Hurry up and wait!

 

I have to admit that I hate waiting. Whether it’s for the doctor who’s running late again, the checkout in the super-slow aisle, or the person at the traffic lights who hasn’t noticed the light’s turned green, life can feel like an endless waiting room. We wait for jobs, for results, for relief. We’re always waiting for something. The play Waiting for Godot is exactly about that: two men waiting for (spoiler alert) someone who never turns up. It’s an exercise in frustrated expectations. But that’s the point. Life often feels exactly like that: waiting for something or someone who never arrives.

But Advent, of course, tells a different story.

Advent is about waiting, yes, but waiting with joy and hope. It’s the season when we remember Jesus’ first coming as a baby in Bethlehem, and look forward to his second coming in glory. It’s a time of spiritual anticipation, when our waiting isn’t empty, but full of promise.

And that’s what makes Simeon and Anna such beautiful figures in the opening of Luke’s gospel (Luke 2:22-38). They’ve spent their lives in the temple, waiting. Simeon, “righteous and devout,” is promised by the Holy Spirit that he won’t die until he’s seen the Lord’s Messiah. Anna, a prophetess in her eighties, worships and prays day and night, waiting for the redemption of God’s people.

What keeps them going? One word: hope. Not a vague “fingers-crossed” kind of hope, but a deep-seated, anchored confidence in God’s promises. Hope that the God who spoke through his prophets would send comfort and redemption to his people. Hope that what God had promised, he would surely deliver.

And then, finally, that hope is realised. Simeon takes the baby Jesus in his arms and bursts into praise:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

After a lifetime of waiting, Simeon sees God’s faithfulness face to face. Anna, too, gives thanks to God for the child who will fulfil his promises.

This is what Advent invites us into: joy in looking back and hope in looking forward. We look back with Simeon and Anna, rejoicing that God has kept his promises in Jesus, the saviour of the world. And we look forward with them, trusting that this same Jesus will return to make all things new.

So, every moment of waiting now - at the doctor’s, at the checkout, in traffic - is a small Advent moment. A chance to remember that our waiting is not wasted. Because one day, the waiting will be over. The King who came as a baby will come again in glory. And when he does, he’ll finally take us to our eternal home.

So, as we wait, we pray the simplest and the most hope-filled of prayers: 

“Come, Lord Jesus. Come.”

Yours in Christ,
Mark Barry

Assistant Minister
Community Connections

24 November 2025