Reflection 1st Sunday Advent: Patience

 Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7; Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37

This is the first Sunday of Advent. The readings are about waiting with the emphasis: patience. That's a hard thing to have, patience.

Before we start, I’d like to give you my unofficial definition of what patience is: “deliberate humble kindness.” 

• The word, deliberate, because patience is something you have to work at having.  
• The word humble because with patience we must put ourselves in the shoes of others. 
• The word, kindness, because kindness is truly what having patience is all about.

Have you ever been stuck in a line at a store? The person in front of you watches the cashier like a hawk. They argue over every price. The cashier makes a little mistake. The manager is called and you can see the manager just over there and they're just chewing the fat, or talking on their phone. The manager is not in a hurry. .

Finally, the manager shows up, clears the mistake, and leaves. Then the customer decides they don’t want something and asks that it be taken off their total. The manager is called again and now the manager is helping someone else or paged from another part of the store. When it is time to pay, they pull out their debit card and don't remember their pin number. 

This can try your patience. It can get on your nerves and real easy you can lose your patience. You find it kind of hard to love that person and you get agitated with even the cashier. You don't love as a Christian should love. 

It's a shame but we are just poor humans. We are born in time and space and it tries our patience when some one is taking away from our limited time and space. The problem with our lack of patience is that it applies to everything even our faith.  . 

The parable states that the master has left  and we are to watch. In reality what are we left to watch? Watch for his coming. but, we are also left to watch our selves. We are to watch how we act and how we treat others and how we live our lives as Christians. We are to be patient.

The chosen people described in Isaiah. The got tired of waiting and started to wander away from God. Even though the prophet says the people know the true God who created them, they worship other gods, carved idols, and take on the customs of other peoples. You see what happened - they lost their watch. They lost their patience waiting for God.

Paul tells the Corinthians that only with faith in Christ can we stand firm. This is how we keep our watch. This is why we don’t wander. This is the source of our patience.

So here we are standing in the checkout line. We  finally get to the register, do we sulk, do we explode, or do we greet the person with a smile, hello, and I hope your have a good day. The question is do we wander from the love of Christ? Do we lose our watch that Jesus gave us to be true to him?

We are asked to have patience and patience is a "deliberate humble kindness." God gives us this in his lovingkindness; the lovingkindness made man in Jesus Christ. Given to us in Jesus birth, given to us in our immediate intimate relationship with Christ Jesus, and will be given to us when Christ comes again in glory. All that is asked of us is that we are to keep watch, do not wander, and have patience.  

Remain true to Jesus, who is the way we learn deliberate humble kindness. 

Jesus calls it love.