For all who wait.....Day 40 in Lent 2015 Saturday of Holy Week

Day 40 in Lent 2015  Saturday of Holy Week

"Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the Lord."  Psalm 31.24

Waiting is hard.  And yet waiting is so much a part of our culture that we even have rooms designated for this activity and lists that are generated solely for those who must wait.   This being said, I don't like to wait.  Maybe because I'm impatient--perhaps.  But I think the real reason I don't like to wait is that I'd rather be 'doing' something than just waiting.   Waiting sounds so, well, so passive.   It also means that I'm not in control of the situation and that is a whole other subject all together! 

GUERCINO The Dead Christ Mourned by Two Angels
1617-18

Here on the last day of Lent, situated between Good Friday and Easter Sunday all we can do is wait.   But our waiting need not be an invitation to do nothing.  No, this kind of waiting is ripe with expectation.  You see, we know that God will be faithful to God's promise.   We know that Jesus will rise from the dead and we know that tomorrow morning some women will go and find an empty tomb.   Knowing this our waiting is filled with preparation.  We are planning meals and worship schedules, we are getting out our Easter best and preparing for company that will join us to celebrate.   You see, when we wait with God, we wait with hope and that makes all the difference.

We who worship Christ are not naïve to pain, suffering and death.  We know that all these things exist and are the occasion for heartbreak and grief.  And yet, we also know that these things do not have the final word.  We are confident that even the deepest darkness will give way to the light of God's presence and that there is no denying the faithfulness of God.   So we wait....but we wait defiantly!  Our waiting is lived out not in rooms that make us comfortable but in lives that remain focused on what we know the outcome will be.  Our waiting stands by the old, old saying; It might be Friday (Saturday); but Sundays coming!   

A prayer for today:  "Dear Lord,  I ask that in all my waiting I might take courage that you are there and that nothing will be able to separate me from your love.  Amen"