2 Peter 3:8-15a, Mark 1:1-8
If you were to guess the number of hours in your life that you have spent waiting, how many do you think that might be? According to one source , the average person in our culture spends about 42 to 62 minutes every day waiting. That’s an amazing statistic. It works out to be about 315 hours a year, if I’ve done the math correctly.
Think about it… that’s a little over 13 days of our life each year spent waiting. There are taupe-colored rooms dedicated to waiting when you go and visit a doctor or therapist, filled with dog-eared magazines that hundreds of people before you have flipped through. An entire musical genre has been created to accompany our waiting, it’s called elevator music and it features soft rocks hits from The Carpenters and Yanni. And it makes my hair curl!
What is it that you are waiting for?
That question is all the more tangible this time of year. We wait in line to purchase just the right gift for our loved one. We wait in line at the post office to mail packages to family and friends who live far away. The children in our lives wait and count down the days to Christmas, every single day seemingly longer than the previous.
Advent is a time of waiting, but it is also a time of transition. In the epistle reading for today, we hear “A thousand years is like a day with God”. Patience is what we crave right now, in a culture that begins to sing Christmas carols on November 1, and whose retail outlets open at 11pm on Thanksgiving evening.
Waiting requires patience. Many of you know that my parents live in Lamoine, Maine, about a half hour from Bar Harbor. Sometimes driving to their house feels like it will never end. Last summer we encountered a patch of construction on the last 25 miles of our journey. There was one-lane traffic, many detours, summer tourists clogging the road; after seven hours of driving it was more than a little frustrating to have the last ten miles take another hour! Finally, we came to the end and saw a road sign saying: End of construction. Thanks for your patience. I tell you, that by the end of that journey, patience was exactly what I needed!
Each one of us, like that road, is under construction. We wait with a sense of promise. We pray for peace, and sometimes the world does not seem to be a very peaceful place. Those who walked with God before us knew our struggle for peace; they knew what it meant to be patient. They struggled and worried. They took the bread and the cup into their hands and shared it, they gathered for worship with fellow travelers, they dreamed about a peace that the world could neither give nor take away.
Since last spring, you, the members and friends of the Monroe Congregational Church, have been waiting to make a decision about calling your next senior pastor. And I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to speak clearly and openly about that possibility.
The first thing I want to say is that the search committee has done a tremendous job of listening to many voices, and I hope that you will join me in thanking them for all the time, care and attention that they have given to their task. Here are some of their findings:
At MCC, Worship is a top priority, because what we do together through music, prayer, word, preaching and sacrament helps to equip us all in our journey with God. Increasing membership is important, because there is something very special here that should be shared with as many people as possible. Youth ministry is another top priority, the spiritual and ethical development of our middle and high school youth is unique and special, and this ministry directly impacts the vitality of this church. This church values its outreach and mission efforts and many of you have given countless hours of your time and energy in this work and want to see that continue into the future.
I also know that this position also comes with challenges. One of the places in which we are struggling right now is finding the right amount of support for our Sunday School program. We are dealing with some volunteer burn out. There is much to be done in re-imagining this ministry and I am excited about the possibilities and potential for strengthening this ministry and growing the church.
In order to sustain all of these efforts, we must pay attention to the stewardship of our time, talent and treasure. Looking around at all of you, I imagine a bright future for this church. I hope that you are looking forward to our 250th birthday which will take place in 2014, and that soon we talk about the many ways we might celebrate. Know that this ministry you have created at MCC is special, it is rare, and it is worthy of our financial support.
By now I have begun to sound like a political candidate. After this experience I have a new appreciation for those of you who have undergone an election process! But before I close, there are just a couple of other things that I’d like you to know about how I lead.
I believe that the voice of the Holy Spirit speaks clearest in the middle of the faith community. My role will be to stand as best as I can in that place, setting a vision, offering advice, listening deeply, building consensus and raising an alarm when our covenant to one another is in jeopardy.
I prefer to manage conflict directly. Sometimes in the church things get heated because we care so deeply. When we are vulnerable with one another, people can be misunderstood or deeply hurt. When conflicts arise, my focus will be on direct communication, holy listening and mediation.
MCC is thriving church, with worship, programs and ministries that require pastoral support and attention. I have learned in my five years with you that my to-do list will never, ever be complete. Even if, by some miraculous act of God, that was the case, people will still undergo moments of crisis when they need their pastor. I have learned to use my time effectively to refresh myself and reconnect with my family and friends. I have learned that if I burnout, I will have nothing left to give when that crisis call comes in, which will affect my ability to minister to people in need. And I have learned that ministry is the work of more than one person, but of the gathered body of Christ.
But enough about me. I want you to think back now to the reading from the gospel of Mark and John the baptizer crying out in the wilderness. People probably looked at him and thought he was crazy. He lived on the margins, shouting the words of the prophet Isaiah to “prepare the way of the Lord,” to “make way a path” for the Kingdom of God.
John announces that God’s new beginning, Jesus Christ, is coming. The waiting will soon be over. In Jesus’ life and ministry we are told that it is never too late to be a new person, that this world a
