JR. Forasteros - July 7, 2013
Be Prepared
We who follow Jesus are anxiously awaiting his return. But how do we wait well? What does healthy waiting look like? Jesus tells a story about 10 bridesmaids waiting for a wedding - 5 who prepare to wait and 5 who don't. Those who don't prepare, who aren't stocked up on oil, miss the wedding. With this story, Jesus invites us to wait well by spending regular time making ourselves available to the Holy Spirit. That preparedness looks like reading scripture, prayer and other spiritual practices.
From Series: "Waiting for the Kingdom"
Jesus' disciples often asked him when his Kingdom would come in full, when this new life he always talked about would arrive. In response, Jesus told several parables that illustrated the tension we feel as we wait for his kingdom to come on Earth as it is in Heaven. Waiting in Jesus' new reality isn't passive. It's an active, intentional patience. So how do we wait well?
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In the years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, I went to the city to do relief work several times. It was during those trips I learned that what victims of disasters want most isn’t necessarily the relief work. Every trip went more-or-less the same:
A big group of us would show up and get to work. Maybe we were gutting a home so it could be cleansed of mold and rebuilt. Maybe we were cleaning up vacant lots to beautify a city block for the other residents. Mostly we were gutting homes – tearing out sheetrock and ripping up flooring. It was brutal, exhausting work, particularly in the New Orleans summers.
The residents would always be nearby, helping if they could or in their FEMA trailers making lemonade for us workers.
And inevitably, over the three or four days we were there, each of us would end up just sitting and talking with that resident. Despite the fact that we were on a schedule. Even though we were working hard to get their home finished.
What they needed most wasn’t a new home (though, obviously, that was important).
What they needed most wasn’t our strong backs and hard work. What they needed most, every time, was human interaction. They needed to tell their story, to be seen and heard, to know they’re not alone in their grief.
Again and again, what gave them hope was not the pounding hammers and loaded wheelbarrows, but a person sitting with them, being present with them.
What does it means to be WITH someone in times of grief? The final movement of Lament is hope, an anticipation that grief is not the final word.
