In Jesus, we are a people who are waiting.  How is our waiting?  I suppose there must have been a time in my life when I asked the question on a car trip, “Are we there yet?”  I once thought, “Surely this is something children don’t actually do!” (apart from in movies like “Are We There Yet?”, of course).  I remember driving to Montreal with our young niece and nephew some years ago, and the questions started coming from the back seat.  Endlessly.  I tried reasoning, “We will tell you when we are 30 minutes out!  You have no further need to ask!”  Waiting is something we have to learn to do well.  Oftentimes, we don’t do well with waiting.  We want to minimize lag times and lineup times.  We want to be productive in our waiting, or at least distracted. So how is our waiting?  In Christ, I want to be a person who waits well.  I want that for all of us.  What would it mean to wait well?  What would that look like?  It's the first Sunday of Advent!  One of the things that amazes me about Advent every year is the check-out counter at my local grocery store.  Every year – Advent calendars.  A mini-chocolate bar every day, counting down the days until Christmas, with a full-size bar for the 25^th!  For adults, luxe Advent calendars helpfully reviewed and recommended:

The choices are endless, from chocolates and coffee to boozy beverages (and everything in between). “I love the wide variety of Advent calendars you can find today,” says Deputy Editor and holiday gifting expert Katie Bandurski. “Growing up, I only remember puny, chalky chocolate countdowns. Today, there is truly something for every interest, and the products are much more engaging. From tiny jam jars to whiskey shooters, December has never been so fun!”

Now I’m not trying to kill anyone’s joy, and I’m certainly not against giving or receiving presents.  I do wonder, though, “What’s it all about?”  As someone has said, “Advent is not just about Christmas… Advent is a reminder that we’re heading somewhere.  We have a destination as a people.  Advent lets us stop and ask, “Are we there yet?” Before “Are we there yet?” comes “Where is there?”  Where are we going?  We’re going together and we need to be going with one another.  We need the encouragement from one another.  We need to be reminded of what is true and right and good from one another.  We need to hear the invitation from one another.  Psalm 122 has a wonderful opening, and it’s a call to worship, and it goes like this – “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!”  Let us be reminded again of stories that speak of love, of peace, of joy, of hope.  I want that for all of us this Advent.  Let us be reminded together as we praise God in song.

The song that we hope to sing throughout these Advent weeks is the title of our Advent series.  “Toda la Tierra Espera” is Spanish for “All the earth is waiting.”  The song was written by a Catalonian priest (and I have an affinity for musical clergy!) named Alberto Taube.  We talked not long ago about learning from one another in Christ – learning from one another’s cultures and languages.  The thing about esperar in Spanish is that while it means “to wait”, it also means “to hope”.  Hope is built into waiting, as it were.  In Christ, we are a people who wait in hope.

So for what or whom do we wait?  Where is “there” in that “Are we there yet?” question?

We turn to the prophet Isaiah.  The prophet Isaiah saw a lot. He experienced a lot.  He consorted with kings.  He knew the pressures of family life, this son of Amoz/husband of the prophetess/father of Shearjashub (“A remnant shall return) and Mahershalalhashbaz.  He saw rulers who were more interested in bribes than justice.  He saw oppressive laws being written.  He saw the poor being robbed of their rights.  He saw the most marginalized (widows and orphans) being turned into prey.  He saw people depending on their wealth.  He saw geopolitical upheaval and invasion.  He saw nations depending on arms.  He saw destruction to come. He saw a people who remained and a people who turned to God.

He saw the word of God.  He saw restoration.  Advent is not simply a countdown.  Advent is not simply a looking back, though it is a looking back.  We look back at God acting in human history in the person of the one called Emmanuel – God with us.  We look forward to the fulfillment of the kingdom of God or the reign of God.  Isaiah describes it in terms of the mountain of the Lord’s house being established as the highest of mountains, not to lord it over others but as a beacon to which all nations are drawn.  It’s a vision of diversity.  All the nations streaming to the mountain of the Lord.  It’s a vision of people saying, “Let’s go and learn the ways of God so that we can walk in God’s way together!”  Out of Zion will go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  Judgement and justice will be known.

Peace will be known.  Weapons of war turned into instruments of agriculture.  People being fed and provided for rather than being killed.  Swords into plowshares.  Tanks turned into combine harvesters.  Spears into pruning hooks.  Assault rifles turned into garden shears.   What a jarring juxtaposition.  How much of the world has seen the exact opposite in recent years?      It’s easy to be blinded when all we can see is what is in front of our eyes.  Isaiah invites us into a larger and longer vision.  It’s the kind of vision that we often hear in African-American spirituals. I’m gonna lay down my burden/Down by the riverside.  I’m gonna put on my long white robe/Down by the riverside.  I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield/Down by the riverside/Study war no more.  (You know that oftentimes the loudest and most meaningful calls for justice and peace come from the most oppressed.  “Neither shall they learn war any more.”  The means of war are abolished (swords and spears are remade), the act of war is no more (nation shall not lift up sword against nation), and even the intent of war is done away with (neither shall they learn war no more).  All in the judgement and justice of God.  It's where this whole story is going. 

We look back, and we look ahead at Advent.  Isaiah was looking ahead.  “In days to come” is how he puts it.  We know that after destruction and exile, a return of the people and an element of restoration would come to Jerusalem.  We know that in the coming of the Prince of Peace, deliverance/salvation/restoration would be made known in Jerusalem.  We know that the promise of the Holy Spirit would be made known in Jerusalem, and the ways of God would not only be taught but enabled within the people of God through the indwelling/inliving presence of the Spirit of Christ.  We remember the promise of the day Jesus called the renewal of all things, the promise of God making all things new – a new heaven and new earth and a loud voice from the throne saying “See, the home of God is among mortals, He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with then; he will wipe every tear from their eyes, Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” 

We’ve talked about looking back, and we’ve talked about looking ahead.  We’re also called to look around us.  I said that we should not let present circumstances blind us to God’s vision.  At the same time, we are not called to be people who are blind to what is going on around us.  What does it look like for us to be called to be a people who wait well?

It looks like living in the light.  Isaiah’s vision is not just to remind us of what’s coming.  Isaiah’s vision is a call to faithful living, trusting in God’s promises and reflecting God’s ways.  “Walk in the light” we sing, and it is a wonderful image and so good and so apt and so reflected in the traditions of this season like our Advent Candles, and our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service and our lights which glow and cheer us during these shortest days of the year.  Are you ready for the invitation?  Here it is.  “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

Let us walk in the light of the Lord together.  Let us hear Jesus’ words resonate and echo.  “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”   “You are the light of the world.  A city built on a hill cannot be hid.”  Let us hear John’s words in his first letter – “Whoever says ‘I abide in him’ ought to walk just as he walked.”  “Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.”  (1 John 2:6,10)

Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!  Let us be attentive.  What a great thing to pray.  On our Sunday afternoons, I often take the opportunity to go with Nicole’s mom to her Greek Orthodox church, St. Constantine and St. Helen on Trethewey.  This is one of the prayers they pray at communion.  Let us be attentive.  Let us be attentive to where God is at work around us in the most unlikely places, in the most unlikely ways, or in the most unlikely people.  Let us look for God’s promises of joy and peace and love breaking through into our present.  “Keep awake therefore,” says Jesus, “for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”  Don’t get lost in endless speculation.  Stay awake.  Eyes wide open.  Be ready, Jesus says, not in the sense of preparations we have to make (as in “Are you ready for Christmas??”), Jesus will return as people are working in the field and preparing food.  Let us be attentive in going about our lives in the light of Christ’s mercy and grace and compassion and justice and love.

The worship that we share together turns outward (because you knew that wasn’t all about us).  Someone has put it like this:

“What stories will we tell? What examples will we live out? How will we make our space ready to receive the one who comes and the family invited to share? We can choose songs about anticipation and hope, not just completion. We can pray prayers that lean into the not yet and the invitation. We can pledge ourselves to the task of preparing the way and shouting in the wilderness that God is near to the brokenhearted. We can light the lights that speak of our confidence and joy that God is among us and desires to be known.”

We gather in the Lord’s house not to take part in an empty annual ritual, but to be restored.  To have our hearts restored; to have our gladness restored; to have our mission restored.  “You know what time it is,” writes Paul in Romans 13:11.  Now is the time to wake from sleep.  Now is the time to walk in the light of the new day that is dawning, and sing in anticipation of the Son in the same way that birds sing in anticipation of the sun.  Let’s get ahead of the day.  If you’re like me, you know what it is to sleep in and let the day get away from you (I know sometimes we need the sleep).  This world – this age – rolls along, but a new age has broken in and is breaking in.  The night is far gone.  The day is near.  Let us live honourably as in the day.  Let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the hope, peace, joy and love he brings.

 I want that.  God grant that it may be so for each of us this Advent season.