<p> Sermon: “Waiting Gracefully” Rev. Nancy Pellegrini The Unitarian Church in Charleston Dec 6, 2015</p><p>I don’t know about you, but I really hate waiting for things. I tend to get pretty anxious and impatient. When I worked as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency for example, I had trouble waiting for information when I had to write current intelligence. Writing current intelligence was a pretty hectic process. It involved writing a briefing paper in one day so that it could be presented to top government leaders first thing the next morning. When I would find out that a certain key piece of intelligence reporting that I needed for a briefing paper was in the works, I would immediately get on my secure phone to the office producing the report and keep calling them constantly to ask when it would be ready for me to use. </p><p>I couldn’t just wait for things unfold. I felt compelled to try to control the process by urging things along. I would sit nervously at my desk in an agitated state with my fingers drumming and my adrenaline running until I finally got the report I needed. </p><p>I am sorry to say that this behavior on my part continued even when I took a nine- year leave of absence from the CIA to be a stay-at-home Mom. If one of my children were sick, I would begin calling the pediatrician’s office even before it was open to try to get an appointment immediately. I would keep calling impatiently. I just couldn’t stand waiting. I would grow more and more anxious when greeted by seemingly infinite busy signals on the line. In this way I would let myself get tied up with needless anxiety although things always eventually worked out and I got the appointment made.</p><p>Today on this second Sunday of Advent from the Christian part of our heritage, I would like to consider the subject of waiting and try to look at it from a different perspective. We’ll talk about how to wait gracefully, why that is important, and what it is 2 that we are waiting for. In light of the horrible violent events that have taken place across the world of late, let us pause for a moment today and strive to renew our souls so that we can have the courage and strength to carry on with hope and purpose.</p><p>Advent is from the Latin word meaning coming. In the Christian tradition it refers both to the coming of the birth of Jesus at Christmas as well as the second coming of Jesus at the end of the age. Another way to look at Advent is simply as a time of expectant hope, of waiting and preparing for a new beginning. </p><p>Our lives in general are fast-paced and bombarded these days filled with multi- tasking, technology, texts, and tweets. We are always rushing toward the future. Adding the stresses of the holiday season magnifies the frenetic pace even more. We worry about endless inconsequential things like getting the house ready, purchasing just the right gift, wanting to make everything perfect. A reframed perspective on waiting can truly be a real treasure in this holiday season and can give us the renewed energy and resolve to face the challenges of the year to come. </p><p>How can we wait gracefully or how can we find grace in waiting? I would like to suggest the idea that waiting can be a spiritual discipline. Minister and author Rev. Dr. </p><p>Mark Roberts proposes that waiting in the longest line ever while Christmas shopping at </p><p>Costco can actually be an Advent reminder. He writes, “As I decided to let the experience of forced waiting be a moment of Advent reflection rather than a cause for getting an ulcer, I found my anger quickly drain away. Waiting in line at Costco became, not a trial to be endured, but a moment of grace. And get this: I even found myself thanking God for the chance to slow down a bit and wait. This was, indeed, a miracle. 3</p><p>By the time I got to check out, my heart was peaceful, even joyous. I felt as if I had discovered hidden treasure.” 1</p><p>An opportunity to slow down a bit… perhaps we can use this period of waiting before Advent to try to live in the moment in an attititude of calm and peace rather than in a state of anxiety and impatience. Anxiety often results from a fear of losing control steming from a problem with trust. Psychologist Edmund Bourne points out that it is difficult to trust life because life by its very nature is unpredictable and uncertain.2 Our response to this uncertainty is often an excessive need for control that leads us to over- manipulate circumstances or others without waiting to allow events to unfold naturally. </p><p>My impatient phone calls at the CIA to try to speed up the process of getting reports and my frantic calls to the pediatrician’s office are a cases in point.</p><p>There are a number of strategies to get beyond self-absorbing anxiety suggested by Bourne and others that may be especially helpful in this holiday season. These include belief in a higher power, medition, physical exercise, humor, getting back to nature, or creative hobbies. All these can contribute to relaxation and acceptance of situations in order to let go of impatience and excessive control. </p><p>Being able to reflect calmly and patiently during this season of Advent is important because of what we are preparing for this time of year. For many, preparing for Christmas is preparing for the coming of the presence of God on earth in human form in the birth of Jesus. Another way to look at it is that we are preparing for the coming of a prophetic voice who challenged the status quo and preached a revolutionary message </p><p>1 Mark D. Roberts. “What is Advent?” http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/introduction-to-advent/ 2011. 2 Edmund J. Bourne, Beyond Anxiety & Phobia (Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2001), 87. 4 that advocated turning society upside down. We must remember at Christmastime that the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem grew up to be this young and fearless prophet. An attitude of graceful waiting during Advent allows us to be open to the inspiration that </p><p>Jesus’ life provided and the example he set. The joy about the birth of this little baby is magnified by the message of peace and love that he preached as a young man.</p><p>Looking at the historical context of the life of Jesus is necessary to understand his message. Let’s go back in time to that period of history when Jesus was born. The overarching reality of Jesus’ time was the brutal domination of the Jewish people of </p><p>Israel by the rulers of the Roman Empire and the local agents that they co-opted. The </p><p>Romans set up a bureaucratic system to accomplish the task of military control and economic exploitation. They violently imposed order through crucifixion, mass slaughter, enslavement, and massacres of whole towns. </p><p>Roman rulers installed a system of client kings and high priests to do their bidding. According to Biblical scholar William Herzog, the ruling class consisted of only one to two percent of the population.3 Religious institutions were also tied into the political and economic systems of the Roman Empire with the temple serving as a tool of the ruling class. The Jewish leaders appointed to run the temple were caught between a rock and a hard place as they struggled to navigate between the Roman rulers on the one hand and their own people on the other.</p><p>Economically the imperial system was devastating for the people. They suffered a triple tax—from the Romans, the client kings, and the temple hierarchy. Scholars </p><p>3 William R. Herzog, Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God, A Ministry of Liberation (Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 90. 5</p><p>Richard Horsely and Neil Silberman describe in their studies how debt instruments served as tools to dominate the peasants in Jesus’ time. It worked like this; Elites lent money to peasants and then controlled the prices of crops to increase their debt load. </p><p>When peasants were unable to pay, the lender foreclosed, taking the land and making the peasants into indentured servants.4 According to Jewish law, there were supposed to be </p><p>Sabbatical provisions that called for forgiveness of debt every seventh year but this practice was no longer being followed.</p><p>Socially, these hardships contributed to the disintegration of the very fabric of </p><p>Jewish communal life.5 The harshness of the rulers broke down relationships in the populace, as Sabbatical laws about forgiving debts were not obeyed. A spiritual crisis ensued as people wondered how God could permit them to lose their lands.6</p><p>This is the context that Jesus came into. He called for a renewal of ancient Israel’s covenant with God offering instructions about how people should act and treat each other.7 His message promoted forgiveness, healing, acceptance, and allegiance to God </p><p>“over against (and in condemnation of) the rulers of Israel and their Roman patrons.”8 </p><p>One of my professors at Wesley Seminary Sharon Ringe provided an interesting insight about the Lord’s Prayer in this regard. She said that Jesus’ emphasis on forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” can be </p><p>4 Richard A. Horsely and Neil Asher Silberman, The Message and the Kingdom (Minneapolis: Fortress Press 1997), 29. 5 Ibid., 55. 6 Ibid., 29. 7 Ibid., 97. 8 Richard A. Horsley, Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 74. 6 seen, not only metaphorically but also monetarily, as a protest against how the Sabbatical laws about forgiving debts had been abandoned.9 </p><p>Jesus sought to establish an alternative social order in which, through forgiveness and reconciliation, the Jewish people would rebuild their communities that been broken down by imperial rule. His admonitions to turn the other cheek and love your enemies, sought to redress local conflicts between members of the Jewish community. These teachings also carried an indirect indictment of imperial rule thus threatening imperial authorities and their clients.10 </p><p>Jesus challenged the traditional concept of who should be accepted by engaging with tax collectors, women, and the “unclean.” His message that “the first will be last and the last will be first” threatened those on the upper rungs of society (Mk. 10.31). Jesus preached, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Lk. 6:20). </p><p>Jesus’ message about how to live in community through forgiveness, healing, and acceptance threatened the status quo in the Roman Empire. Yet he had the courage to preach it anyway. This is the legacy that he left us. It seems to me that by definition the purpose of religion is to challenge the status quo because religion is predicated on the premise that things can be better. </p><p>It may seem that things are hopeless these days. Our world has been fraught with unspeakable violence from right here in Charleston, to the Middle East, to Colorado, to </p><p>France, to California. We may be tempted to lose heart. But religious faith is inherently hopeful, based on the belief that transformation is possible. Religious community is about dedication to working together with hope for change. </p><p>9 Sharon Ringe, Lectures, Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington D.C. October 4, 2010). 10 Horsely, 118. 7</p><p>What we are preparing for in this season of Advent is to renew our commitment to live in harmony with each other, to believe in acceptance of all people, to work for justice, and to strive for peace against the violence in this world. This is what Jesus did and what many before and after him have done. This is what we are waiting for as a people of faith.</p><p>In this time of waiting and hope and preparation during Advent, try to sit back and let grace wash over you, the grace of God, the grace of the universe, the grace of the human spirit. Whatever kind of grace you believe in, pause and let it wash over you. </p><p>Feel its warmth, feel its comfort, feel its strength to give you courage to press on. </p><p>May we wait gracefully, remaining calm and grounded in the moment, drawing strength from anticipating the celebration of the birth of one who set an example of how to change the world. May this time of advent preparation renew and sustain us intensifying our resolve to challenge the status quo, to mend broken relationships, and to create a better world.</p><p>May it be so and blessed be. </p>