Philippians 1:3-11

2 Advent / Year C

10 December 2006

The Church of the Good Shepherd

Wareham, Massachusetts

 

Preached by the Rev. David Fredrickson

 

I thank my God every time I remember you,constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you,because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1: 3-11)

 

 

Waiting is something that we Americans have become less and less adept at over the years. It used to be in less affluent times, when my parents were young for instance, before World War II, that when folks would want something, most of them would simply wait until they had saved enough money before going and buying it. That included most big ticket items like cars, appliances, clothes, and furniture. With the exception of the home mortgage, credit accounts were usually paid off at the end of every month. Folks generally lived within their means. With the 1950’s, ‘60’s, and ‘70’s came more affluence and with it came mass marketing and freely available credit. The message became, “why wait, buy now and pay later.”

Our aversion to waiting has not been limited to the issue of our ever increasing consumer debt. Technology has made it possible for us to do almost anything in an instant. Rarely do people spend an hour or two cooking a meal from scratch, or sit to write an actual letter that will be sent through the mail or even repair torn clothes with a needle and thread. About a year ago I tried desperately to find a cobbler to fix a pair of my shoes that were just fine except for the heels. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I couldn’t find one anywhere.

Waiting is difficult, that is why we try to find ways to avoid it. “The connotation of the word wait is negative, not joyful. To wait is to endure. Waiting time is wasted time. The idea of Advent as joyful waiting is a hard sell. Joyful waiting seems to be an oxymoron. [But the Apostle] Paul invades the waiting with thanksgiving.”[i]

Paul’s letter was written from a prison cell where he was awaiting trial. Paul was imprisoned a number of times throughout his ministry, but it is very likely that this letter was written from Rome. Rome is where Paul was martyred From his point of view this was most likely to be his very last communiqué with this beloved community, the first church that he established on European soil, a church that was facing some serious opposition. Listen again to the words that flow from Paul’s heart:

I thank my God every time I remember you,constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you,because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

 

The tone of this letter is striking. As Paul awaits an uncertain future, he never loses sight of the hope that lives deep down in his heart. For Paul, waiting is hoping and hoping is waiting. Do you see it that way, the way Paul does? What are you waiting for, anything? Where do you find hope, or better yet where does hope find you? Have you ever asked yourself that question before? If not, now is the time, it’s Advent.

Henry Nowen wrote about waiting in his little devotional book entitled Bread for the Journey.

How do we wait for God? [he writes] We wait with patience. But patience does not mean passivity. Waiting patiently is not like waiting for the bus to come, the rain to stop, or the sun to rise. It is an active waiting in which we live the present moment to the full in order to find there the signs of the One we are waiting for. The word patience comes from the latin verb patior, which means “to suffer.” Waiting patiently is suffering through the present moment, tasting it to the full, and letting the seeds that are sown in the ground on which we stand grow into strong plants. Waiting patiently always means paying attention to what is happening right before our eyes and seeing there the first rays of God’s glorious coming.[ii]

 

Waiting is hoping and hoping is waiting. As a culture, one that has forgotten how to wait, where do we place our hope? If it is in all the stuff that we buy and yet can’t afford, what does that say about us? If it is in the technology that allows us to live in an ever faster and more complicated world, what does that say about us? Paul invades the waiting with thanksgiving. We can do that too. As we await all that is to come, there is meaningful work to be done, spiritual work, communal work, missional work. The Advent invitation is to wait joyfully, with hope, with vigilance. Therefore, confident joy and thankful expectation are the appropriate waiting postures. How will we be found when Jesus comes, will we be found living in harmony, sharing in joy, thankful for all that is coming from God? That was Paul’s prayer for the church in Philippi. It must be our prayer too.

In Jesus Name; Amen.