Waiting in love

 

I passed a house yesterday with a Christmas tree in a window and a sign that said ‘Wave to our Gran’.  In that moment the mixed realities of our time coalesced in all their bitter-sweetness, fragility and beauty.  An elderly lady living alone these long nine months yet celebrating Christmas, with loving grandchildren in the background  who may or may not see her over the festive period.  

This final Sunday of Advent we are called to wait in love and like many families around the country perhaps you too are in the discussion about whether to take the risk and get together as different generations.  What is the loving thing to do when we have been waiting to get together for so long?  Waiting in love will look differently for each of us as we discern what is right for our family and particularly for our elderly more vulnerable members.    After initial plans for my parents to spend Christmas with one of my brothers they will now be staying at home in the hope that they will be vaccinated within the next couple of months.   But that’s been hard, especially for my brother who hasn’t seen them since the summer.   Waiting in love, can sometimes mean having to wait longer.

Earlier in the week I hosted a monthly zoom chat for a number of mostly ex CMS mission partners.  These are elderly ladies for the most part, who spent decades in parts of Africa and Asia serving the communities there.  Inspiring and brave women, one and all.  There is a richness and depth to our conversation with so much history and also to our prayers for different parts of the world.    Although most of them will be at home alone this year they were talking animatedly of all the cards and phone calls they have received from ex pupils (now mostly middle aged and sometimes people of public significance).  Whatsapp is wonderful  one lady in her mid-eighties said… ‘I can call Nigeria for free’!     Although they are physically alone, and mostly single ladies, their years of service to others have given them a far flung family that still cares.  Serving in love leads to a waiting in love that bears fruit in these hard times.

Our reading on this last Sunday in Advent retells the story of Mary’s response to the Angel here am I the servant of the Lord, may it be to me according to your word.    Mary too experienced this call to serve, to be available and to wait in love.  To wait in love during her long scandalous pregnancy, then through her son’s childhood, his years of controversial ministry.   To wait in love and agony as he died and was buried and for the full meaning of the Angel’s message to reveal itself, and to wait after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension for her own journey to end and to finally see him in all his glory.     

We are called to wait longer than we would like to wait, we are called to wait often when we don’t know how long we will need to wait nor sometimes even what we are waiting for.   Waiting in love helps us redeem this unchosen waiting. Love for God through all the unknowns just as Mary did. Love also for our families who share our waiting and whom our elderly members have served in years gone by and now bear the fruit of that waiting as each family makes the most loving decision they can at this complex and poignant time of our lives. 

And now these three remain, Faith, Hope and Love but the greatest of these is love.