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How long, oh, Lord, how long do we have to wait?

November 30, 2025

Isaiah 2:1-5|Psalm 122|Romans 13:11-14|Matthew 24:36-44

In the Gospel lesson for today from Matthew 24:36-44, we read the words “about that day and hour no one knows” and “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”  And that’s what the Advent message is, right?  It’s all about waiting and not knowing how long!

I’m full of Advent questions this year like: what are we actually waiting for, how do we wait and how do we know when our waiting is over?  As a result, I’ve been praying a lot about waiting.  I often spend my commute to work as a time for prayer and a few weeks ago I was praying about this blog entry.  I had been considering all kinds of current day examples of this waiting and not knowing how long, but nothing seemed right.  As I continued to drive and pray that day, I came to the Washington Bridge in Providence.  I don’t know why I never noticed this before, but that day I saw the sign that tells about the project funding and that the expected completion date was NOVEMBER 2028!!!!  Really???  That long????  I almost crashed the car when I saw it, but at the same time I also felt God laughing with me and saying, “You were the one who wanted a current day example, all I did was show you one!”  Touche!  So, we wait and don’t seem to really know how long. 

My Advent questions continue, but I think the one that is really stirring in me is, “How do we wait?”  I’ve been reading a book for a while by Sue Monk Kidd called, “When the Heart Waits” where she shares her personal experience with waiting.  I want to share one of her stories with you.

Sue told of a bird that crashed into her window one day and fell to the ground.  She realized it wasn’t terribly hurt but it just stayed still for a long while.  The bird seemed to know it needed to be still for a while to heal and so Sue waited with her.  “I sat beside her, unable to resist the feeling that we shared something, the two of us.  The wounds and brokenness of life.  Crumpled wings.  A collision with something harsh and real.  I felt like crying for her.  For myself.  For every broken thing in the world.  That moment taught me that while the postures of stillness … are frequently an individual experience, we also need to share our stillness.  The bird taught me anew that we’re all in this together, that we need to sit in one another’s stillness and take up corporate postures of prayer.  How wonderful it is when we can be honest and free enough to say to one another, “I need you to wait with me,” or, “would you like me to wait with you?”

I am beginning to realize that how we wait is such an important part of the act of waiting, no matter how long we have to wait.   I believe that will be my theme this Advent – how we wait.   Do you have a theme for Advent this year? 

Nancy Arnold