Pastor's Corner

Pastor's Ponderings ~
Faithful Waiting

Wait for God; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for God!
Psalm 27:14
 

Waiting. It’s a fact of life. We may be an “instant gratification nation,” with immediate access to most everything, but we still can’t avoid waiting. We live much of our lives in between one thing and another, in fact. We find ourselves in between our home and work, in between starting a project and completing it, in between beginning a degree program and receiving a diploma, in between the first round of chemo and the final diagnosis. Waiting for something, be it something we’re anticipating of something we’re dreading, is part and parcel of what it means to be human.

Waiting is a fact of life. But it’s one we usually try to avoid. We get impatient with waiting, wondering like an eight-year-old on a car trip if we’ll ever be there yet. We get anxious in our waiting, knowing that something we’re anticipating hasn’t arrived. If that “something” is a good something, we get anxious because we want it to get here. If it’s something we dread, we get anxious because we want to avoid it. Waiting is a fact of life, but it can be a hard one.

At this point on our journey, you and I find ourselves in a period of waiting. I have announced my resignation as Pastor of this wonderful community, and we are all waiting to see what comes next. I’m awaiting my new vocational context, my new home, my new rhythm of life and work. You’re awaiting your next pastor, your next chapter of ministry, your next step as a growing community of faith. Before all that happens, we have even more things to attend to – the good-byes, the formation of a Pastoral Search Team, the packing up and moving on. We wait for all of these things – some of them with dread, others with excitement. We wait, and we wonder what will come next for us.

Waiting is a fact of life, but waiting faithfully is a choice we make. Faithful waiting is not sitting, twiddling our thumbs and fretting. Faithful waiting is not wallowing in “what ifs” and letting our anxieties get the better of us. Faithful waiting is bold expectation. It is patient action. It is open-hearted hopefulness. The Hebrew word for waiting found in the Bible is kava. The word means “to look eagerly for.” When we wait faithfully, we look eagerly for God’s good future to come for us, for our community and for our world. We wait with an eagerness for new life to emerge. We boldly expect something amazing to meet us on our journey, and we patiently act as if that amazing “something” is indeed on its way.

Waiting is a fact of life, but faithful waiting is an act of courage. “Be strong and let your heart take courage!” shouts the Psalmist. Being strong and courageous in our waiting requires us to remember the One who holds us in the palm of her hands. Being strong and courageous in our waiting requires us to remember the One who shelters us under his wings in all our periods of transition. Being strong and courageous in our waiting requires us to remember the One for whom we wait. “Wait for God; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for God!” In all our periods of waiting, we entrust ourselves to our good and faithful God. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever feel anxious or uncertain about the future. But it does mean that, even amid our anxieties, we will continue to trust the Spirit who is faithfully present with us on our journeys and is working all things together for good on our paths.

Waiting is a fact of life, but faithful waiting demands that we root ourselves in a place of trust – trust in God and in God’s future. Luckily, trust is a lot easier to have when we’re surrounded by community, especially a wonderful and faithful community like the one at New Covenant. Throughout the past six years, I have known you to be a community who looks eagerly for God’s good future. I have known you to be people who encourage one another and who remind one another of God’s presence and faithfulness. I have known you to be a church that is committed to developing your faith and increasing your trust in God.

Because I know all this about you, I know that you will be fine as you continue this process of waiting. I know that you will not only be fine but you will thrive. You will grow in your faith and you will deepen in your capacity to trust God. You will increase your awareness of your identity as the Body of Christ. And you will discover new things, good things, God is doing as you wait. Sure, there will be some anxiety and some uncertainty and some starts and stops along the way. Hey, this is life we’re talking about! But even in those times, you will be strong and your heart will take courage, because you know how to wait faithfully. And you know the One who sustains you in your waiting.

I too know how to wait faithfully. I too know the One who sustains me in my waiting. I know these things in large part because for six wonderful years I’ve watched you and learned from you and grown with you. Again and again, you have shown me what it looks like to wait faithfully. And I have seen the God who sustains us reflected in you.

I will be forever grateful that we have shared this journey together, and I eagerly await the good things God will bring about for all of us on the path ahead.

In the Spirit ~
Pastor Lance
 

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