Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a,18
Mark 1:1-8
Psalm 85 or 85:7-13
Anyone who watches television knows that commercials are a fact of life. We have our favorites, and most of us have at least one or two that just drive us up the wall! By and large, they're informative, and, if nothing else, some simply allow us intermission time to wash the dishes, scoop up a bowl of ice cream, or maybe just a quick break.
Though many commercials don't seem to have a realistic connection to the products they sell, now and then, one comes along with poetic grace to give us a glimpse of something deeper - if only we stop to listen. There's one that has captured my imagination lately, that strikes me as particularly insightful - not for the truck it sells, but the words that seem to tell us something about ourselves and our place in God's creation.
It goes like this:
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when I want to roam And nobody knows it but me.
The roads don't go there
It's far, far away,
And wherever you're going,
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"Wherever you're going, that's wherever you are".
We're bombarded daily with contradictory messages that seem to say, on one hand, "be patient" and, on the other, "you snooze - you lose." The world moves too fast or we move too slow, holding on by our fingers nails. in a world that has no time to be patient.
It's hard to account for all our time. We wait in line. We wait in traffic. We wait for Mister or Missus Right. We wait for our ship to come in. We wait for salvation and God's eternal heaven. But, I wonder, where in the world do we go while we are waiting?
I was a skinny little kid, when I was in third grade. I must have weighed all of forty-eight pounds. And there was another girl in my class, named Maryann. She was a lot bigger than me. Probably at least a whole hundred pounds or so. I have no idea why Maryann singled me out - but, whatever the reason, that school year was not much fun when it came to recess since Maryann had an insatiable desire to sit on me.
She'd wrestle me to the ground and just sit on me! For the entire recess she would sit on me, all the while demanding , "say uncle". Well, she was much too heavy for me to throw off and I was much too stubborn to ever say "uncle".
This situation began in early spring and went well into the month of May just before the school year ended. It never occurred to me that I might have other options, like going to my teacher for help so I just bided my time.. I spent all my playground time lying with my nose to the ground, patiently waiting for the bell to ring and set me free.
In time, the lure of spring arrived and Maryann began to tire of the game. And one day she stood up, extended her hand and said, "Let's be friends". I cautiously said "okay", and she pulled me to my feet. I suppose I felt a little smug at that point because, after all, I had never said "uncle"..
I wish I could say the story ended there, and I left the game while I was ahead. But that's not quite the way it was.
Maryann, eager to show her change of heart, invited me to her house for after-school lunch and we made plans for the following day.
When we got to her house, the kitchen table was nicely set with soup bowls and spoons, and even napkins. We washed our hands, then sat down to eat. "You're going to love this", her mother said as she filled my bowl. It's fresh turtle soup. Just caught her our back this morning."
I still remember how big that bowl looked sitting there steaming up at me. I knew it wasn't nice to refuse food someone had prepared for me, So I gritted my teeth, opened my mouth, fixed my mind on something better and slurped it down as fast as I could.
I have no idea what it tasted like; I only know that I had done a very distasteful thing - I had eaten a turtle! Well, when Maryann's mother saw my bowl was empty, she was delighted. "Good, wasn't it!" she asked. What could I say? "Yes, it was really good." "Well, there's plenty more where that came from" and she filled my bowl again.
Now, what does "say uncle" and turtle soup have to do with today's lessons?
Nothing.
Okay - I guess it's not fair to leave you hanging now. You see, no matter how long or how short a day seems, it is still twenty-hours long, or if it's particularly unpleasant, it's one thousand, four hundred and forty minutes long.
While I laid there, pinned to the playground, I was there - right there for all those minutes, yet, in my patience, I knew of a better place; a place infinitely less weighty.
It was a place in the making, a place I was ultimately going to.
One of today's lessons, from 2nd Peter, reads: "Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day."
'The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance"
"Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation."
Whether it's the young man biding his time in prison, The elderly woman with alzheimers, no longer able to recognize her family, or the lost child waiting to be found; Peter's words still beg us to reflect, To stop, and to listen to what the spirit is saying.
"In accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home."
"Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation."
Waiting is never an ending; It is always a beginning. A beginning of something new. Yes, there are some times when there is nothing we can do - but wait.
And, in the middle of our greatest impatience, maybe God even sends us a Maryann to sit on us, to tell us to stop and to listen to the Spirit within.
"And wherever you're going, that's wherever you are, And nobody knows it but God and you."
Amen.