"Take the waiting out of wanting," said the American Express advertising slogan. All around us we hear and see promises of instant gratification. Freddie Mercury and Veruca Salt both "want it now". Don't we all?
We live in an age of excitement. Does this explain why many people prefer television to church? In the 21st century, it is sports and politics that get people excited, not religion. The story that during the Council of Nicea in the year 326, you could not visit the market without the stallholders offering their views on the divinity of Christ, could hardly happen today. If a church leader like the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury hits the headlines, usually it is because of some side-issue like same-sex relations or abortion, where remarks have been plucked out of context, or like past relations with Islam, which provide a sure recipe for a newsworthy story.
It is easy to complain, "I pray and I pray and nothing ever happens." It is easy to complain that Sunday after Sunday we sing the same old hymns and songs, reiterate the same prayers, and nothing ever happens. The Bible talks of growth, but do we want to sit by our apple seedling and watch it grow until it bears fruit? The Bible talks of being built up, but do we want to sit by a building site for hours watching something take shape? Psalm 90 declares "A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday." Can we afford to wait that long?
There is one sense in which patience is good, and in which we need to sit back and relax, to take account of where we are going. We need a chance to escape from our stress-bound life and relax, to place our rushing lives aside (into God's hands, to put it another way), to find stillness and calm. Even American Express cardholders need to rest occasionally.
But in another sense we should not be standing and waiting. Take a look at the breathless narrative in Mark's Gospel. In Jesus' life event follows event, almost without pause. Take a look at how many verses begin with a simple "and". Take a look at how many verses follow that "and" with the word "immediately" or "straightway". The message of the Kingdom is that God's reign has started now, now is the time to act, now is "the hour". At any moment, we shall be called to account for ourselves, and we must be alert and ready for the time.
This haste is clearest in Mark's Gospel, which does not reflect the three-year patient and leisurely ministry people have assumed from the Gospel of John. But John, with his repeated recalling of Jesus' words "The time is coming, and now is" is just as clear that Jesus in his life and actions answered the needs of those who "wanted it now." And the Lord's Prayer, which looks forward to the day when God's rule comes and God's name is held holy in all the earth, shares this urgency. Some commentators have even translated the phrase we think of as "our daily bread" to mean "the food we share with you in heaven" - give us this food today, "we want it now."
If the message of the Gospel fails to excite us, fails to raise us from our couches, fails to bring us to our knees, the fault may lie with us (like the guests who made excuses to avoid attending the wedding feast (Luke 14:18)), or it may lie in the way the message is conveyed. How can we convey this urgency to others, and yet maintain this calm in ourselves? This is one of the challenges to us all living our lives as Christians today.
HD