Words for Worship

Ministry Today

 

The tune to

come all ye faithful

is as famous

as the hymn’s words.

 

And that is probably

because of its

alternative wording.

 

For who has not sung

the more profane words–

why are waiting –

to this ancient music.

 

Well, today

as we wait through advent,

I hope we know

why we are waiting.

 

But you know

the important question

is not why are we waiting

but how are waiting?

 

For you see

there are different qualities

of waiting.

 

Doubtless our young folk

are waiting

with almost uncontainable excitement

for Christmas day

with its presents and jollities.

 

We also wait

for that holy day

with its family meals

and friends’ visits

with happy anticipation.

 

But we know

there can be other emotions

involved in waiting.

 

For, when we are expecting

a difficult phone call

or some dreaded results

or a fat bill,

then waiting is not pleasant.

 

Then the quality of waiting

is poor.

 

So how do we improve

the quality

of our life’s waiting?

 

Well, we could use

this advent’s waiting

as a practice

for life’s waiting.

 

We could test out

new ways of waiting

this Christmastime.

 

Indeed we could study

the annunciation story

as a seminar

on better answering that question;

not why we are waiting

but how are we waiting.

 

Let us therefore follow Mary

into a better type of waiting –

into a serenity of waiting –

into genuinely living

by a hope-filled waiting.  

 

Because let’s face it  -

Gabriel’s news to Mary

that God

had put a course of events

in train

that would mean

her having a child

outside wedlock

must have been,

to say the least,

unsettling.

 

We can imagine

her chaotic fears

of being ostracised

and pilloried

and sneered at.

 

And she is no better

than she ought –

we can hear ringing out.

 

Yet instead of going

into a blue funk,

she responded initially

with resignation,

then with anticipation

and ultimately with joy.

 

In essence, throughout,

she responded with faith.

 

The same faith

we have been growing

for ourselves

over the last few months;

the faith that

if God has started

something running

then he guides

the consequences

and guarantees the outcome.

 

Or, to put it

in simpler possible terms,

the faith that God

is still around

in our waiting.  

 

To illustrate that point

Keith Wagner

tells a story

that we will set

on Christmas eve.

 

For it was then

we went into a jeweler

to get a new battery

in his watch.

 

He waited in the queue

with apprehension

since he was certain

that the last thing

any shop assistant

wanted to do

on the busiest shopping day

of the year

was to install

a new battery in a watch.

 

Much to my surprise

the man said

he would be glad

to put in the battery.

 

He could leave it

or he could wait.

 

He chose to wait.

 

But now another fear

entered his mind.

 

Surely, he was going

to pay over the odds

for this small service

in a mobbed shop.

 

But when the assistant

returned

and he only charged him

a few pounds.

 

Keith goes on to remark

that in the midst of all

that shopaholic mania

he experienced

the reality that life goes on

and the simplest of things

continue

in spite of the world’s craziness.

 

In fact, as he gratefully left the store,

watch in hand,

ticking time along,

he had a sense of peace

that God is still

in the midst of

all the waiting.

 

So if your quality of waiting

is poor this Christmas –

will the dinner be ready on time? –

will they like their presents? –

will great aunt Agatha

fall out with dog

as she does every year? –

then never fear.

 

Just follow Mary’s way of faith.

 

Don’t’ give into

the minds’ scaremongery

or gloomy predictions.

 

Don’t fear that events

are chaotic

and life

is meaningless.

 

Moreover, do not let your waiting

be hopeless.

 

Instead let it

be like Mary’s waiting.

 

Let it be faithful,

hopeful and optimistic.

 

Let it be serene,

accepting and expectant.

 

Let it show

you know God is around it

and in the midst of it

and he knows

what he is doing.

 

Indeed, let it show

that you understand

the lines from psalm 25:

 

Keep watch over me

and keep me out of trouble;

Don’t let me down when I run to you.

 

Use your skill to put to me together

I wait to see your finished product.

 

 

Just inside the main entrance

to Harrods,

that great London department store,

there is a statue of Princess Diana.

 

A twelve-year-old girl

recently stood in front of it

and asked,

“Who is Princess Diana?”

 

And that question

caused her mother

to tell the story of a woman

who remains probably

the icon of the 80s and 90s.

 

For, although we know her story,

we forget that younger people

may not.

 

Well, of course,  

our youngster think

they know

the story of Christmas.

 

They know about the manger

and angels

and the shepherds

and the wise men.

 

Yet do they really know

the true story

of a child

who would prove

to be the very icon

of God with us?

 

So we need to tell

that story again.

 

And the best way

to do that

is to tell it

with our waiting.

 

Let it not be told

without dismay or despair.

 

Let it not be portrayed

faithlessly.

 

Instead, let it be whispered

in our acceptance;

let it be seen

but heard

in our serenity

and certainty of God’s future

for us;

let it be shown

in our knowing

the answer

to the question –

how are you waiting?

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN…………….

 

 

 

Waiting for Christmas