In The Meantime, God
Sermon
Holy Email
Cycle A Second Lesson Sermons for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany
Object:
E-mail
From: KDM
To: God
Subject: Be Patient
Message: In the meantime, God.... Lauds, KDM
E-mail from KDM to God. Subject: Be patient. Message: In the meantime, God.... Lauds, KDM.
Arlo Johansen, a Great Plains agrarian, says a farmer has to think in terms of a 27-year average in order to maintain a positive work perspective. That is a long time to request patience. Farmers know the rain will come. They just do not know when it will come, if it will come in time, if it will rain too furiously or too plentifully for tender shoots, or if it will fall as hail that mangles everything in its path.
Farmers know the early rain will bring up the crop. Moisture, plus the warmth of the season, will soften the shell of the kernel so the life within it can burst forth. Later rains will carry moisture and nourishment to the seedling. They will help to sustain the crop. The last rains of the season to fall will provide a head start on the next growing season. Arlo Johansen says he usually feels at least one sigh of relief thinly sandwiched among the waiting periods of a season.
In the meantime, he has become expert at waiting. His story, however, does not stop with the germination of the seed. He also hopes for a good stand and harvest. Attention to his current crop requires sound stewardship. He feeds the crop then provides nourishment for a future crop in a way that will avoid spoiling the land.
The farmer's job is to get the land ready, plant the seed, and judge how long the crop can be dry without endangering it. Today's farmer can study satellite reports that analyze fertilizer and moisture needs, acre by acre. As a result, an informed farmer can choose to irrigate only when it is necessary. However, no one controls hail, heavy rain, or the wind. The farmer's job is to be patient.
It is hard, however, to be patient. Consider all the waiting involved in raising a crop. There is enough waiting in farming to worry a farmer into trouble -- if worry is the attitude of choice. There is enough waiting in farming to impatient a farmer into ill health -- if impatience is the chosen attitude. Whatever the attitude, waiting is hard. What can we do about it?
"Be patient...," the writer of James says, "until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains" (5:7).
The core of this ancient farming analogy is still practical today. Like the farmer, what we all do during the waiting times is our responsibility. Like the farmer, what we do has consequences. It is observed by others. It is noticed by God.
What is your precious crop? What are you waiting for? A baby, lab test results, spring, enough time to..., enough money to..., completion of a degree, things to slow down, things to pick up, the right job offer, death, vacation, retirement, a driver's license, better health, reconciliation, a life partner, the completion of unfinished business, a sense of purpose?
What do you do while you wait for Christmas? Let us draft a formula for what to do in the meantime. Here are five ingredients. You probably can add more.
The first is preparation. Whenever we focus on preparation, we add active, productive time to waiting. A period of productive waiting can be as valuable as the crop itself. Farmers do not forget about their crop. They keep an eye on the land. They maintain machinery. They do Internet market and scientific research.
No one can reclaim those unused hours for such groundwork at a later time. We waste hours when we fail to understand that our time here is given. If our "in the meantime" contains planning, dreaming, refining, and hoping, then it is useful time. If we attempt to escape waiting time with mindlessness or daydream, we squander it. Once a minute is gone, it has vanished. What remains is either the outcome of preparation or the lack of it.
Now add a dollop of expectation to this recipe for patience. To greet waiting time with a sense of anticipation is like a child's waiting for the second Christmas. Knowing that Christmas will arrive energizes the wait. The anticipation of just how Christmas will come to each individual adds vigor to the wait.
Such waiting is far different from simply escaping the present either by letting dread take over or by living so far ahead in time that we miss what is happening now. Expectation stands at the cusp between anxiety and hope. When we anticipate, we wait as the life within us prepares to burst forth.
The third part of this how-to formula is to exercise our capacity to say, "Yes," to hope. One of the hardest tasks of waiting is to hang on. As unknowns, uneasiness, and uncertainty stretch our elasticity, you and I can choose "in the meantime" attitudes.
The writer of James advises us to strengthen our hearts. The author understands the unholy grumble of waiting. When patience runs thin and our sense of hope wilts, we begin to take out ill humor on the nearest person. Waiting is the time to avoid running down ourselves or exploding our tension at others. Negative waiting only makes tight times worse.
Several practices help to increase our capacity to reclaim hope. Here are a few: Return to memory. Recall other times you have chosen hope and things have worked out. Divide the weight of your wait into lighter, manageable segments. Decide how much waiting time you can handle at a particular moment -- a week, a day, an hour. Then let the rest of the time take care of itself.
Practice being kind to yourself and to those around you. Take generous care of yourself with exercise, the quality and quantity of food you eat, and the amount of your sleep. Keep talking with those around you. Stay alert to early signs of beginning to lose the edge on hope so you can do something about it before you sink into muck.
"Prepare," "Expect," "Say yes to hope." Let us add trust to this formula. As we come to know what helps and what works against us during a waiting time, we also come to trust what we can count on. Trust what you can trust. Remember who is in charge, what is open to change, and what is unchanging.
The final ingredient for what to do in the meantime is clarity about what we are waiting for. Waiting is most difficult in situations where we are used to doing something to make things happen. However, there is a right time for patience. Patience helps when all is not yet ready. There is also a right time for impatience. When no one is doing what needs to be done to rectify a wrong, an unfairness, or injustice -- this is the right time for impatience. It helps to choose the right things to wait for.
Being patient is an art as well as a skill. Patience shapes a unique form of passivity. It engenders the capacity for calm endurance. Patience is active while seemingly immobile. Patience is a waiting that comes from understanding the wait. This silent part of waiting is quiet and sometimes solitary, but it need not be empty. When we let it be empty, then boredom, anxiety, and a host of other miscreants shove their way into our soul.
Waiting can shoulder a definite goal. It gives us blessing time to think through life direction. We can transform waiting from empty endurance to waiting for something we determine is worthwhile. We can choose to concentrate on what we know or, at least, what we trust will come -- like Christmas.
In the meantime, God? In the meantime, let us remember that Christmas is a promise. The coming is near. Some things are worth waiting for. The Good News of Christmas is one of them.
From: KDM
To: God
Subject: Be Patient
Message: In the meantime, God.... Lauds, KDM
E-mail from KDM to God. Subject: Be patient. Message: In the meantime, God.... Lauds, KDM.
Arlo Johansen, a Great Plains agrarian, says a farmer has to think in terms of a 27-year average in order to maintain a positive work perspective. That is a long time to request patience. Farmers know the rain will come. They just do not know when it will come, if it will come in time, if it will rain too furiously or too plentifully for tender shoots, or if it will fall as hail that mangles everything in its path.
Farmers know the early rain will bring up the crop. Moisture, plus the warmth of the season, will soften the shell of the kernel so the life within it can burst forth. Later rains will carry moisture and nourishment to the seedling. They will help to sustain the crop. The last rains of the season to fall will provide a head start on the next growing season. Arlo Johansen says he usually feels at least one sigh of relief thinly sandwiched among the waiting periods of a season.
In the meantime, he has become expert at waiting. His story, however, does not stop with the germination of the seed. He also hopes for a good stand and harvest. Attention to his current crop requires sound stewardship. He feeds the crop then provides nourishment for a future crop in a way that will avoid spoiling the land.
The farmer's job is to get the land ready, plant the seed, and judge how long the crop can be dry without endangering it. Today's farmer can study satellite reports that analyze fertilizer and moisture needs, acre by acre. As a result, an informed farmer can choose to irrigate only when it is necessary. However, no one controls hail, heavy rain, or the wind. The farmer's job is to be patient.
It is hard, however, to be patient. Consider all the waiting involved in raising a crop. There is enough waiting in farming to worry a farmer into trouble -- if worry is the attitude of choice. There is enough waiting in farming to impatient a farmer into ill health -- if impatience is the chosen attitude. Whatever the attitude, waiting is hard. What can we do about it?
"Be patient...," the writer of James says, "until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains" (5:7).
The core of this ancient farming analogy is still practical today. Like the farmer, what we all do during the waiting times is our responsibility. Like the farmer, what we do has consequences. It is observed by others. It is noticed by God.
What is your precious crop? What are you waiting for? A baby, lab test results, spring, enough time to..., enough money to..., completion of a degree, things to slow down, things to pick up, the right job offer, death, vacation, retirement, a driver's license, better health, reconciliation, a life partner, the completion of unfinished business, a sense of purpose?
What do you do while you wait for Christmas? Let us draft a formula for what to do in the meantime. Here are five ingredients. You probably can add more.
The first is preparation. Whenever we focus on preparation, we add active, productive time to waiting. A period of productive waiting can be as valuable as the crop itself. Farmers do not forget about their crop. They keep an eye on the land. They maintain machinery. They do Internet market and scientific research.
No one can reclaim those unused hours for such groundwork at a later time. We waste hours when we fail to understand that our time here is given. If our "in the meantime" contains planning, dreaming, refining, and hoping, then it is useful time. If we attempt to escape waiting time with mindlessness or daydream, we squander it. Once a minute is gone, it has vanished. What remains is either the outcome of preparation or the lack of it.
Now add a dollop of expectation to this recipe for patience. To greet waiting time with a sense of anticipation is like a child's waiting for the second Christmas. Knowing that Christmas will arrive energizes the wait. The anticipation of just how Christmas will come to each individual adds vigor to the wait.
Such waiting is far different from simply escaping the present either by letting dread take over or by living so far ahead in time that we miss what is happening now. Expectation stands at the cusp between anxiety and hope. When we anticipate, we wait as the life within us prepares to burst forth.
The third part of this how-to formula is to exercise our capacity to say, "Yes," to hope. One of the hardest tasks of waiting is to hang on. As unknowns, uneasiness, and uncertainty stretch our elasticity, you and I can choose "in the meantime" attitudes.
The writer of James advises us to strengthen our hearts. The author understands the unholy grumble of waiting. When patience runs thin and our sense of hope wilts, we begin to take out ill humor on the nearest person. Waiting is the time to avoid running down ourselves or exploding our tension at others. Negative waiting only makes tight times worse.
Several practices help to increase our capacity to reclaim hope. Here are a few: Return to memory. Recall other times you have chosen hope and things have worked out. Divide the weight of your wait into lighter, manageable segments. Decide how much waiting time you can handle at a particular moment -- a week, a day, an hour. Then let the rest of the time take care of itself.
Practice being kind to yourself and to those around you. Take generous care of yourself with exercise, the quality and quantity of food you eat, and the amount of your sleep. Keep talking with those around you. Stay alert to early signs of beginning to lose the edge on hope so you can do something about it before you sink into muck.
"Prepare," "Expect," "Say yes to hope." Let us add trust to this formula. As we come to know what helps and what works against us during a waiting time, we also come to trust what we can count on. Trust what you can trust. Remember who is in charge, what is open to change, and what is unchanging.
The final ingredient for what to do in the meantime is clarity about what we are waiting for. Waiting is most difficult in situations where we are used to doing something to make things happen. However, there is a right time for patience. Patience helps when all is not yet ready. There is also a right time for impatience. When no one is doing what needs to be done to rectify a wrong, an unfairness, or injustice -- this is the right time for impatience. It helps to choose the right things to wait for.
Being patient is an art as well as a skill. Patience shapes a unique form of passivity. It engenders the capacity for calm endurance. Patience is active while seemingly immobile. Patience is a waiting that comes from understanding the wait. This silent part of waiting is quiet and sometimes solitary, but it need not be empty. When we let it be empty, then boredom, anxiety, and a host of other miscreants shove their way into our soul.
Waiting can shoulder a definite goal. It gives us blessing time to think through life direction. We can transform waiting from empty endurance to waiting for something we determine is worthwhile. We can choose to concentrate on what we know or, at least, what we trust will come -- like Christmas.
In the meantime, God? In the meantime, let us remember that Christmas is a promise. The coming is near. Some things are worth waiting for. The Good News of Christmas is one of them.
