Pastor Larry MacKay
November 28, 2011
Do you ever get tired of waiting – waiting for winter to end (It’s not even actually begun yet!) – waiting for the children to tidy their room – waiting to see a doctor while the sign in his reception room says you’ll be charged for missing an appointment – waiting for Christmas to come? The latter case of waiting is common among children who see the few weeks before Christmas as being equal to all eternity.
No matter what our age waiting can build one’s patience or test it to its very core. As we enter Advent, the days of preparation counting down the time until Christmas – the waiting in our lives can tend to increase. Waiting to find a parking spot at the mall – waiting in line at a department store for the first available cashier – waiting at the post office to send or pick up a parcel – waiting for the big day to arrive all may add to the tension we feel and leave us with less than a “Christmas spirit.”
We are not the first of God’s family to wait. Through the centuries before Jesus was born God’s people waited and waited for the day of the Messiah. At times they surely wondered just how much longer God would make them wait before He kept His word. At times that must have seemed like forever.
Then, at just the right time, by God’s reckoning, Jesus was born and laid in a manger – hardly a spectacular beginning for the One whom Scripture called the Prince of Peace. After all that waiting His birth didn’t happen in some palace in Jerusalem - greeted by a fanfare of trumpets – but then there were the angels – though they only appeared to lowly shepherds. Surely it was a strange start after centuries of waiting for the King of kings and Lord of lords but it was exactly how God intended.
Knowing Jesus came long ago we still continue to wait – not just for the celebration of His birth but for that day when He will come again. Some days we’re not ready for that coming. We have things to do, places to go, people to see. We may look forward to heaven but we’re not ready for the trip just yet . But then there are times and days when we think it would be so much better than what we have to deal with here.
In our waiting let us turn repeatedly to the One who came to bring us life, peace, the One who will come again. Let us make His birth the center of our celebrations this Christmas and His Word the light that shines on our good days and bad into the new year ahead and through all our days yet to come.
Pastor Larry
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