Advent 3: Patience…

For the next several weeks, we welcome guest writers from the Chrysalis Board of Directors as they share their thoughts and perspectives from the Gospel writers during this Season of Advent. Enjoy!

Patience is not my spiritual gift.

Patiently waiting is my least favorite oxymoron. The absurdity of ‘patiently’ waiting is not lost on my heart. Waiting for the baby to be born. Waiting for a child to mature. Waiting for healing from surgery. Waiting for cancer to no longer be present.

Patiently waiting feels a lot like the oxymoron ‘congressional action.’  I prefer the oxymoron ‘jumbo shrimp’ to the call from James for patience in suffering.

Elizabeth O’Connor tells the story of a man who went each day to sit in a darkened church. One day as he came out, a perplexed friend inquired what he did during the long time he spent inside the church. 
“I just look at God,” he answered, “and God looks at me.”
—Search for Silence (Waco: Word Books, 1972), 120.

Many presumed problems and impatience can be overcome through prayer and participation in the life of the church.

According to a U.K.-based study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, praying can reduce your risk of developing depression and anxiety. Research also found that humans have a higher probability of being positive and less depressed if we pray at a place of worship.Other studies have found that praying helps in the quicker healing of surgical scars. This is because when your body is out of sync and stressed, it focuses all its efforts in equalizing itself, thereby offering less resources to the healing of wounds.

The practice of praying has shown a lot of benefits on the functioning of your heart. It is known to speed up the recovery of the heart after a heart attack and surgery. Apart from that, it also helps regulate your heartbeat, makes it stronger and less stressed.
–“10 ways praying actually benefits your health!” The Health Site, January 20, 2014, thehealthsite.com.

What Does the James 5:  7-10 Say that speaks to your heart today December 14? 

This reading closes the so-called “epistle” of James.   Really, James is ‘Wisdom literature.’  Similar to going to the ‘Self-help part of the bookstore’ but without a Barnes and Noble price-tag. 

The practical topic of restoring a wanderer to the community could be well-placed here at the end of a letter that often deals with larger matters of theology and philosophy. This final section of James addresses several practical matters that have not been addressed previously. By emphasizing the need of individuals to stay connected to the life of church, the author is giving practical instructions to undergird the larger point that the Christian community is to be one marked by interdependence on one another and on the power of prayer. Our American culture is counter to this command.  We applaud independence and frown upon interdependence. Yet, God calls us to bear each other’s hardships. 

As a minister, I find relief that James doesn’t say ‘call your pastor when you feel impatient.’  And which clergy doesn’t find the humor in the admonition ‘Don’t grumble against each other…”

Christmas is best understood in a community.  Advent, the root of the word ‘adventure’ is best experienced in a family of faithful and faith-filled seekers.

The focus throughout this lectionary passage is on the responsibilities that Christians have toward one another within the faith community.  Adventures are always better together. As we wait, why don’t we seek the thrill of hope in singing our faith, bearing each other’s burdens, and striving for ways to build up the body by standing firm?  Hush the noise and don’t hurry the work of Jesus within your heart. Ministry loves company.

Rev. Angela Madden Scott

First Presbyterian Church Granbury, Texas

Chrysalis Board Member