waiting

I wonder what you are like at waiting. For me, I have an aversion to queues. Only recently have I begun to wait more patiently at the supermarket checkout. Before that I was always careful to try and judge how long one would have to wait. You could pick the shortest queue but then be thwarted by someone who carefully packed their bags and then wouldn’t be able to find the money. You could feel the rising tension and frustration. I have also been known to drive many extra miles when faced with a traffic jam by taking an impromptu diversion– anything to keep moving! Enjoy with me then the moment recently when Annie and I visited a famous museum. We walked straight in – no queue! The next day passing the same place the queue was about half a mile long, or so it seemed! Joy! Once when Annie was travelling in India she had to wait over 24 hours for a train due to a strike. She was told that maybe the train would come or maybe not. Well, it did, eventually but what a wait – she had to sleep the night on the station! Sometimes people waitfora long time for things to happen. Paul McCartney sang “Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly, all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise”.

The people in Jesus’ day had also been waiting. There is a period of 400 years between the Old Testament and the new. That is a long time to wait for hopes and longings to be fulfilled. The prophecy of Isaiah in ch 9 v6 - For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – was a long time in happening.

There were two people who had waited for a long time. One was called Simeon and the other Anna. Anna had been a widow for many, many years and never left the temple. Both of them were waiting for the promise of the Messiah – the one to come, the one they had been hoping for. When Jesus was brought to the temple by his parents Simeon took Jesus in his arms and said, “God, you can now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised. With my own eyes I've seen your salvation; it's now out in the open for everyone to see: A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations, and of glory for your people Israel. As Simeon was praying Anna turned up at that very moment and began to praise and worship God telling everyone in earshot that Jesus was the one they had been waiting for.

It is my prayer, that at this Christmas time, if you are searching, longing and waiting for truth, justice and salvation you will discover it in the person of Jesus who is the light of the world and in the joy of discovery you too will say, “I have been waiting all of my life for this!”