Something Happens In The Waiting

We’ve had an ongoing debate among our church staff team over the past several weeks: when is the appropriate time to begin listening to Christmas music? Some of my co-workers have been humming “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” since September. Some of us believe that not a note should be heard until after Thanksgiving. And it’s because we are convinced that something happens in the waiting.

 

In waiting to play Christmas music, the thing we’re waiting for becomes more enjoyable, more precious. We don’t take it for granted when the time finally comes to listen. As we wait, the thing we’re waiting for becomes more valuable.

 

During my summers on staff at YouthWorks, Thursday evening’s Club was always the most special. What happens during that time is precious, memorable, and beautiful. It could have been easy to just rush things – to wash feet on Sunday or Monday night. But something happens in the waiting.

 

In waiting for the footwashing, we have time to examine ourselves and prepare our hearts. We have time to pray about how God will use us and use that time. We listen well to consider how we might pray for and encourage each person during that special time on Thursday night. We are convicted because the person we’re having a conflict with on Monday morning will be someone whose feet we will wash on Thursday night. As we wait, the thing ahead of us we’re waiting for begins to make an impact on how we’re living right now.

 

Now that Thanksgiving is over and the carols are playing, I will set up my little olive wood nativity scene, but I won’t place the baby Jesus in the manger yet. That won’t happen until Christmas Day. And even in the long December nights, we will light the Advent candles one by one, not all at once – at least not until Christmas Day. It’s because something happens in the waiting.

 

In waiting through the one-day-at-a-time-ness of Advent, we have time to consider our longings, our need, to identify with those who wondered when the expected Messiah would appear. We remember those who awaited the Savior’s arrival. We experience a glimpse of the darkness that is desperate for the Light to come. As we wait, we realize anew why the thing we’re waiting for matters so much.

 

 

Advent is a season of waiting. And in the waiting of Advent, something happens: that which we wait to celebrate becomes increasingly sweeter. We come to see more clearly the significance of Jesus, our own desperate need for him, and the true gift of his birth. We wait for the one who would come to be God With Us, to be the Lord who washes feet, to be the sacrifice for our sins, to be the resurrection, our hope and our peace.

 

Come, thou long expected Jesus,       

born to set thy people free; 

from our fears and sins release us, 

let us find our rest in thee.  

Israel’s strength and consolation,    

hope of all the earth thou art;         

dear desire of every nation, 

joy of every longing heart.

– Charles Wesley

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Jenilyn Swett spent five years and a total of nine summers serving with YouthWorks in various capacities. God used YouthWorks to shape and influence her in countless ways — she credits her time on staff with introducing her to Chick-Fil-A, all things Southern, the beauty of places like New Orleans and Savannah, and many of her dearest friends. Beyond that, she developed a deep love for the Church. After graduating from seminary,she now serves as the Director of Women’s Ministry at a church in St. Louis, Missouri (where she spent her second YW summer in 2003.)