placeholder for flash movie

First Congregational

United Church of Christ

... exploring the frontiers of faith in Jesus

Wait on the Lord

Wait ... Wait on the Lord.

Maybe you’ve been praying, praying for months, praying for years, praying that she would turn her life around, praying that he would stop making choices that only hurt himself and the people who love him the most. Maybe you’re wondering why, why you keep on praying when everything stays the same, when nothing ever changes.

Wait ... Wait on the Lord.

Maybe you’re weighing a difficult decision, thinking about making a big move, thinking about making a big change in your life, but you want to know how things will turn out if you do. You want some reassurance you’re doing the right thing. You want some kind of sign.

Wait ... Wait on the Lord.

Maybe you’re caring for a husband or a wife, a mother or a father, with a chronic illness, an illness that will claim their life, later or sooner. You aren’t asking “Why?” because there are no good answers to that question, but you are asking “How long?” How long will you still have them with you? How long will you still have what it takes, physically, emotionally, to do what you need to do for them, to do what you want to do for them? How long until you can’t do it anymore? How long can you, how long can they, live in this limbo somewhere between life and death?

Wait ... Wait on the Lord.

Maybe you’re worried about money. Maybe retirement is looming, five years or ten years out, and you are worried that you won’t have enough, that you haven’t saved enough, that you haven’t planned well enough. Or maybe you live month to month, paycheck to paycheck, and the thought of any unexpected event -- losing a job or a sudden illness or an extended economic downturn -- terrifies you.

Wait ... Wait on the Lord.

 

Maybe you’re look at your children and you wonder. You wonder what will become of them. You wonder how they will be, how their lives will turn out. You pray for them. You provide for them. You do the best you know how for them, but you just don’t know. The world is a scary place. Their world is a scary place and there is so much that is beyond your control. You don’t always know what you can do, you don’t always know what you should do, to protect them, to guide them, to equip them.

Wait ... Wait on the Lord.

Maybe you love this church and you worry about its future, our future. You’re encouraged by the patter of little feet and the chatter of little voices and by the new people coming to join our fellowship. You’re encouraged by the spirit that fills our worship and our working and our praying. But you just don’t know what the church will be in twenty years, fifty years, a hundred years. Who will be here to lead us? Who will be here sitting in the pews? Who will be here to support our ministries and enable our mission and maintain this building?

Wait ... Wait on the Lord.

Maybe you love this country and worry about its future, our future. We call ourselves a melting pot, but the pot is boiling. We have become so fragmented, so polarized -- by race, by class, by faith, by ideology. How can we continue to be a beacon for justice and for freedom in an increasingly volatile and dangerous and beleaguered world when we can’t find a way to work together here to tackle the most basic issues threatening our lives and our liberties and our pursuit of happiness? Have we passed the zenith of the American experiment? Are we a nation in decline? Have we lost our way?

Wait ... Wait on the Lord.

Read the rest of the sermon

Shalom

We wait for what God has promised

Earth

... new heavens and a new earth!

• Read my essay, Heaven can wait

From Tidings, Staff Corner ...

As I write this article on Tuesday, January 3, many Iowans -- including myself and many of you -- are preparing to venture out this evening to participate in the Iowa caucuses. As Iowans, we have the privilege of going first, of having the first meaningful say in the process of electing the next leader of our nation. We fill an important role on behalf of our fellow citizens, not because we always choose the eventual electoral candidates for either political party, but because we get a lot of “up close and personal time” with these men and women and have the opportunity to use our good sense to winnow the field, to set those who have most to offer, in character and vision, apart from the rest.

That’s our role as Iowans, but what about our role as Christians? Let me make a start to answering that question by listing four things I can say for sure about our role as Christians in the political process ...

1) I know for sure that members of this congregation will be attending caucuses for both the Republican and Democratic parties, and that’s OK! You will find sincere, passionate, committed followers of Jesus in both political parties. (And you will find sincere, passionate, committed followers of Jesus who don’t want to have anything to do with either party!) All this is to say that no party, Republican or Democrat or other, liberal or conservative, has a corner on the Christian vote or Christian values, and that any party that makes such a claim is seriously mistaken.

2) What holds us together, makes us one, makes us a family, is no political persuasion, but Christ. Our allegiance to Christ comes first, before any other allegiance, to party, to platform, or even to nation. We are not Democrats or Republicans, not Americans, who happen to support our local church. We are followers of Jesus, who happen to love and support the land in which we live, and happen to advocate for a particular party or a particular candidate whom we believe may best serve the cause of Christ.

3) Politics matter. Christ does have a cause. Christ shows us a way, a way of being, a way of being with each other, a way of being accountable to each other. Political decisions, political policies, political leadership do impact the lives of people real people in significant ways, make for more justice or less, for more peace or less, show more compassion or less, unite or divide. For that reason, as followers of Jesus, we do care, and so we make our voices heard in the political process.

4) We should pray. The Bible urges us to pray for our leaders and so we should. We should pray for wisdom and for humility, for vision and for mercy. And we should pray for ourselves, for this process of choosing a president and members of the next congress. May we be wise. May we be humble. May we see what benefits the whole -- the whole of our nation’s people, the whole of world’s peoples -- not just what benefits ourselves. May we see Jesus, and follow, always follow, where he leads!

Tim