Prayer as Waiting

I hate to wait. So when I begin a newsletter column on prayer as waiting, it is not a topic I am fond of. At the same time, I am struggling to become a more patient person and am convinced that this begins with prayer. So what exactly do I mean by prayer as waiting?

My first thought when it comes to waiting is standing in line for a roller coaster at an amusement park or for concert tickets to an artist I really want to see. But I’m not sure this captures prayer as waiting, because in these examples the waiting is simply the thing we do to pass the time before the main event. The real thing is in the future; the waiting is just the prelude.

But there are many other types of waiting. Consider the nine months of waiting that precede the birth of a child. These are filled with anticipation, preparation, activity, and, of course, hope. Consider waiting for an adult child coming home from college or military deployment overseas. The waiting is filled with nervousness, but is also precious, even holy.

In the Gospel of Luke,* we find two times of waiting that invite us to consider how prayer can be a time of active waiting. The first time of waiting is waiting for God. It is captured in the first several chapters of Luke as Mary waits for the birth of Jesus, as she waits for God to be born in her and through her. The second time of waiting is the waiting of God. It is captured in the last two chapters, as Christ sleeps the sleep of death. This waiting, the waiting of God, invites us to consider God’s first act of rest on the seventh day of creation and the act of waiting, Christ in the tomb, that preceded the day of Resurrection, the first day of the new creation.

Prayer is both of these kinds of waiting: Prayer is waiting for God, in hopeful anticipation of what God promises to do. Prayer is also the waiting of God, who is patient and longsuffering with us.

Almighty God, Your ways are not our ways, nor are Your thoughts our thoughts. Give us patience and perseverance, that all of our waiting may be done in hopeful anticipation of what You are doing within us and among us through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray. Amen.

*These insights are from the late Henri Nouwen’s lectures, The Spirituality of Waiting: Being Alert to God’s Presence in Our Lives, which I would highly recommend.
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