Waiting the Jesus Way

The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, the 21st Chapter

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

(2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 is also referenced below as well)

What’s going to happen now?  What do we do now?  No matter how you voted, what’s next is unknown.  So, what do we do now?  Today’s lessons have the key.  Today, following the election, just like every other day following every other situation and event that has ever happened or ever will happen… we are called to wait.  

When we hear people shout “The end is near!” we are called to wait.  When folks talk about and threaten and sow fear about wars and insurrections, we’re called to wait.  When earthquakes happen and people go hungry and when all the signs, whether they are real and accurate signs or false and fear filled signs… when those signs point to destruction and terrible times ahead.  We are called to wait.  

Now, the danger in hearing that we are called every day to wait, even while the world around might be falling apart or being torn apart, is that we will make a mistake in HOW we are called to wait.  Making that mistake is what some of the people in the second lesson were doing, but Paul put them straight. 

The Apostle Paul believed that Jesus would return… which we still believe… but Paul believed it would happen, before dinner-ish.  Every day he woke up, he HONESTLY expected Jesus to be standing there with a cup of coffee and a smile for him!  Paul passed that, “gonna happen literally any minute”, expectation on to the people in Thesolonika and some of the people took that so much to heart that they stopped EVERYTHING they were doing… they stopped working, stopped caring for their families, stopped caring for their neighbors… they stopped LIVING… and all they did was lay on the church lawn, look up to the sky and wait for Jesus.  They thought that was faithful waiting.  After all, they would see Jesus first and not be caught off guard.  

That lesson isn’t a justification for not feeding the hungry.  It’s an instruction on how we are to wait.  You see, you don’t get called before governors or kings, heck, you don’t even get called before mayors and city councils for just lying on the front lawn of the church, looking up at the sky and dreaming about Jesus returning.  You get called before governors and kings, mayors and city councils because of what you’ve been actively doing in Jesus’ name… because you’ve been waiting for Jesus by ACTIVELY and insistently living the Jesus Way out in the world!  It’s the ACTIVE loving of God, by insisting on the dignity of the least, lost and last in our community that gets you in trouble.  It’s ACTIVELY loving of our neighbors, feeding the hungry and giving the cold a warm place to stay that gives the world fits.  

Waiting as Jesus and Paul have called us to wait means living as Jesus lived, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, housing the homeless, caring for the widow and orphan and it is doing that work with endurance… doing what we can… not more than we can… but what we can, and doing it today and tomorrow and the next day and the next… making what often feels like only a tiny, and often almost imperceivable difference, but making that difference with endurance over a lifetime.  It means working on poverty, homelessness, hunger and all the rest like the Colorado River works at creating the Grand Canyon.  Jesus reminds us that living the Jesus way requires endurance.  The Jesus way is not a sprint.  It’s a series of marathons, run by a multitude of runners each handing the baton on to the next.  

None of us know what’s going to happen next.  Not really.  Not in our country, our world or our church.  No one can know that for sure.  But I DO KNOW how we are called to wait for God to complete the work begun in Christ’s life, death and resurrection.  I DO KNOW how we are called to wait for God to finish making all things new.  We are called to wait the Jesus Way… actively doing what we can to share God’s love with the people around us.  We are called to wait the Jesus Way… seeing Christ in our neighbors when others see “foreigners” or “enemies” or “thugs” and “terrorists”.  We are called to wait the Jesus way, remembering that sprinting a marathon or trying to dig the Grand Canyon in a day or single handedly attempting to save the planet, or even just Augusta, or even just our church, is not a recipe for faithfulness.  

We are called to wait the Jesus way, taking on a few things that make a difference, doing them well, and setting a manageable pace so that we can run those races with endurance for as long as it takes.  It means handing off the baton to the next runner before we fall on the track in exhaustion.  Because the race we are running… may take as long as it took for the Colorado River to make the Grand Canyon… and remember, the Colorado river isn’t done making that canyon yet either!  

Regardless of who occupies the positions of power in Washington, in Augusta or even here in this church, each of us is called, and each of us has all that we need to wait the Jesus Way.  We have God and we have each other.  So, find the tiny ways you can make a difference.  Try not to become paralyzed by the enormity of what needs to be done.  Look for little glimpses of joy each day, not for the day that the whole world suddenly becomes joyful.  Give a smile as you give with generosity what you have to give and then, when you've given all you have to give, remember you still have your smile.  

So what are we going to do now?  The same thing God has asked us to do every day throughout all of history.  We’re going to wait.  Wait by putting one foot in front of the other, one day at a time, making whatever difference we can make by loving God and loving our neighbor every step of the way.  What are we going to do now?  We’re going to wait, but let’s remember that we have been called to wait the Jesus Way.  Amen.