Give Me Patience Now

Texts: Acts 1: 1 - 14 and an excerpt from The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."

And when might that be, Jesus? There was no time to ask that question. Jesus seems to have been immediately lifted up and hidden from their sight by a cloud. As they were taking this all in, two messengers in white robes suddenly appear, chastise them for staring into space, and tell them that Jesus will return just like they saw him go.

And when might that be, two messengers in white robes? When will Jesus return? Nope, they didn't get a chance to ask that question either, apparently. So now they are waiting for two things: power and Jesus.

Waiting ... it seems to be a hallmark of our Christian faith. We wait during Advent. We prepare while we wait during Lent. We wait for Pentecost. And we have been waiting an awfully long time for what is commonly called The Second Coming of Christ.

Waiting seems passive. And there's this sense that something is out of our control. But waiting can also be seen as a gift. We can actively wait. Thich Nhat Hahn says that a red light while driving is a gift. All day long we have to be doing something, but at a red light, all we have to do is breathe. He may not know about the turn right on red rule, but still, the point is ... red means stop. Actively stop. Sometimes being required to stop is a gift. Other times, it's incredibly annoying.

I have been sick for the past two weeks. As I was getting over my cold, I ate something that my system didn't like. I haven't had a food reaction like that in a couple years. I'm still not sure of the cause. All I could do was lay down. I had no choice. Being required to stop did not feel like a gift. Mid afternoon I started to feel better, but I still had to move slowly.

I remember years ago being frustrated with the timing of life and praying, "Give me patience now." It didn't feel like the most holy prayer I had ever prayed, but it certainly was honest. I knew I had to wait ... there was no rushing whatever it was that had to come to pass, but I was not having an easy time being patient. I still struggle with that kind of patience. Waiting for life to unfold is hard for me.

When Jesus tells the disciples that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit is upon them, I think to myself, what's the hold up? What is the Holy Spirit doing that is getting in the way of receiving the power now? What do we do in the meantime? I sound like I'm about 5 years old, don't I? How come I can't have the Holy Spirit now? Why did Jesus have to leave if he's going to come back anyway? This is stupid. I don't like this game.

Really ... I don't. But I've learned something about waiting. As passive as it seems, there is something active always happening. Even if I can't see it, touch it, smell it, taste it, hear it, or feel it ... something active is happening.

When a mother is waiting to give birth, there is more going on than the baby just hanging around. Something is happening ... change is happening. When I am waiting at the red light, something is happening. Other people are going through their green light. It would be dangerous for me to ignore that red light. It's best that I wait. In the past, when I have rushed something in life to happen, I find that it does not work for anyone's benefit. Something was happening ... something under the surface or outside of my vision. Usually it was something important. When I side-step or try to rush things, it only makes things worse or take longer. I try to keep in mind these experiences when I become impatient with time.

The truth is, that I may be waiting, but someone or something else is working. It may be the Holy Spirit that is working. It may be my need for inner growth. Sometimes it's less spiritual than that. Any number of things might need to be played out, in my life or in someone else's life, before whatever it is that I am waiting for to happen can happen.

Are there promises that you have heard in your spirit? Is there something that you just know is supposed to happen? Have you been waiting a short time ... or a long time? Do you know that you aren't supposed to rush whatever it is? Do you need patience right now? Are you impatiently waiting for patience?

If everything is going well, I encourage you to not pray for patience because, as a previous pastor of mine told me, praying for patience generally results in receiving trials and tribulations which require the development of patience. However, if you already have the trials and tribulations, if life is frustrating or confusing, if time seems to be dragging, if life is chaotic and difficult, I encourage you to pray for an immediate gift of patience.

In two weeks we celebrate the receipt of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples with the result of them receiving power. We call this celebration Pentecost. This is good news. The gift that Jesus promised was given. The promise of the two messengers in white robes has yet to be fulfilled. Maybe some folks are taking that too literally.

It does seem, though, that we are waiting for something. Is it the Realm of Heaven being fulfilled on Earth? Is it a physical return of Jesus? Is it that we all learn to love each other unconditionally in our diversity? It feels like there is this big thing we are waiting for - this really important huge thing.

We are not to just stop and stare while we wait. There is a need for a balance of waiting and activity. That's a hard balance to achieve.

Along with this huge important thing that we are waiting for, there are smaller things that we wait for. Some we share with each other. Some we hold close, maybe not even speaking the words out loud to ourselves. For some it may seem as if we have been holding our breath for years. Discerning what kind of waiting to do is hard. At what point are we at the red light, with our only requirement being to breathe? At what point should we be devoting ourselves to prayer or be active by doing research or take some other action?

Think about how you wait. Do you wait mindfully, knowing that you are in fact waiting? Do you try to rush things into being? Do you pray or meditate? No matter how you wait, I think waiting is active, not passive. When we wait knowing that we are waiting, I think it's a form of prayer.

Something is always happening - change is always happening. It isn't always evident. Change can't always be discerned through out senses, but it is always happening.

As we look forward to celebrating the Holy Spirit's gift of power, lets remember to wait mindfully and prayerfully for whatever it is that is on our hearts and in our spirits. We wait together, even if we don't share everything with each other, we wait together ... in hope.