Waiting

Half the women I know are pregnant. Seriously. You know who you are, sitting at your computers with some stage of lima beans and aliens and humans swimming around in your bellies. You are growing heavy with life. And those of you who are near the end of your term are tired of the waiting and ready to give birth. Pregnancy is a time of waiting -- of expectation and hope. But, as many of you could tell us, the waiting isn't always easy and the birthing has its pains.

Advent is almost here. This Sunday marks the beginning of the Advent season; the four weeks before Christmas. Advent is a time of waiting. We wait for Christmas, yes, but we wait for more than the gift glut, the egg nog, and even the time with family and friends. We wait for more than celebrating the birth of Jesus. During Advent we watch and we wait, not for what God did 2,000 years ago, but for what God is ready to do today. We watch and we wait for God's action in our lives, for God's light in our darkness. We watch and we wait and we work for that day when God's kingdom will be born in this world in all its fulness -- that Kingdom in which the last will be first and the first will be last, when the blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again.* We are ready for this new world to be born; the waiting isn't easy. And the birthing of the Kingdom of justice and peace will cause its birthing pains.

This Advent I am waiting. On Monday night I had a fun interview with a congregation in Chicago. I'm excited about the congregation, the possibilities, and even the parsonage (I was already planning my garden and thinking about what colors to paint the walls!). I just spoke with the chair of the call committee; they are excited, too, and ready to fly me in for a second interview. This could just be the Spirit at work. This could just be the call. Of course, it also may not be, but if it is, a lot is going to change in a short period of time. The waiting won't be easy and the thought of actually leaving Calvary, of uprooting my life and moving to a new city (yes, it is "home," but I haven't lived there for 16 years!) is a hard one. If this is truly a call of the Spirit, there will be birthing pains, but I wait with expecation and hope for what might be born.

Advent is a time of waiting. Did I mention that the congregation's name is Bethlehem?

(*check out song Mary Did You Know? by Reba McEntire )