Advent Waiting

Good morning to everyone joining the People of Christ the Cornerstone
to greet this new day in prayer

Let’s begin with Psalm 130: 5–8.

I wait for the Lord with longing,
I put my hope in his word.
My soul waits for the Lord
more eagerly than watchmen for the morning.
Like those who watch for the morning,
let Israel look for the Lord.
For in the Lord is love unfailing
and great is his power to deliver.
He alone will set Israel free
from all their sin.

Psalm 130: 5–8

God of deliverance, we thank you for bringing us through the night
into the light of this Friday morning.
As we take up the tasks and duties of this day,
may we begin each one with a smile,
knowing that we are secure in your love.

Amen

Advent is a time of waiting –
waiting in order to be ready and waiting for this Christmas
and for a time of Christ’s return.
This week has been a time of waiting for the morning fog to lift.
An editorial in last Monday’s Guardian described this kind of expectant waiting pretty well:

Advent happens in a time of ‘peak darkness with the promise of light to come … . In these peak-capitalist times we tend to treat waiting as an affliction that must be abolished and we reward companies that aim to annihilate it.’ Although we have taken to one-click ordering, the pandemic has forced us to learn to wait. Some of these waits are annoying but not difficult, like waiting for shops and restaurants to re-open. These waits have not been for essentials and we knew they would come to an end. ‘Other waits – for illumination about what exactly this virus does, for the chance to see loved ones, for an end to Long Covid – have been harder to manage for their great scale and because there is no obvious end. Waiting is difficult.’

We could let waiting wipe out the goodness of the present.
It’s easy to skip to the end and deny value to our now,
like skipping to the last page of a book to discover the ending.
This is a time of opportunity despite the uncertainty and longing.
Waiting gives us the chance to focus on the quality of the present.
Advent teaches us to appreciate our life now –
to go for a walk, phone a friend, prepare for a different Christmas.
Advent is purposeful waiting, not for an end or a return to ‘old normal’
but a chance to leave behind the inconsequential
in order to build the different tomorrow that is to come.

God of deliverance, give us patience to obey the new ways of being social
so we protect others and ourselves while we wait for vaccination,
while we wait to touch family and friends again.

God of deliverance, give us purpose in waiting
that we may see the people in need around us and offer them help,
that we may remember people in loneliness and offer them contact,
that we may appreciate the people who serve and comfort and care for us
especially in this time of pandemic.

Amen

The third week of Advent begins on Sunday,
when we light the pink candle on the wreath
to rejoice in our waiting,
to be glad in the promise of God
and in his power to deliver.

Enjoy your day of purposeful waiting.

Cheryl Montgomery