2-Second God
Advent is a time of waiting… We begin the season of Advent with those words. Waiting… The liturgy of our worship reminds us that we are waiting for the One who has come as a tiny babe to save the world and will come again in glory to redeem His creation. Thus, we know the right theological answer to the question, what are we waiting for? But… in reality, there seems to be a whole lot of other waiting going on in this season. Children waiting for Santa. People waiting for Amazon packages… waiting in that store line that should go quicker than it is… waiting as holiday traffic makes a simple drive too long. There is a whole lot of waiting in this season. In the best of times, waiting is hard, irritating, exhausting. But during the holiday season, we have places to go, people to see, things to do. We don’t have time to wait! Often in this season, we get so caught up in the challenge of waiting, desperately trying to get it all done, that we forget that we are called to wait for the appearing of God.
The other day, I heard a story on K-Love, the Christians radio station in the area. The announcer piqued the interest of her listeners by telling of 6-hour wait. I stayed tuned in because I wanted to know what would be worth waiting in line for 6-hours. The answer- the opening of a new 5-Guys burger joint. Imagine waiting for 6-hours in the cold of winter for a greasy hamburger and fries. Admittedly, I am not a connoisseur of hamburgers, but I cannot imagine any hamburger being good enough to be worth that kind of wait. But think of all the times people are willing to wait… the lines of people waiting on Black Friday to be the first to the great deal that store has to offer… or the people who waited online for hours to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. In south Philly at Christmas time, the line for cannoli’s at Isgro’s bakery will wrap around the block, even in the rain. It’s fascinating how long people are willing to wait for their favorite sweet. We seem to be highly motivated to wait when the subject is important enough to us. But are we equally willing to wait for the appearing of God?
About now, you may be thinking… I am waiting… I have been waiting. I pray and wait… and wait… and wait. In our waiting, we wonder, where is God is all that is going on around us? Where is God’s peace? Where is God’s love? Where is the joy we are promised? Where can we find the love we so desperately need? We yearn for peace but instead see an escalation of war in our world. Everyday brings a new story of violence on college campuses and in people’s homes. We are assaulted by the mean-spirited rhetoric in social media from people who ought to have a more tempered tongue. Our bodies are broken, our neighbors are hurting… Where is God in all of this? How long have we been waiting for God’s redemption of a broken world?
Next Sunday, December 21st will be the shortest day of the year. For many of us, the darkness of these days makes everything just a bit more challenging, dare I say, even depressing. But take heart, on December 22nd the day will be longer, albeit just 2 seconds longer. Therein lies the rub. The change, the improvement, the increase of light will be so small that we will not even notice. The next day, a few more seconds, and the next a few more. In time those seconds add up to minutes, and those minutes to hours, and by summer we will have the light we yearn for. But for now, we are impatient. We discount the 2 second increase in light as significant, so we miss the gift that is opening up right before our eyes with each sunrise. I wonder how often we miss what God is doing in our lives and in the world because we are looking for the big answer. What if God is giving us 2 seconds today? This Christmas we could choose to wait in joyful anticipation for a 2-second God, who is always at work in our lives.
I want to take a moment to celebrate with you some of the ways that God has been working in our midst. Sunday night’s concert and reception was a beautiful moment of worship in the midst of a busy holiday season. Here we are not celebrating a happy holiday, but rather a joyful Christmas! Today, members of our mission and deacon teams are preparing cards to go to our YMCA families with gift cards from you. More cards will be prepared for some of our own families and for our Grandfamilies. And still more cards will go to Barclay Elementary to support families in Central Bucks school district. With each card, you are God’s instrument of grace. Your giving to this ministry this year was in excess of $27,000. What a privilege to be part of what God is doing in the world. Perhaps those who receive these gifts will see our 2-second God at work. Do you?
With you, waiting for our 2-second God,
Anita
The other day, I heard a story on K-Love, the Christians radio station in the area. The announcer piqued the interest of her listeners by telling of 6-hour wait. I stayed tuned in because I wanted to know what would be worth waiting in line for 6-hours. The answer- the opening of a new 5-Guys burger joint. Imagine waiting for 6-hours in the cold of winter for a greasy hamburger and fries. Admittedly, I am not a connoisseur of hamburgers, but I cannot imagine any hamburger being good enough to be worth that kind of wait. But think of all the times people are willing to wait… the lines of people waiting on Black Friday to be the first to the great deal that store has to offer… or the people who waited online for hours to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. In south Philly at Christmas time, the line for cannoli’s at Isgro’s bakery will wrap around the block, even in the rain. It’s fascinating how long people are willing to wait for their favorite sweet. We seem to be highly motivated to wait when the subject is important enough to us. But are we equally willing to wait for the appearing of God?
About now, you may be thinking… I am waiting… I have been waiting. I pray and wait… and wait… and wait. In our waiting, we wonder, where is God is all that is going on around us? Where is God’s peace? Where is God’s love? Where is the joy we are promised? Where can we find the love we so desperately need? We yearn for peace but instead see an escalation of war in our world. Everyday brings a new story of violence on college campuses and in people’s homes. We are assaulted by the mean-spirited rhetoric in social media from people who ought to have a more tempered tongue. Our bodies are broken, our neighbors are hurting… Where is God in all of this? How long have we been waiting for God’s redemption of a broken world?
Next Sunday, December 21st will be the shortest day of the year. For many of us, the darkness of these days makes everything just a bit more challenging, dare I say, even depressing. But take heart, on December 22nd the day will be longer, albeit just 2 seconds longer. Therein lies the rub. The change, the improvement, the increase of light will be so small that we will not even notice. The next day, a few more seconds, and the next a few more. In time those seconds add up to minutes, and those minutes to hours, and by summer we will have the light we yearn for. But for now, we are impatient. We discount the 2 second increase in light as significant, so we miss the gift that is opening up right before our eyes with each sunrise. I wonder how often we miss what God is doing in our lives and in the world because we are looking for the big answer. What if God is giving us 2 seconds today? This Christmas we could choose to wait in joyful anticipation for a 2-second God, who is always at work in our lives.
I want to take a moment to celebrate with you some of the ways that God has been working in our midst. Sunday night’s concert and reception was a beautiful moment of worship in the midst of a busy holiday season. Here we are not celebrating a happy holiday, but rather a joyful Christmas! Today, members of our mission and deacon teams are preparing cards to go to our YMCA families with gift cards from you. More cards will be prepared for some of our own families and for our Grandfamilies. And still more cards will go to Barclay Elementary to support families in Central Bucks school district. With each card, you are God’s instrument of grace. Your giving to this ministry this year was in excess of $27,000. What a privilege to be part of what God is doing in the world. Perhaps those who receive these gifts will see our 2-second God at work. Do you?
With you, waiting for our 2-second God,
Anita
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