The Mosaic

While We Waited

We waited. Our Lenten and Easter theme this year was “I Wait.” We waited throughout as Jesus journeyed to the cross, was placed in the tomb, and rose from the clutches of death. We’ve also waited for an entire year to be back together for in-person church worship, if even for a moment. And we were finally able to do so as we gathered on the front lawn for the Flowering of the Cross Service on Easter morning.

The “waiting place” is often a difficult place to be as waiting lies in the uncomfortable “in-betweenness” of life. Often waiting is the agony before the coming of something tragic. Other times, waiting is the eager anticipation of an expected joy. Yet, waiting is usually not the moment we remember or cherish. It’s simply the hallway leading to the next room, the next destination. It’s sometimes difficult to feel the love of God surrounding us in the endless waiting.

Father Richard Rohr says, “Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity (it did not need changing!) Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God.” It is my hope that you will continue to experience God in the hallways and “waiting places” of your life. It is my deep prayer that in your waiting, you will know you are loved by the One who created you from the active particles and atoms of the earth. This Easter, seeing your faces, (at least your smiling and tired eyes) has reminded me that God’s unfailing loves surrounds us in our places of deep and intentional waiting.

So, what are we to do as we wait in hospital rooms with loved ones, by the bedside of the dying, in the long queues of vaccine lists? How are we to feel in the heaviness of grief, the volatility of job struggles, and the precariousness of the “not yet?” We actively wait. We actively and receptively acknowledge that we are already accepted by the Divine. We lean into the love that God has for us as we’ve experienced in the Gospel story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, knowing that we are loved just the way we are. This Easter proclaimed for me, while we were waiting, that God’s love has always surrounded us and will surround us still.

Pastor Mike