"Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming." James 5:7

 

         During Advent we have been looking at the responses of the people who saw the baby Jesus. The shepherds responded by telling everyone what they saw, and then returned home to praise God. Mary pondered the events and treasured them up in her heart. Today we look at Joseph, who is quiet. He seems to stand like a figure in a manger scene. But his presence speaks of his faith and his patience. He waits to see what will come of this birth that has put him at risk with his community, and, he will discover, with Herod as well.

         Joseph is obedient to the government, he travels to his hometown for the Roman-ordered census. He is obedient to the angel who told him not to divorce Mary, but to stay with her. He is obedient to the temple, taking Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

Joseph is also patient. He has learned how to live by faith and by the provision of God. He waits to see how all this will turn out. He may be in trouble with his community because he remains faithful to Mary, who is going to have a child before she is married. So he waits to see what will happen. But after the incident at the temple when Jesus is 12, we do not hear of Joseph again. Perhaps he died before he had the chance to see how God would work in his son, Jesus.

         Joseph is much like John the Baptist, who from prison waited to see if the one he baptized was indeed the Messiah. It is hard to tell from the way Luke tells of these events whether John was able to hear the answer of Jesus from his disciples before he was suddenly executed. How much did he know while he was still alive? Both Joseph and John seem to have died while they were still waiting. Both were patient, expectant, living by faith.

         James wrote to a church undergoing a hard time, and told them to be patient and to wait for the coming of the Lord, the Judge.

         The word for "patient" means literally "the prolonged restraint of anger or agitation." It is an attribute of God, who is "slow to anger" and who restrains his wrath so that more can come to repentance. It is for Christians a forbearance of one another, a willingness to forgive. It is not so much a character trait, but more often a way of life. Paul says that love is patient. So, James says, it is this forbearing and expectant patience that is required of all believers as they await the coming of the Lord.

         James then gives three examples of patience. A farmer is patient waiting for the rain to water his crop. The prophets were patient as they spoke God's word in the face of suffering. Job was patient, or persevering, as he endured his trials.

         The farmer's patience has to do with cycles of nature. It is the recognition that some things in life are not in our control. It is the need to accept both the favorable and the unfavorable in life. For the farmer, patience does not mean passive waiting. There is always much work to be done, even during the wait for the rain.

         So, David Nystrom says, this patience is needed in the church. As we wait for the return of the Lord, there are difficulties to be faced in the community. There is much work to be done. Some issues must be given to the Lord. Grumbling and bickering are to be avoided. James says we are to be patient, because the Lord's coming is near. Our hope is sure.

         There is, in the wider Christian community today, a temptation for people to leave the church, with all its messiness and incompleteness, and to develop an individual, isolated Christian spirituality. It is true that congregational life is difficult in our time. There are simply too many choices, alternatives, traditions and preferences. We live in an age of individualism, of "have it your way," and individualism comes with diseases of its own: narcissism and perfectionism.

         Last Monday I went to Minneapolis to attend the funeral service for my friend Carleton Peterson. They asked all the Covenant pastors in attendance to come forward and sing "Children of the Heavenly Father." Later I was told there were 65 of us in that improvised choir. Individual spirituality may be tempting, but there are experiences you can only have in a community of faith. There are lessons you cannot learn on your own. Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near.

         The prophets were patient in the face of suffering. In the prophets we see a commitment to the word of God, a clear sense of call from the Lord, an insight and wisdom that allowed them to speak to the heart. Sometimes their words were not comfortable. So they met with resistance and even persecution. Most of them did not get to see what they were talking about. But they had an insight into God's plan and kingdom in the midst of people who were distracted and wandering.

         God needs people who are patient and yet committed to speaking the truth into others lives. Last week at the funeral service, Jim Sundholm, Director of Covenant World Relief, spoke about Carleton as one who was an especially good listener. Then, after listening he would respond by making a probing and borderline invasive statement, giving direction, clarity and challenge. Jim then jokingly said he liked the good listener part of Carleton, but did not care for the responses. They got too close to the truth, they could make one uncomfortable.

         We need people who have the love of God in them and can truly listen to others, and who also have the prophetic courage to speak truth into our hearts.

         Finally, James speaks of the perseverance of Job. It is a different word. Job was really not patient. But he persevered through all his trials. Job reminds us that difficult times can come to those who love the Lord, and sometimes the difficulties come in multiples. James points out that Job experienced the restoration of God. He did not give up too soon. He allowed God time to act. He waited, and God renewed his strength.

         For many people life is more like Joseph or John the Baptist than like Job. Their restoration does not come in this life. Yet God is full of compassion and mercy. Although they do not see what they have waited for in this life, they still experience the compassion of God. Joseph is a witness. There are faithful people who believe and live for the promises of God. And God cares for them and upholds them. The faith of Joseph and his patience instructs us.

         The committal service was held in a snow-covered cemetery that sat on the hill, overlooking the river. It was very cold and starkly white in the late afternoon sun. It was a hard moment. I could see the grief and loss and brokenness in Carleton's children; perhaps I was especially attuned to his son Matt, whose mother died when he was a baby and now his father when he is a young man.

         That night I saw in the bulletin that at the end of the service Matt would be singing a solo, and I wondered how he could do that. But he sang, with just guitar,

"I with Thee would begin, O My Savior so dear,

On the way that I still must pursue;

I with thee would begin every day granted here,

As my earnest resolve I renew,

To be and remain Thine forever."

He sang with strength and faith. I was astonished to hear him sing.

I was astonished once again at the mercy and compassion of God, who gave his only son, Emanuel, God with us.

Who gave his son to be near us, and surely he is near us still.

Who promised his Son will return.

And we will be like him.

         Amen.