Wait For It

Well, this is awkward.  This doesn’t happen very often, or maybe never.  So, now I’m not 100% sure I know how to proceed.  Hmmm.  

Well, here is the dilemma, I’m preaching at the 11am Genesis service, but my associate Chris is preaching at the 9am Heartbeat service.  OK, that’s not the problem.  This is, what you are reading right now.  The Late Night Bible Study that is done at all hours of the day (No, didn’t just change the title, the acronym would be unwieldy - LNBSTIDAAHOTD).  We are using different scriptures, and preaching different sermons, with different themes and different intents and hoping for different outcomes.  

But then that isn’t quite true either.  He’s using a different scripture, I’m using a different ... um ... idea.  I’m not focusing on a text, per se.  I know, don’t pass on that word to my students.  I always harp on preachers that you need to use a text every time you preach.  And I don’t have one.  Not really.  Well, I have a bunch actually.  Which is even worse, usually.  I dislike those sermons that are essentially a survey of the bible, verses from here and there and everywhere.  Where’s the focus?  Where’s the point?  Where is this going?

OK, first of all it is Pentecost.  And even though Pentecost isn’t the big cultural holiday that Easter and Christmas are, it is still important.  And maybe it is a good thing that it hasn’t been coopted by merchandising.  (After all what would you sell?  Outdoor Grills?  “Whip up your own tongues of fire!”  Ceiling fans? “You want to see a rush of mighty wind - set this little baby on Hurricane Force!”  No, sorry, can’t see it taking off.  (Snicker)) Because then this can be our event to interpret and to celebrate.  The problem is we have two stories of the sending of the Spirit.  We looked at one last week: " John 20:33 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.”  That’s the quiet version.

Then we have the loud one, the fire and smoke one, the industrial light and magic one: Acts 2:2-4  And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 

Whoosh, Pentecost.  Over the years I have done all sorts of things to help us relive the experience, my favorites include kites and streamers in one church and a boatload of fans and confetti in another, that was a hoot.  The fire ones always go wrong, just sayin’.  But lately I’ve focused on something other than the experience of Pentecost.  And this time - caught up in our Fruit of the Spirit theme - it was the waiting that captured my attention.

We turn now to the next phase of the hierarchy of manifestations of the Spirit we call the Fruit of the Spirit.  Well, we didn’t call it that, St. Paul did, so I guess we gotta go with it.  The inner circle, or beginning phase are the first three we have muddled through already – love, joy and peace.  These three form the trinity, or the beginning experience of the Spirit - it begins with love, of course, the love of God, love from God, love of one another, even love of self.  Which then turns to joy when our focus becomes something beyond ourselves.  Peace then becomes the main modus operandi of those who are walking with the Spirit, those who are living out love, outwardly directed, poured out on the other, losing the sense of self in the process.

From this beginning we then reach out to encounter a world which may or may not want to receive what we bring, may or may not be motivate by the fruit of the Spirit, the presence of God.  And we begin in the most logical place: Patience.

The old word was “long-suffering.”  A more modern take is endurance.  It is the realization that this is for the long haul.  That we are running a marathon with Christ, not a sprint.  The process of transformation, of sanctification, of being made into a disciple of Jesus is a life long process.  It won’t happen over night, and it won’t happen in a straight line.  We go forward and feel like we are making progress and then we will fall back, lose ground and wonder if we are even on the path anymore.  That’s how it is with us.  With us fallible human beings, with us short sighted, near sighted, blind even at times, followers of the light that is Jesus the Christ.  It is the best we can hope for.  And, believe it or not, that is pretty great.

I know, it seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?  If it takes so long, it must be because we aren’t getting the help we need.  If we go forward and then fall back it must be because we aren’t good enough, or trying hard enough, or committed enough, or confident enough, or ... Just breathe for a moment, will ya?  Just breathe.

Patience.  Like most things for most of us, it has to start within.  No, wait, that’s not right.  I know lots of people (like me, for heaven’s sake) who can be infinitely more patient with someone else than they can be with themselves.  Pretty much a universal, really.  Don’t you think?

I remember teaching Rhys how to ride a bike.  We got on and I ran along beside and then I let go and almost immediately he fell over.  His first words were “I’ll never learn to ride a bike!”  One try, one go, one slow tumble into the grass and he thought he would never get it.  Keep trying, I urged, be patient.  Another try, another hundred tries - I don’t remember how many it took, but I was going to keep at it and after a while he was too.  Then one time, he wobbled but didn’t fall.  He picked up speed and the grin broke out on his little face and I knew he had it.  And he rode.  Until he hit the parked car.  But it didn’t bother him all that much because he knew he would get it, and he did.  

So, how we get it then?  This patience thing, I mean.  How does it come into our lives?  How does it help us give ourselves and others a break.  You know the prayer “Lord, give me patience ...Now!”

How do we get patience?  We wait for it.  What, what?  We need to be patient while waiting for patience?  Is this a Zen thing now?  

In the first chapter of Acts, Jesus tells them to wait.  Wait for the Spirit.  Wait for the power.  And then it came and everything changed.  But what were they really waiting for?  What is this power that comes, this Spirit of wind and fire, this sound and this fury?

They weren’t really waiting for power.  I know that is what it says.  But they weren’t.  They were waiting for wisdom.  They were waiting for understanding.  For relationship.  For the courage to step out and live what He had implanted in them, to follow the light that they see before them, in the faces of those who Jesus loves.  They were waiting for the impetus to get up and get out.  For a change to practice their patience with the beloved of God.

Which is the real bit of wisdom I want to impart during this Pentecost series on patience: It is a whole lot easier to be patient with those you love.

So, when you love like Jesus, you can wait for it.  It?  Grace, power, presence, hope, transformation, acceptance, love.  It is there, it is coming.  Wait for it.

Shalom, 

Derek