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SERMONS

The Third Sunday of Advent
December 16, 2001

By David Christian

"I want something to eat," the child told her father.

"What do we say?" he asked.

"I want something to eat," she repeated. "What's the special word?" he persisted.

"I want something to eat, NOW."

Patience is not highly regarded as a virtue these days. We are a society of the quick fix; a society of instant gratification. We have fast food and jiffy lube. We have instant coffee and microwave dinners. We have fax machines and electronic mail and cellular telephones and satellite communication.

We want one day service. We want repairs made while we wait. We want instant photo developing. We want no waiting. We know what we want and we want it now. In fact, even if we don't know what we want, we want it now.

We are not a patient people. Yet patience is James' advice for us today. "Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord."

Be patient.

There is a rhythm to life. Things happen in their own time. We can't rush them. No matter how hard we try, we can't rush them. No amount of effort will make a child grow up faster. No amount of work will make a pregnancy shorter. No amount of wishing will make Christmas or Friday or pay day or summer come any faster.

Be patient.

God also works according to God's own schedule. For two thousand years now people have tried to second guess God. For two thousand years now people have tried to predict the second coming of Christ. For two thousand years now people have tried to force the coming of God's kingdom. Paul expected it in his own lifetime. We are still waiting.

Be patient.

Who can blame us for being eager? Listen again to Isaiah's description of that kingdom: "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. Waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.... The ransomed of the Lord shall return.... They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

That is a vision of something worth waiting for. Worth waiting for as long as is necessary. God will come in God's own time. Our task is to wait; to be patient.

But being patient does not mean doing nothing. It does not mean sitting on our hands or going about our own business until God is ready to lead us into the kingdom.

James calls us to be patient. But he calls us to be patient as farmers are patient. Those of you who are farmers or gardeners know the patience that is required. Plants also grow according to their own schedules rather than ours.

Yet the patience required of farmers is an active rather than a passive patience. Farmers who do nothing will find themselves without a crop at harvest time.

The patience of farmers is a watchful patience. It is a nurturing, caring patience. It is the patience of those who trust in the potential of the seed to produce the plant. But it is the patience of those who recognize that they also have a role to play.

Farmers watch carefully for the first shoots to sprout. They fertilize them carefully, ensuring that they have the nourishment they need. They protect them from weeds and insects and other would-be destroyers. They wait patiently. But they watch alertly and do their part to ensure the harvest.

When John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus asking, "Are you the one who is to come?" Jesus recalled for them Isaiah's vision of the kingdom of God. And he told them to report to John what they saw: the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, lepers being cleansed, the deaf hearing, the dead being raised, and good news being brought to the poor. In the life and ministry of Jesus the first shoots of God's kingdom were beginning to appear.

And through the power of God's Holy Spirit those shoots continue to appear, even today. The harvest will come in God's time. In the mean time we are called to patience; to the watchful, active patience of the farmer.

Be alert. Watch for the signs of love and new life that mark the springing forth of God's kingdom. Nurture and care for them as you wait for the coming of the Lord.

David Christian
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi

Isaiah 35.1-10
James 5.7-10
Matthew 11.2-11