“Just wait and see”
Probably words often spoken when parents are
speaking to their children (and step children) at this time of the year.
“just wait and see”
On Thursday night in traditional form we had the
wonderful carol service and we attracted a larger than usual spread of people
from all over Shetland. After the service many of us gathered in the Hall for
Mulled wine wonderfully prepared by Catheryn and Minced pies, many of them
kindly donated by Tesco.
I don’t know about you but I felt for a moment
that Christmas had come, that there was little more to wait for.
I found myself being pulled back momentarily and I
heard myself saying the words,
“Just wait and see”
Little over a week ago, in a probably previously
unheard of town in New England USA, 20 children and six members of staff were
tragically gunned down. One cannot but wonder the feelings surrounding this
town and those families today as we expectantly say “Just wait and see”
Last Friday was for some expected to be the end of
the World. It was a Christian group in
China that had been proclaiming this news, and I even caught sight of a
“survival pod” (not like the serco pods at all!) that had been designed in
China to help protect the people who had collected inside. The message “just
wait and see” rang out, and then it began to dawn upon the world that once
again it had famously survived the end once again.
Others have said that the 21st was but
the dawn of new hope for the world. “A new Dawn” and on the news on Friday I heard
these words “The World’s great mysteries have survived another day”.
We once again have lit the fourth candle. The pink
one which represents Mary, the mother of our Lord.
Our gospel reading sees us alongside two expectant
mothers, though they both apparently knew they were to have boys. One senior
lady and one virgin, not much more than and early teenager. Both had good
reason to be surprised to be pregnant, both not expecting to hear the words,
“just wait and see” .
Mary’s song proclaims a hope for the people almost
long since forgotten, that God would remain and redeem his people. That the
hungry, forgotten, naked, blind, lame, outcast, poor, neglected, abused,
addict, alcoholic, mentally ill, and any other group which we today put on the
fringe of our own society… are all part of the Kingdom of God and all within a
grasp of God’s redemption and full love.
So what do we do…. “we must wait and see”.
Christmas is not yet here, though we all know what
it might taste like. We catch glimpses of the wonder almost every day now, not
least in the carol service the other night.
But the reality of it all is yet to be. We have to
wait.
Santa is still preparing, we must wait!
What it is we are waiting for will very much
depend on what is deep in our hearts, but we are promised “Peace” healing, Joy,
a unity with God’s purpose. A life worth living (or in the words of holywood “A
wonderful life”
Don’t shut the doors on hope yet, wait and see
what is to come to pass, and let us with the Shepherds travel to see what God
is doing in his loving for the world once again.
