Reflections by Rev. Joanne Anquist

Waiting is not virtuous in itself.  It doesn’t help us in any way if we’re stuck while we wait.  And good things definitely don’t come to the world if we’re just sitting around waiting for the world to change, with all due respect to John Mayer.  I wish I could snap my fingers and make everything happen exactly as I would like.  I’d have poverty and hunger solved in no time.  World Peace would be right around the corner.  But alas, I have no such power – Solving Hunger and World Peace are gonna take some time.

So while we’re waiting for the world to change, we need to wait with purpose.  What does that mean?  While we are waiting, we need to use our time wisely.  While we wait, we can dream about the future we want to create.  While we are waiting, we can build the skills to achieve our goals.  While we are waiting, we can forge alliances, and make friends with folks who share our vision of the future.  While we are waiting, we can prepare for the world to change.

And maybe that’s the most important use of our time when we’re waiting – preparing the ground so that the world will change.  Because a better world will not build itself.  We can’t change the future with the snap of a finger, but we might just be able to make a step towards a more just society.  We wait expectantly, preparing ourselves for the day when something shifts and a door is opened and we are ready to walk through because we made good use of our waiting time.

So we Wait Expectantly.  We Wait in Hope.  We Wait with Purpose. This is how we build a better world.  We wait for a miracle that we have made together.  I trust this Advent Waiting has brought you Hope, Peace, Joy and Love and you are ready for the transformative power of Christmas!

~ Rev. Joanne Anquist