Communion Meditation
First Sunday of Advent
“Waiting and Hoping for Christ’s Light”
Texts- Isaiah 30:18; John 8:12-16
Rev. Elizabeth Aguilar
Several years ago, while I was still a young pastor, it came to me that everyone is waiting for something. This came to me as I witnessed a series of tragic illnesses and death occur in one of my congregations. It was my honor to walk with these good folks as they waited. All of us are waiting for something. Some are waiting for medical test results. A young person could be waiting to hear if they were accepted in a university or if they were given the new job they had applied to. Someone might be waiting for just the right to time to ask someone to marry them. Others might be waiting for a child to return to their family or for full recovery to happen after surgery or chemotherapy. We wait…
The good news is that we do not wait alone, friends. Christ waits with us.
Advent is a season of waiting and preparation. We wait to celebrate the birth of Christ as we wait for His return someday.
I wonder, what is it that you are waiting for now. How is it that you wait? Do you sometimes believe that your waiting is futile?
Yesterday was World Aid’s Day. I was reflecting on the first patient I had who was dying of HIV/AIDs. He was a beautiful young man. His family lived in Atlanta. They had flown in to be at his side. In ICU, in UCLA.
The way they waited for the end of his life was to read scripture, listen to Gospel songs, tell me stories of his childhood. Wipe his brow, whisper in his ear that they loved him.
They told me the only way they could do what they were doing was because they knew Jesus was with them. How we wait matters.
I don’t want to wait until someone I love is dying to be reminded that God waits with me. And so I am reminding you today that whatever you are waiting for God is waiting for you.
This Advent we have chosen the theme “Surely The Light is Coming.” Every Sunday we will have an opportunity to reflect on this them as we also reflect on the sub themes of hope, joy, peace, and love.
Today as we remember that we wait and that God waits with us, we also acknowledge that as Disciples of Jesus we not only wait but we wait in Hope.
We are a people of hope.
In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus reminds them of the truth of His identity and purpose. He said, “I am the light of the World.” Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
Then the Pharisees questioned him. His answer was to say that He knew where he came from and where Jesus would go to next and that it was the Father who had sent him.
Disciples know who they are and where they are going and who is with them. Just as Jesus did.
We know we are Christ’s disciples. We know who we are because we know who HE is. We know that Christ IS the light of the World and it is He that came to this world to bring light to it. It is HE that we worship, that we serve and that we find our hope in as we wait.
In a moment we will approach the communion table. AS you do so. Ask God to help you to wait. Thank Him for waiting with you. Tell him to fill you with Hope.
And then be encouraged because you do not wait alone. You wait with each other. You wait with Christ and remember that surely the light IS coming!!