Bible Text: Luke 1:46-55 | Preacher: Pastor Karen Bartkowski | Series: Advent 2020 | Here we are in the 3rd week of Advent.  The 3rd week of the season of waiting.  I don’t know about you but I feel in some ways I have spent the entirety of 2020 waiting.  Waiting for something…for this virus to go away, for the time we can gather together, for the time I can give hugs again…oh, I miss hugs!  Waiting, waiting, waiting.

We spend a whole bunch of time in our lives waiting.  DId you know on average each person spends a total of 2 weeks in a lifetime waiting at a red light?  43 days a lifetime waiting on hold on our phones? On average we spend 21 minutes waiting for our significant other to get ready to go somewhere? 38 hours each year waiting in traffic?  And we spend about 6 months of our lifetime waiting in line? And if you take the bus or train regularly, you will likely spend a total of 27 days of your life waiting on the platform or at the bus stop?

How are you at waiting?  Be honest.  If you don’t know, ask your best friend, or your spouse, or your kids, or your co-workers.  Do you wait well?  We chose the book, Simply Wait, by Pamela Hawkins as our study and structure for this Advent season.  SImply Wait, simply?  Is waiting simple for you?.

It might depend on what we are waiting for, right? Sometimes, we know that there are things we need to wait for that are really worth waiting for.  Our family member to return home from serving in the armed forces, our week of vacation or a cool trip, the oven timer to go off when we have an awesome turkey roasting, waiting for the day of a party or a wedding or a reunion to show up on the calendar.

But, my question is still this?  Are you good at waiting?  Are you the person who strikes up a conversation with whoever is in a line with you?  Are you the person who taps their fingers non stop on the steering wheel while you sit at a red light?  Are you the person who is looking at the time every 5 seconds wondering when the bus will come down the street?

This week’s word from the book and the focus of the message this week is Patience.  I think patience can be defined as waiting well.  Waiting well.  Someone who is patient has the ability to wait well.  And on the flip side, those who are impatient, wait poorly.  The waiting is inevitable.  The waiting is part of life.  How we wait determines whether or not we are patient.

So, here in the 3rd week of Advent, the 3rd week of waiting.  Have you practiced patience?  Have you practiced waiting well?

This 3rd Sunday of Advent is traditionally dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  We remember who she was and how her obedience and willingness taught us how to answer God’s call.  What does Mary have to teach us about waiting and waiting well? How does Mary’s story help us to learn to be patient- to wait well?

Let’s remember what we already know about Mary’s story.  She was a very young woman, maybe even 14 years old, from a pretty small and plain town called Nazareth.  Like most other girls her age, she was engaged, to a man chosen by her family.  When we meet Mary in the scripture, she is already in a waiting period.  She is engaged and waiting  to be married.  In the culture of the time, that engagement lasted about a year.  The man and woman were really already presumed to be married, this was a time of preparation, of negotiation between the families, a time of waiting.

So here is Mary, living a predictable life. She was doing what she had assumed she would do at this age.  She was pretty much minding her own business.  Just waiting, like she was expected to.  That is, until the angel Gabriel showed up and told her what?  You know?  That she was going to have a baby and she was going to name him Jesus and he was going to be the Savior of the world.  Yup. no big deal, just another day in Nazareth!  Mary went quickly from waiting to be married and to start a simple life with Joseph to waiting to be the mother of the Son of God.

Here is what I always wondered about Mary.  Did she really not freak out?  Did she really not get scared and anxious and defensive? Did she not cry?  I’m a crier, so I know I would have.  I mean, the angel didn’t tell her that Jesus was going to show up and she would  raise him. No, she was going to be pregnant with this baby.  For 9 months!  Her belly was going to get really big, people were going to notice and talk about her.  She was going to get back pain and morning sickness, maybe. She was going to crave weird food and have trouble sleeping…For nine months she would wait for this child to be born.  DId she really just peacefully say to the angel, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord ”? We don’t get any more information about Mary’s initial response, so we are left wondering at this point in the story.

Mary travels to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who is also expecting a child.  Both women demonstrate how God does the impossible.  Elizabeth was beyond child bearing age and Mary was pregnant as a virgin. Miracles all around!  Mary arrives at Elizabeth’s house and Elizabeth’s baby jumps in her womb.  Elizabeth says he leaped for joy…

How does Mary respond?  We know this!! She sings!  In my Bible this section is titled, Mary’s Song of Praise.  It is here that we get a glimpse into how Mary is really handling this news. I think it is here where we see Mary’s response to having to wait for the birth of Jesus. It is here we see how Mary’s practices patience- Mary’s ability to wait well…maybe Mary’s response can help us learn about how we can wait well, how we can be patient.

First of all, Mary is obviously joyful!  Despite all the craziness, despite everything that people are saying about her, despite her fears, her questions, despite her times of disbelief, she rejoices in God!. She praises God with her song!  My soul magnifies the Lord.  I rejoice in God my Savior.  The Mighty One has done great things!  Mary is pregnant with Jesus.  Waiting for 9 months as he grows.  Waiting after hearing from God through an angel.  She chooses to spend her time waiting, praising God, being joyful and singing!

Psalm 100, says come into the presence of God with singing!  The very presence of God was in Mary, Mary was carrying the presence of God and she chose joy!

Our key verse today is from Isaiah Chapter 35.  And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;  they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

It tells us that the anecdote to sorrow and sighing is singing and joy and gladness.

Who sighs when they are impatient?  Come on…we all do, I think.  What if we sang instead?  What if when we are feeling impatient, like we are not waiting well, we sang!

Sang praises to God.  Don’t know what to sing…how about Praise God from Whom all Blessings flow, or How great is our God, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!

How would that change how we wait?

 

We light the 3rd candle this week on our advent wreath- traditionally the candle of Joy.  How about that?  Mary’s story paired with the candle of joy!  There is joy in the waiting and our waiting can be made well if we choose joy!

 

Mary’s song also remembers God’s promises.  Mary sings His, God’s mercy is for generation to generation.  This song isn’t just about Mary’s circumstance.  Not just about Mary’s time and place. This is about our circumstance, about this time and this place- yours and mine.  Mary relies on the promises that God already made, the promises that God is keeping now and the promises that God will always keep!  Mary spends this time, waiting with promise.Patience is inspired by trusting that GOd will fulfill God’s promises.

What if when we are feeling impatient, like we are not waiting well, we remembered God’s promises.  What if we said out loud the words of Romans 8:28- We know that all things work together for good for those who love God.  or Isaiah 41:10- Do not fear, for I am with you , do not be afraid for I am your God, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my right hand.

How would that change how we wait?

 

Finally Mary’s song reflects on how God is capable of doing the unexpected, the impossible.  Mary sings about God scattering the proud, bringing down the powerful and lifting the lowly, serving the hungry and the humble and sending away the rich and the arrogant.  We get a glimpse here of what we know Jesus will later teach  about the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.  The Kingdom of God will be so different than what we know and even what we can imagine.  Things will be upside down, inverted, the poor will be rich, the weak, strong, the blind will see, the justice will prevail! The Kingdom of God, as we learned last week from Pastor Dorry, will have smooth roads, not potholes, no locusts destroying everything in sight.  God’s Kingdom levels the playing field for everyone!  Mary imagines how things can be so different from how they are now.  Mary reflects on the future that God will design.

What if, when we are feeling impatient, like we are not waiting well, we reflect on God’s will, on God’s plan, on God’s ability to do what we cannot imagine?.  We know that God desire earth to be like heaven.  We know that the Kingdom of God was, is and is to come.  That means we don’t have to wait for it!.  We get to experience glimpses of the KOG in our families, in our communities, in our church, in our world. We get to witness the work of God through God’s people as there is forgiveness and reconciliation..  We get to contribute by being justice seekers and peace makers!  So, how about when we are impatient, when we are not waiting well, we pray the Lord’s Prayer with special emphasis on Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And then we look for the Kingdom of God in our very midst.

How would that change how we wait?

 

Not all waiting is the same!  It seems a lot easier to wait when there is a known outcome..Easier to wait for something when we know the outcome will be good, right?  Harder to wait when the outcome is unknown, when we don’t know if the outcome will be good or bad. Easier to wait for a vacation than for medical test results.  Easier to wait at a red light than to wait in a 5 mile traffic jam.  Advent is a time of waiting- but we know what is coming!  We know that the birth of Jesus Christ, a baby who will grow up to teach and serve and then die on the cross.and rise again all happened to show us God’s love, God’s forgiveness, God’s mercy and God’s grace!  So we know the outcome, but still we wait… today we are right smack in the midst of the waiting period.  The candles on the altar bookend this waiting period- the time between when Jesus came and when Jesus will come again.  Will we choose to spend this time waiting well- being patient?  Will we be filled with joy and sing?  Will we rely on the promises of God?  Will we reflect on how God is working in this time?

 

I wonder what might happen to us if we use this time of waiting to practice waiting well. I wonder how our outlook, our attitude, our mood might be changed if we practice waiting well.  I wonder how we might experience God in new and beautiful ways.

I wonder how we might see our situation so differently if we practice waiting well.

 

If we wait with joyful singing,

If we wait remembering God’s promise

If we wait in reflection on how God has the ability to transform even the unexpected and the impossible.

 

To God be the Glory.  Amen.