Advent – A Season for Patience

“Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” No, children are not good at waiting, especially in December.

One of the great expressions of children waiting for Christmas has been heard every December since 1958 when Alvin and the Chipmunks first sang “The Chipmunk Song.”

Long after any kid has wanted a plane that loops the loop or a hula hoop for Christmas, Alvin, Simon and Theodore’s cry, “We can hardly stand the wait. Please, Christmas, don’t be late,” is as relevant today as it was 58 years ago. Try as they might, patience at Christmas is difficult for kids.

They are asked to wait in long lines at stores, for the cookies to cool before they can ice them, and to have their pictures taken with Santa. They muddle through the last few days of school, waiting for Christmas break to begin, and then suffer through delays at airports and in traffic before arriving at Grandma’s house.

So, how do you help your children to be patient?

Well, experts have some thoughts about this. You might try modeling patience. You could give the kids some opportunities to talk about patience (or impatience). You might also use timers when appropriate. Or, you could get the kids to do things that require more time, and thus more patience.

Teaching children patience is in itself a slow process that requires patience by the parent because we are born impatient.

Each of us needs to be taught to wait.

Today’s Epistle from James hints that, just as children are impatient for Christmas to come, the early church was growing impatient waiting for Jesus to return as promised. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, death, resurrection and ascension, he had told his disciples that he would return for them, that they would one day live with him in the glorious kingdom of God.

Jesus’ first followers thought his return and the ushering in of this new day was imminent. With every passing day they wondered about the delay. The people were growing impatient.

James is a letter written to a church struggling with the wait. In this morning’s text, James uses a form of the word “patience” four times.

Be patient until the coming of the Lord, he writes, reminding the people for what they are waiting. This is no minor event to come. This is their hope. Jesus’ return is worth the wait. Using the illustration of a farmer who patiently waits through the fall and winter for the crops to arrive in the spring, James reminds the church that it might have to wait a while. Even casual gardeners know that there are seasons when it appears as though nothing is happening with their plants. Like the family experts who encourage parents to teach patience by growing plants with their children, James wants believers to use the patience they have learned from farming as they wait for Jesus’ return.

James then encourages the church to hold onto their hope as they patiently wait. He knows how waiting can tempt us to take matters into our hands in order to force the results that we want. James advises the church not to give up or give in, but to wait patiently for God’s timing.

James also acknowledges that waiting can be painful, using the prophets as an example. Many prophets suffered emotional, psychological and, sometimes, physical pain as they waited for the words God had given them to be fulfilled. James never sugarcoats how difficult the waiting can be, but still he reminds the church to be patient.

You and I may not have the same expectations for the imminent return of Jesus as the early church did. We have had 2,000 years of experience of people saying, “The end is near!” without the end actually coming.

In the recent past, we have heard predictions by televangelists, the ancient Mayans, politicians, books and movies. Those dates have come and gone. The world has not come to an end. Jesus has not yet returned. And we are still here.

We may not feel the urgency the early church felt about the return of Jesus. We do know, however, that there have been times when we have prayed for Jesus to act in our lives and he seemed to delay giving a response. In the hospital room, at the nursing home or in the middle of the night wrestling with a big problem, we have prayed for Jesus to bring healing for our family members, strength to our friends or peace to our lives.

We have cried out from the depths of our hearts, “Please, Jesus, don’t be late.” Through it all, James reminds us to be patient, but the Bible’s idea of patience is a bit different from the way we think of patience today.

WikiHow, a website that claims to be the place where one can “learn how to do anything,” offers tips and advice on a wide variety of topics. At wikiHow.com, you can learn how to alleviate back pain, breed canaries and write a screenplay.

A section of the website titled “Christmas for Kids” contains articles on how to write a letter to Santa and snoop for your Christmas presents without your parents finding out. One story even gives advice on how to wait for Christmas morning.

It suggests encouraging the children to enter more fully into the Christmas season. This includes helping Mom and Dad with Christmas preparations like wrapping gifts, decorating, baking and getting Santa’s snack ready. These activities not only pass the time, but they involve the child in the preparation. They allow kids to enter into the day to come. It is not Christmas yet, but we remember that Christmas is coming by doing Christmas things today.

This is the type of patience James teaches the early church. He doesn’t tell them to wait passively, to distract themselves while they pass the time until Jesus’ return. Instead, he calls the church to enter into the day of the coming of the kingdom of God by living kingdom lives today. The examples James gives of kingdom living are simple ones:

• Don’t grumble about one another.
• Don’t complain about your brothers and sisters.
• Be patient by loving and caring for one another.

Advent is often thought of as a countdown to Christmas. But Advent is also a time of waiting and preparing for Jesus. Jesus’ story is not over. We live between Jesus ushering in the kingdom of God and it arriving in its fullness when he returns. As we prepare to celebrate the glorious gift of Jesus coming to us on that first Christmas morning wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, we also remember that we are called to wait patiently and prepare for the coming of Jesus again.

Sometimes, the wait is for Jesus’ healing hand to arrive in the brokenness of our lives. In these times, James is once again relevant: “Be patient,” he writes, and we strive to live as those who have already been made whole.

At other times, we wait for Jesus to return and make the world what it was intended to be – a reflection of our God of grace and love. Again, the advice of James returns to us, “Be patient,” and we seek to live as those who are already citizens of the kingdom of God.

In patience, we enter into the presence of Christ with us every day, living as though the return has already happened.

Patience is trusting that our struggle is in Jesus’ hands, even when we cannot see the outcome. Patience is living today as if Christmas has already come, as if Jesus has already returned. And so we wait patiently and prepare. Please, Jesus, don’t be late.