Daily Advent Devotions from Church Street UMC
Sunday, November 28
By Rev. Catherine Nance, Senior Pastor
Wait
Read Nehemiah 9:6-15
“You are the Lord, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you.” (Nehemiah 9:6)
Wait for it … wait for it ….wait for it … It’s what we say when we know something is going to happen and WHAM! There it was!
I am writing this devotion in mid-September while taking some time away at the beach. It is the perfect setting for thinking of Advent!
Waiting for a wave. Waiting for the waves to break on the beach. Waiting for the water to come all the way to my toes. It’s an endless waiting – there are always waves. There is always water running up to where you are, spreading out in front of you, sometimes reaching your toes and sometimes deciding at the last second to stop and return.
I love to ride the waves. No, I am not a surfer. But I do walk out just far enough to wait for the right moment and swim ‘on top’ of the wave towards the beach. Sometimes I end up crawling, sometimes I get knocked under, sometimes I imagine I am as graceful as a dolphin! Each one elicits joy! But there is never one that is the final one; the beach is the perfect place to wait, and wait, and wait. The endlessness of the waves, the subtle changes in rhythm, the hypnotic flowing back and forth, and the surprising crash!
We sometimes countdown Advent … wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, and then hope to experience the most joyful, beautiful, perfect, happy Christmas day. Children will say, “I don’t want Christmas to end.” Adults will say, “I wish I had more time.” My prayer this year is that I do not miss Advent by waiting on the ‘perfect Christmas.’ The scriptures and hymns of Advent are faithful, and the words come at us – sometimes knocking us down, sometimes gently carrying, but always pointing us towards the Christ. This Advent, I will say, “Here it is.” Here it is. Here it is.
The psalmist says, Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. While we wait, we are being led and are being taught. God calls for an active waiting!
Prayer
Christ who comes, you are the one who has come, who is, and who will be. May we marvel in all these verb tenses and not miss any of your revelation. Amen.
