Is the Waiting Really Over….

It is hard to believe how much has happened in a year. As I sit here and think about spending tonight in worship at First UMC Pasadena, a place that has quickly embraced me as one of their own over the last 6 months, I think about where I was a year ago, celebrating Christmas in Florida with my family and having no clue what 2014 would bring. There was so much anxiety for me then as I thought about the future and not having a job, not knowing where I was going to live or if I would find a place to serve as a deacon. Looking back I realize that there were so many things at that point in my life that I couldn’t know. I couldn’t know I would find a home at First UMC Pasadena. I couldn’t know that I would be living on my own in a beautiful apartment furnished by the generosity of beloved friends. I couldn’t imagine all the wonderful persons who have come into my life in the past year and how dear they would become or the experiences I would share with beloved family and friends.

As I reflect on other moments in my life too, I remember that this isn't the first time where there were things I couldn’t have known that God had in store for me. And I remember the anxiety, the worry, the not knowing, and the waiting… And so as I sit and reflect about the end of Advent, this time of waiting and preparation for the birth of Jesus, I realize that in many ways nothing has changed. We all still sit in this in between time of the already and the not yet. There are still so many things that we simply cannot know about our future at this point in time. And for some strange reason that gives me hope. Hope in the unexpected arrival of a baby in the unlikeliest of places. Hope in the fact that God moves in (strange) ways we never could have imagined. Hope that there are so many amazing things that are still to be lived and experienced for all of us. Things that we wouldn’t know how to dream up even if we tried.

In some ways, tonight, with the lighting of candles and the singing of carols, and tomorrow, with the opening of presents, the wait will be over. Christmas will have arrived. And yet, we will all still be waiting. Waiting for everything that we couldn’t possibly know from where we stand right now… And somehow that brings me great peace. God is not done creating yet. God is still about the business of forgiveness and reconciliation. God has not given up on us.

And that is indeed good news on earth….