Action waiting [Advent 2; St. Luke 21:25-36]

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Jesus speaks to you today, in His Gospel, saying,

“So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”

In the Gospel today we are waiting for the coming of the Son of Man and there are many signs and actions that point to this coming which should be very obvious to us. In the Epistle reading, we are waiting. In the Old Testament reading we are waiting and all in all waiting on the Lord is supposed to be a good thing.

In our modern reinterpretation of the American dream, we have made it “hurry up and wait” as we stand in lines for everything consumerism tells us to. Dr. Seuss even comments on this most useless place in life: the waiting place, saying that it is a place to escape from, not stay in.

This is all brought to our attention so that we do not wait, in life. As in its not a good thing and we would agree. Our Mass-media overlords love to whip us in a frenzy making us hate all those who are waiting for handouts. Don’t wait, go after them yourself. Don’t wait for your ship, go and get your own. The Real American Spirit is to go out and carve out your own life, your own destiny. Don’t be a waiter and be a slave to someone else’s whims and desires.

Of course the driving force behind this “don’t wait” attitude is death. You only have a limited time to spend here so spend it acting and moving. Pick yourself up by your own bootstraps, because no one else will. Leave your legacy, before its too late, because once you die, that’s it.

With God, there is waiting, but there is waiting with action as each of the readings today describe. In Malachi we are waiting for the Coming Day of the Lord, but we are waiting by leaping like calves, treading the wicked, and even turning our hearts. In God’s waiting there is physical activity and spiritual activity.

In Romans, we are waiting by living life! We strive for harmony with each other, we welcome each other, and abound in hope. In the Gospel, we are straitening up our heads, we are watching creation change, and we are staying awake. There is movement. There is action. There is purpose in waiting for the Lord.

This is the Biblical idea behind our Introit in the Divine Service. We need to see the Processional as a transition between before the Service and the start of the Service. Preparing for the Service; Preparing for the pastor to arrive, was the business of the opening hymn and the confession of sins. Historically, this took place on Saturdays during individual confession.

It was the Processional that announced the arrival of he who is to come; the pastor who will speak the Lord’s Gospel to us and give us comfort and joy on the Lord’s Day. It is therefore the Introit’s job to bring the pastor forward in order to fulfill this calling and relieve the congregation from its waiting for the Lord to Act.

The Introit, taken from the psalms, is and has always been this movement of God, from His heaven, to His people. All of the quotes in the Romans reading are from Psalms; are from the ancient Introits used by our forefathers in the Temple. This “introit-ic” movement has never been about idle waiting. It has always been about us resting and God acting.

Yes there will be horrible signs. Yes there will be fainting with fear. Yes there will be burning and destruction and dissipation and drunkenness and all the scary stuff. But all of that comes from God’s presence among a sinful and corrupt people.

And since it comes from God, we know that it does not land upon our heads, but upon He Who is the King of the Jews; He Who is Coming: Jesus Christ. Jesus, Who hanged on a tree in our place, changes us in such a way that we do not think we are waiting in vain for utter destruction, as we wait upon the Lord, but that we are waiting in hope for salvation.

The movement of the Introit teaches this. The Baptized move towards God’s Mercy seat, not His Judgment Throne. The Christian uses God’s own words to signify belief and comfort in God’s presence. When the Christian waits for God, he is not still. When the Christian waits for His Lord to act, he is actively setting aside his own work that the Lord may work in Him the great and grand promise of salvation.

Do not mistake the Lord’s slowness as inability or indifference. St. Peter says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any [of you] should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pt. 3:9).

In a way, you are the one that slows the Lord down. You are the one resisting repentance. You are the one weighed down with the cares of this life and so turn away from the Promise of the Lord’s coming.

And yet, despite what you do with the faith given to you, the Lord comes. He is the Victim of the nations’ rage. He is the recipient of your drunkenness, your dissipation, and your cares. He faints from blood loss on the cross.

Look at the fig tree, He says. Look at all the trees and remember God’s procession to a tree; to death and the tomb, in order that your procession towards God would be full of mercy and life. 

In this mercy, the Lord has offered to you His Church, in which is daily found forgiveness and salvation through Jesus’ merit. He has given us time to organize, teach, and develop such a life of faith in the Church, that even a simple recitation of the psalms and movement towards an earthly Altar, is a movement towards Him.

In the recitation of the Introit, we draw near the furnace of the Lord’s Day, but stand in His presence, unscathed, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did in their furnace. The joy, peace, and hope given to Jew and Gentile alike are found in hearing God’s Word and believing it. 

The Divine Service brings together all of time and all of humanity so that you can seek the Lord while He may be found and find Him. For those baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Day of the Lord has already come and we do not wait for vengeance or war, but mercy and peace found in the true Body and Blood of the God-man, for you.