loved ones who were at war.  The disciples waited the 10 days from Ascension to Pentecost with no idea what they were waiting for.  They had no clue what Jesus meant or what would happen when the Holy Spirit came upon them.  So, what do the disciples teach us about how to wait?

First, we learn from the disciples that waiting is best done together.  The disciples and Jesus’ family don’t just go back to their homes after Jesus ascends into heaven, to get on with their lives and see what happens from there.  Faithful waiting is hard work, especially when we don’t know exactly what we are waiting for.  Whether we wait with excitement or with apprehension, Scripture reminds us to wait together, in community-to be there for one another as we wait for whatever the future holds.

Secondly, those who waited devoted themselves to prayer.  I wonder what they prayed for, or what they prayed about.  How, exactly, do the disciples pray after being told that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon them, and after watching Jesus ascend into heaven?  Do they pray for the wisdom and guidance to meet whatever challenges the future holds?  Do they offer prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings of the days that they had with Jesus after the resurrection?  As much as I might like to know the answers to those questions, Scripture is silent on the content of the prayers.  Perhaps Scripture is silent because the content of the prayers does not matter.  What matters is that, as the disciples waited, they intentionally put themselves in the presence of God.  Faithful waiting involves both staying in relationship with each other and staying in relationship with God. 

Thirdly, waiting is about anticipation.  In one sense, that is the very definition of waiting.  We are waiting for something that has not happened yet.  But, faithful waiting is the anticipation of what God is about to do. The disciples probably did not have a clue what Jesus meant when he told them to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.  But they knew that God was going to do something.  Faithful waiting is not just about waiting to see what we can make happen, or about waiting to see what will happen to us. Faithful waiting is also waiting to see what God will do in our midst.  Sometimes we need a little help seeing what God is doing in our midst, which is why staying in relationship with each other and staying in relationship with God is so very important.

The disciples believed that God would act in their lives, and they waited together and they waited prayerfully.  We, too, are called to do our waiting together, and to wait prayerfully, to see how God will act in our own lives.  The disciples’ waiting came to an end at Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and sent out into the world to be Jesus’ witnesses.  Our waiting may take longer or be shorter, have a dramatic conclusion or a quiet one.  But Jesus’ promise to the disciples and Jesus’ promise to us is that God does act in our lives, and that God’s action is always worth the faithful wait.

Amen.