WAITING ON A WEDNESDAY May 20, 2020
We did a drive-by at Michael Match’s home tonight – a line of cars waving signs and honking horns. Something put together by some of our wonderful choir members to show their appreciation for him in these dark days – especially dark for singers because group singing is near the top of the list of dangerous activities for the foreseeable future.
I want to express my appreciation for the organizers and participants. What a loving thing to do! But it also gives me a chance to reflect on waiting. We were waiting in a parking lot to get lined up, we were waiting in line to begin the procession. I can’t say the line of cars congesting a narrow street didn’t remind me a bit of the crowd of choir members I often have to work my way through on my way in to the sanctuary on a Sunday morning. And we are all waiting for things to get back to “normal,” whatever that might be.
All of which reminds me of a scriptural theme I am working through as I think about Ascension Sunday. Again and again we are told the best is yet to come. That is part of the Ascension theme. And yet we are almost always living “in the meantime.” The disciples, gathered to watch him ascend, asked, “Is it time, now, Lord?” You can hear their longing and almost desperation. And the answer they are given is, “Go and wait…until when? That’s God’s business and nobody else’s.”
But they are given an assignment for that meantime: make disciples, baptize and teach. Teach what? Nothing less than the love which Jesus has shown and taught to them. And they are given a promise, kind of an odd promise, considering the circumstances. Jesus is leaving them behind, and in the midst of that says, “Lo, I am with you always!”
As we wait, let us learn loving connectedness. Yes, circumstances may require physical distancing. But let us strive to learn new ways to be connected to each other. As a modern rendition of the old hymn says:
Draw us in the Spirit’s tether,
For when humbly in Your name,
Two or three are met together
You are in the midst of them;
Alleluia! Alleluia! Touch we now Your garment’s hem.
May we learn to be met together, in spirit and in purpose, even when we are apart.
Grace and peace to you all…