How Long to Sing This Song? - December 18
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 40, 54; PM Psalm 51; Isa. 10:5-19; 2 Pet. 2:17-22; Matt. 11:2-15
Today’s Reflection
Advent, as we often are reminded in this season, is about waiting. It is about anticipating. But what are we waiting for? What are we hoping for? In the Matthew passage appointed for today, we get a window into John the Baptist’s experience of anticipating the long-awaited Messiah. John, who has been jailed because of his prophetic witness, sends word to Jesus, and has his messengers ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (11:3).
Jesus, who preferred to give more indirect answers, answers designed to make people think, sent this message back to John: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me” (11:4-6). All of which is to say, yes, I am the one is to come—the one who is to come is now here and look who I am surrounding myself with: the blind, the lame, the lepers, the dead, the poor. He has come first to the people who were last in line in the world. Jesus has come, and he has come first to the people who have been waiting for healing.
Waiting is a difficult posture, be it for John the Baptist or for the people who wondered whether this really was the person who they were waiting to prepare the way for the Lord. And waiting is difficult for us.
Part of why waiting is so difficult is that oftentimes we don’t have a clear vision of just what or whom we are waiting for. We just know that we are in a long period of “almost but not yet.” This is the prayer we hear in Psalm 40: the psalmist attesting that he has “waited patiently for the Lord” (40:1), but also pleading with God to “make haste to help me” (40:14) and to please “not tarry, O my God” (40:19). In other words, I waited patiently, but could you go ahead and hurry up and finish helping me out of this miry pit, God? We’ve all experienced these times of “almost but not yet.” We’ve all experienced waiting—whether waiting for something simple like a meal to be served or a concert to start, or perhaps we have waited (or are waiting) for something more momentous: waiting for a job, waiting for a baby, waiting for a diagnosis, waiting for a treatment, maybe even waiting for a miracle.
Lately, we have been doing a lot of collective waiting. Waiting until our quarantine period is over. Waiting to get the test results. Waiting for the numbers to go back down. Waiting for the schools to reopen—or to close again. Waiting until the vaccine is approved. Waiting until it is our turn to get the vaccine. Waiting until we don’t have to wear a mask anymore.
As a church, we are waiting to be able to worship together in-person again—without masks, while seated in a full pew in a full Nave. We are waiting to be able to give handshakes and share hugs. We are waiting to share bread and wine again up at the communion rail, without masks and silver tongs. We are waiting to be able sing a song of joy to the Lord when we are finally allowed to sing together again.
As we continue in this time of waiting, sometimes we will wait patiently and sometimes not so much. But as we continue to wait together, I offer you this more contemporary version of Psalm 40, U2’s “40.”
I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay.
I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?
—Becky+
Questions for Self-Reflection
Recall a time in your life when waiting for something was an extremely trying experience for you. What made that waiting so difficult? Looking back, how did you get through that time of waiting? What did you learn then that might help you continue in this collective time of waiting we are going through as a society and as a community here at Saint Stephen’s?
Daily Challenge
Read back over Psalm 40 and make it your prayer, weaving in your own intercessions about what you need God to help you wait patiently for today and as we continue in this long period of watching and waiting.