C-19 Reflection #36: Waiting
C-19 Reflection (#36)
Theme: Waiting
Scripture: Job 29:21-25
“People listened to me expectantly,
waiting in silence for my counsel.
22
After I had spoken, they spoke no more;
my words fell gently on their ears.
23
They waited for me as for showers
and drank in my words as the spring rain.
24
When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;
the light of my face was precious to them.
25
I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;
I dwelt as a king among his troops;
I was like one who comforts mourners.
Reflection:**
The daily round of news (for those of us who attend to the news) keeps us constantly aware that we are at risk – and our conversations these days are saturated with the term “coronavirus”. At the moment, we would like the world to be different, and those in faith communities are wondering where God may be in all that is transpiring. The realities of life in recent weeks have nudged me to reflect afresh on the theme of “waiting”. *
Contemporary life is characterized by the expectation that we will be active and productive. This is one of the ways we understand what it means to flourish as human beings. The biblical narrative speaks of the activity of God in creating and sustaining the world. We who bear the image of God are to reflect the One who created us and so our capacity for action that is creative, gracious and constructive is seen to express human dignity. We cobble together institutions, we build buildings, decorate our homes, paint, sculpt, dance and craft words into poems or stories. All of this is important work manifesting human ingenuity and creativity. Yet there is another side to our place in the world. It is not just our capacity to affect the world but also the capacity of the world to affect us. Our humanity is properly expressed not just when our actions shape the world but also in our receptivity as we embrace those times when the world shapes us.
God not only creates the world but also enters the world in the person of Jesus – and “hands Himself over to be affected by the world” to receive its impact and meaning. The God of the biblical narrative not only acts but also waits.
For those who bear the divine image these two ways of being in the world are rooted in the truth that the world we inhabit is charged with meaning. Sometimes we can actively engage to contribute to and express that meaning and at other times we are required to patiently wait – a waiting that rests on the assumption that meaning is present – if not fully discerned. Love is a common context for waiting – love waits because love cares. This posture of waiting can be an uncomfortable place for those of us who are keen to solve the problem, inclined to quick and efficient action or impatient with uncertainty. It seems to me that we are currently in a place of waiting (To be clear, engaged action and passive waiting may be present together). We who so often express ourselves through our engagement with the created order are now in a place where the creation speaks to us.
In using this metaphor I am thinking of how “the world discloses its power of meaning – discloses itself in its heights and its depths, as wonder and terror, blessing and threat.” The natural order is more than an object for scientific analysis – the world is imbued with meaning and we are in a good position to capture some of that meaning when we take up the posture of waiting. And we should do so, aware that the One who is the Source of all things also waits and will not necessarily accommodate to our desired schedule for what should take place.
*This brief piece is inspired by and draws from The Stature of Waiting, by W. H. Vanstone, 1982, particularly chapter 5 (JF)
** The reflection today is by John Franklin, a long time friend and former colleague at Tyndale College. John is a philosopher, who enjoyed an influential teaching career, inspiring generations of undergraduate students to think more deeply as Christians engaging the world. He is now the Executive Director of Imago, a ministry that encourages the flourishing of the arts. This piece on waiting is from the latest Imago newsletter.
