Waiting

A rapid walk through our anticipation of the major events of the church year.

I am writing this Jotting in the ‘between time’ from Ascension to Pentecost, a ‘waiting time’ for the gift of the Holy Spirit. It has occurred to me as I write, that we do a lot of ‘waiting’ during the church year.

The church year starts at Advent, when we are looking forward to Christmas, waiting for the arrival of God incarnate, waiting for when we shall remember Jesus’ birth and celebrate the beginning of his time as one of us.

Then we wait for Epiphany, the manifestation or revealing of Jesus, not just to his birth nation, as the son of David, but to the rest of the world, demonstrated by the visit of the wise men from a different culture in the east.

Epiphany ends with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, where Simeon and Anna had been waiting all their lives for the arrival of the son of David. Simeon, in the words of the Nunc Dimittis, calls Jesus ‘a light to lighten the Gentiles’ and ‘the glory of his people Israel’, but speaks also of suffering and a sword to pierce Mary’s heart.

This festival, also called Candlemas, is often spoken of as a ‘hinge’ between the celebrations of the arrival of Jesus, the revealing of him to the world, and the movement towards the mysteries of Good Friday and Easter.

 As we move towards the events leading to the crucifixion, there’s another waiting time, Lent, when we are called to examine ourselves, our lifestyles, our conduct, and to say sorry for all that does not reflect our love of God, and show gratitude for all the blessings we have received. 

When we get to the horrors of Good Friday and the crucifixion we discover the sacrifice that Jesus made for the wrongdoings of the whole world.

With our foreknowledge of what is to come, we then wait for the joyful celebration of Christ’s Resurrection at Easter and his gift to us of eternal life. 

We must wait to gain full knowledge of all that will mean, after this earthly part of life. However, we are called to do much more than wait!

We are called to be active in sharing God’s love with others, as we receive it ourselves.

Jesus breathed on the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirt and they were encouraged in their discipleship and rejoiced in Jesus’ resurrection appearances. But then came the time for him to leave them and to return to his Heavenly Father. Luke is the only one who gives us a direct account of that happening, the Ascension, right at the end of his Gospel and in in the first chapter of Acts, which he also wrote. He also tells us that Jesus told the disciples to stay in the city – to wait - until they were clothed with power from on high. This they did until the Day of Pentecost, when as promised they were given the gift of the Holy Spirit which enabled them to tell many people of different nations, thus leading to our Church today.

After Pentecost comes Trinity Sunday, when we consider the mystery of the three aspects of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Then All Saints, when we remember all those who have gone before us in faith, the well-known ones and everyone else, especially those who have played a significant part in our lives in some way.

That takes us on to the next Advent and we have come full circle through all the parts of the Church year which have helped us to know more of God’s love for us.

 It is worth all the waiting!

We can give thanks for God’s love, for Christ’s presence with us now and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit each and every day. In the words of an old Grace, we give thanks for, ‘The blessings we have received,’ and try to make the most of all God’s gifts, for others and for ourselves.

Thanks be to God.

Love, Prayers and Blessings,

Joy