Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Second Sunday after Epiphany (Slides) - Click on the word "Slides." It will open a separate tab to follow the service. In the first tab stream the service.
The M3 for the Second Sunday after Epiphany
Waiting for ... the Lord
Psalm 40:1
"I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry."
Yesterday's sermon focused on the phenomenon of "waiting." I noted that in our next-day, this-day world, we don't like to wait. We want what we like right now! I showed a series of images portraying waiting. I noted that we learn to wait early in life, showing a line of children waiting for a "blurry" bus coming down the road. I commented that the blurriness signifies uncertainty. Sometimes we wait in uncertainty. The next image showed a line of cars backed up on a mountain hill just before the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado. I said that I have experienced this many times. While it might not seem like a big deal to wait in a beautiful landscape like snow falling in mountains, I said that sometimes the wait may be hours. This leads to the unpleasant experience of breathing fumes and exhaust from all the cars and trucks. The cold air traps the fumes in the valley. It can be nauseating Sometimes our waiting is beyond our control and leads to unexpected experiences. Sometimes we are eager to wait–think pregnancy. Yet, sometimes that waiting doesn't go as we expect and may be uncomfortable. Sometimes waiting escapes our control and influence and we simply have to resign to its demands. Waiting in an airport can be like that. I next showed the video of USA Hockey player TJ Oshie scoring the game-winning goal against the Russians in the 2014 Winter Olympics. I told you how it was going to end and retold the significance: the first time the two countries had met in a medal match since the great 1980 USA-USSR hockey game. The 2014 game was bursting with history and emotion. I made all of us wait to see the final goal, though. With each successive round in the shootout, the excitement grew. Then, the announcer's voice, Mike Emrick's, bursts, "GOAL!" I made the connection that this gets at what it's like waiting for Jesus. We know the ending: Jesus wins but we have to wait and watch how we get there. The next slides took us on a journey through different stages in life and what waiting might look like in each stage. The final slide came from the Apostle Paul's unpacking of what it means to wait:
