Waiting
A way of being that gives our lives a greater sense of meaning and vitality
Hi friends! Thanks for being here. If you haven’t subscribed yet, give it a try for free. Paid subscriptions come with extras and fund ministries beyond the walls.
If you have friends who would like to be part of this community, please send them this way using the button below:
And before we turn to today’s reflection, here’s some news I really excited about:
Tuesday is publication day!
December 3 is just a few days away. Click the image or the button it below to preorder A Full-Hearted Life: Following Jesus in This Secular Age. And it would be a huge help if you would share the image below or a photo of you and your copy (once you get it) on social media.
Okay, now for today’s reflection:
Waiting
“You talk funny.”
I heard that a lot before I hit my early twenties. That’s when the final surgery to correct my cleft palate eliminated the speech impairment caused by the birth defect. So, it’s with some hesitation that I say this: Paul talks funny. The Apostle Paul, that is.
Unlike me, Paul was not born with a cleft palate. Neither did he stutter or speak with a thick accent. Instead, it’s what he says that’s funny. Weird funny. Not haha funny. That is to say, his ideas contrast sharply with the common view of how and why we do things in this secular age of ours.
For instance, he says, “Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.” (1 Thessalonians 3:11) Did you get that? He’s waiting for, even anticipating that, God will direct where he goes and what he does next. Paul is offering us a way of being that will give our lives a greater sense of meaning and vitality.
I’ll explain in a minute. But first, let’s face it. This stuff about waiting on a divine power beyond us is just not how lots of people talk these days. We rely upon our own individual agency. It’s up to each individual to choose their next step for themselves. We admire people who take initiative: people who make their own decisions on the basis of what they want for themselves. We sometimes call that authenticity.
When we hear Paul say that he’s waiting to hear from God about his next move, some of us may hear a flimsy excuse for doing nothing. We might think, “Look, Paul, if you want to see the Thessalonians so bad just get going. Grab a bus ticket. Contact a travel agent. Hop on a bike. Start walking.”
Phrases like the following capture the common view of the self:
Get her done!
Time is money!
Just do it!
You snooze, you lose!
Don’t just sit there, do something!
Make it happen!
We make ourselves through our own choices. Who we are, and our worth, come down to what we’ve done with our own life. As a result, we feel relentlessly driven to achieve.
There’s a significant downside to our pursuit of achievement. It entangles us in what the sociologist Hartmut Rosa calls social acceleration. Our already fast-paced culture is steadily picking up speed. This acceleration is due in large part to advances in technology, the expectation of immediate results, and the demand for ever-increasing productivity levels.
If we simply maintain our current pace, we’ll fall behind. So, we try to squeeze all we can out of every moment at work, in leisure, during exercise, and with family. The pressures are intense and relentless. The result is exhaustion, anxiety, and alienation. We’re too hurried and breathless to give ourselves to the deep relationships we crave and desperately need.
Paul offers a better way. A full-hearted way. He counsels us to wait. And waiting is not mere inaction. Not killing time. To wait is to be still enough to be receptive to another. Paul is echoing guidance found in Proverbs:
“Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.” (Psalm 25:3)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
And Jesus teaches us to be alert. To be open and receptive: “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36)
Rosa borrows the term resonance from physics. I think that the term conveys Paul’s idea of waiting. When you place a vibrating tuning fork near another, the second one will begin vibrating in concert with the first. By analogy, our receptivity opens us to be addressed by or to resonate with an Other. We are transformed and set in motion by the Other. This is not an achievement. We can’t force it or control it. We wait for it, and we receive it as a gift.
Christian practice centers on waiting. Worship, Bible study, and personal prayer come to mind. So too does the care we give to one another and to those in our surrounding communities. None of this is aimed at achievement. It’s all about deep relationship. To paraphrase Andy Root, it’s about being with these specific people at this moment in time. This is how God directs us.
It used to bother me when people told me, “You talk funny.” These days, it’s not how I say things that sounds weird to some people. It’s what I say. You know, I’m okay with that.
What’s Next at The Woodlands Podcast?
The Rev. Pamela Dolan on her book Contemplative Gardening
Why I Believe in God (a faith and reason series)
An Advent/Christmas Series
Bishop Rob Hirschfeld on spirituality, wellness, and mental health (in 2025)
And, of course, more Ask Me (almost) Anything. Got questions? Hit the button and send them my way:
Upcoming Speaking Events
Virtual Book Readings of A Full-Hearted Life for all subscribers on Zoom with Q&A (December 11 6:00 p.m. Central)
Bishop Reynolds Forum, St. Andrew’s, Sewanee, January 16, 202
Book Reading, Sewanee School of Theology, January 16, 2025 (available via livestream)
Preach, All Saints’, Sewanee, February 9 and Easter, 2025 (available via livestream)
Speaker, Diocese of Iowa Clergy Conference, February 18-20, 2025
Preacher and Speaker, Diocese of Louisiana Convention, 2025
You can schedule a virtual event or an in-person event with me by clicking the button below. My colleague Holly Davis will get back to you quickly.
Jake, thank you for the fuller meaning of waiting and what it involves in this context. Our American drive for achievement needs to be throttled and rejected for contemplation and abiding in deeper relationship.
Thanks for this, it took me a while to get through it as I kept zoning out tis morning, not a nice way to be, but I was here and I do my best to get trough the post