What Does it Meant to Wait?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
November 29th 2009
Marsha Jones
“What Does it Mean to Wait?”
1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

The theme for this first week of Advent is “what does it mean to wait.” What does it mean to set our life, thoughts, activities aside and wait? And for whom do we wait and why do we wait, how long do we wait? Does it make a difference who we wait with or who we leave behind? Does God care how we wait? Really can we wait at all?
The theme and these questions, at first, seemed to have nothing to do with the scripture that I selected, yet I knew the revelation from this text was worth waiting for so I waited. And as I waited I thought. I thought about the scripture and what these words meant to me. I thought about this being my first sermon, the first week of Advent, and the first earnest prayer in awhile for the blessing of having only 10 congregants and 10 crickets in the pews for my first sermon. I thought about how all I ever asked was that God create in me the biggest heart for volunteering - certainly not this preaching and pastoring thing. I thought about what it was like when I got “the call” from God and then had to wait for four years for God to open Westminster’s doors to me. I thought about what it was like to wait in the storms of life, changing and challenging me, waiting seemingly alone. Then I reread the scripture and I thought “wait a minute” that’s exactly what the Thessalonians were doing. Paul had come and erected a church in Thessalonica – they got their call. And then they waited amid their afflictions and waited while in need of more faith and they waited for Paul’s return.
If this new life in Christ was not turning out as rosy as the cults down the street then why were they still waiting? If they were in such need of strength and restoration then why wait? Then I had my “ah-ha” moment, the words seemed to have leaped from the page. They waited out of love and faith. They waited not only for Paul’s return, but they waited on the promise of Jesus’ return. Timothy brought the good news of their faith and love in their wait. And when Paul received the news of their love and faith, and in their eagerness to see Paul he had new life. That love did something for Paul and the others. Now I wondered how could I exegete this? What word study was in order, what commentary would best help me tell their tale? Then slowly it came to me that this was not a moment for an exegete but an invitation to remember what love meant. If love and faith sustained them then there was something in that kind of love and faith I needed to explore.
What examples did I have to help us grapple with this thing called love? I turned to the standard love lines of 1 Corinthians 13. I chose the NIV version because of the poetic rhythm it lends to Paul’s definition of love:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...And now these remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (V 4-8, 13)
So what does love look like and feel like today in this place, in our times of affliction, in our hope for a better tomorrow? What does a patient, kind, humble love look like when our streets are filling up with the blood and souls of our children? Does love speak to communities still divided over race, religion, culture, stereotypes, money, status, quotas, the haves versus the have-nots? When we endure afflictions where then do we find the strength to no longer keep a record of that wrong? Where is love when we learn that our protectors have become abusers, perverters, killers and thieves to those they were meant to defend? Does love have an answer for the children that life has seemed to fail as they fall through cracks that someone else created? Where is love hiding when the rude, ruthless, angry people seem to take over and reign with closed, iron fists? What does love have to do with those of us who are barely surviving, slowly dying with no end in sight?
It is difficult to preach love while facing these hard issues of life, as some are too painful and private to name. Some afflictions are too hurtful to acknowledge out loud. So what turns my eyes up from the despair and affliction? It is the faith and hope of Christ. Not the by and by type of hope that speaks of suffering all the daylong in hope of seeing Christ on the other side. Not this pie in the sky love that offers only rainbows and butterflies once the dirt has hit the casket tops. No, no! I am talking about that real good love that God presses past our tears in the laughter of our neighbors, in the sounds of happy hums on the morning bus ride, in the breeze filled with fresh air and autumn scents.
In the gospel of John, Jesus asked Peter one question three times “Do you love me”, and each time Peter said “yes”; remember Peter also denied Jesus three times. I have been taught over the years that this line of questioning was the method Jesus chose in order to restore Peter back into community and also to elevate him to shepherd/pastor. I could hear Jesus’ tone rising with each time he asked Peter if he loved him. And Jesus’ charge was for Peter to feed his lambs, shepherd his sheep and then feed his sheep. Commentaries and study notes (yes the scholar in me rears her head) tells me that feeding and shepherding are acts of teaching, growing, caring and loving the ignorant defenseless sheep, and the innocent lambs. As a shepherd you teach people to enjoy each other the way they learn to enjoy God and community. There acts of love were mirrors to their relationship with God. And as a community of believers we to re- enforce these acts of love with acts of love of our own. As the body of Christ we support the movement of our pastors, elders, and ministry leaders because no one tends the sheep and lamb alone in Jesus’ model of love.
So what I hear is if you love me then you should love my people. If you love me then you should provide justice along with the Word of God to your neighbors. If you love me then it should not be hard to mirror the sacrificial act of giving to others without counting the cost each time. If you love me then you can go out into the world and tell the Good News of my return and of my steadfast love. If you love me you will wait!
Jesus was in the restoration business not demolition. And so Paul too could continue in his struggles because of the witness of the Thessalonians in their ability to show forth love while they waited. Oh how this brought peace and reassurance to my crazy confusion over my moments of affliction and faithlessness. Why did I continue to wait like the Thessalonians, and Paul and his crew? It was and is because of my faith and love in God, in community, in my hope for tomorrow.
Despite what I had experienced there was the good news coming from Westminster that my waiting was not in vain. There came that shower of smiles and hugs and nods and words of affirming love that told my soul to hold on because this is just the beginning. My advent was here! The story of Thessalonica was not so distant anymore. Because of the hope and love of Christ in me I still dream dreams! I still hope in tomorrow! I still run with my arms and heart wide open! In the midst of my afflictions I find joy and love in the knowledge that Westminster stands in prayer and preparation as I answer my call. The spirit of Thessalonica rests in my bones as I waited anxiously for you to come see about me, to return and enter into my afflicted city gates to bring me good news. I can now be established blameless and holy before our God. I say to you Westminster that if you love me, then feed God’s people. If you love me, then open your hearts to God’s Good News and share. If you love me then remember that because of God’s love we can live in faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.