Acts 2:1-11; 1 Cor. 12:3-7,12-13; John 20:19-23; Psalm 104
May 31, 2020
Marvin Friedman-Hamm
Waiting
In these days of the pandemic we are all waiting. We are waiting in line at the grocery store. We are waiting to meet all together again. We are waiting to go back to work. We are waiting for school to reopen. (Sometimes we are waiting desperately for school to reopen). We are waiting to travel, to see friends and family far away. We are waiting for a vaccine to put an end to this pandemic. We are waiting for life to return to normal
Sometimes I’m not even sure what I am waiting for – I am just waiting for it all to go away.
And I wait in different ways. Sometimes I wait impatiently. Sometimes fearfully. Sometimes I wait with exasperation, sometimes with curiosity – wondering how it will all unfold. Sometimes I wait like a prisoner doing time.
I noticed that the story of Jesus’ ascension is all about waiting too. After his resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples many times. He teaches them about the kingdom. He eats with them. For 40 days, he prepares them for what is to come. And the disciples are full of anticipation. After Jesus was killed and then God raised him up again, they are in awe of what God is doing. And they are so sure that now is the time Jesus will complete his mission. They ask “Lord, is now the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel.” Is it now? Is it soon?
Jesus says no, you have to wait. What you long for is coming – but it is coming in God’s time. You have to keep on waiting.
And when Jesus is lifted up into the cloud, the angels tell the disciples – he will come back to you in the same way that you saw him go. You will have to wait.
That is the big wait – the wait for the full revealing of God’s love and power. We are still waiting.
The more immediate wait for the disciples is for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Before he leaves them, Jesus instructs his disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait there for the promise of the Father – that is for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
These days between Easter and Pentecost are days of transition. It is an in-between time. Between the time of Jesus ministry and the time when the disciples – empowered by the Holy Spirit – take up the mission and carry it beyond Judea to the whole world. And in this in-between time, the disciples are told to wait.
And in the waiting they listen. They wait to hear how God will lead them. Instead of running ahead and taking charge of the mission on their own energy and initiative, they step back and wait – wait for the initiative and energy and direction of the Spirit.
They wait with an awareness that something is happening – something much bigger than themselves. They wait with anticipation – of what new thing God will do.
We too are in an in-between time. Life as we knew it has stopped – in many ways. Our rhythms and routines are disrupted. It won’t stay like this. And it won’t simply go back to the way it was before. New patterns will emerge. Our world will be changed. We are waiting to see what is coming next.
I’m not saying that waiting for the end of a pandemic is like waiting for the Holy Spirit. But I do believe that this time of transition we are living in is a spiritually dynamic time. It is a time when God’s Spirit is moving, when new possibilities are emerging. It is also a time when darker forces are on the move - Seeking to exploit this disruption to create chaos and build advantage. Like the disciples waiting in Jerusalem for the coming of the Spirit, this is a time for discernment, for listening, a time of danger and of anticipation. We are not just waiting for something to end. We are also waiting for something new to begin, and listening to learn our place in bringing it into being.