James 5:7-10

Advent 3 – Year A

James 5:7-10

Is it time yet? Are we there yet? So ask kids in the car and John in prison.

How unsatisfactory the response, "Be patient beloved."

I have met farmers waiting patiently for crops to come in, but not any that do so without anxiety. Any day can bring disaster.

So it is we also wait with advent anxiety. We tell one another to be strong, not to grumble and doubt lest such bring exactly what we feared. It is all too easy to see a Judge and to begin preJudging ourselves as incomplete and liable for the full sentencing power of a mandatory sentence.

And then the kicker about following the model of the prophets who were not the least bit patient. They had a call to follow where it led. They did not suffer fools, gladly or otherwise. Their task was so important that action had to follow immediately upon the heels of their call. Sometimes that action was to run away and sometimes to dive into it deeply, with nary a second thought.

So, be patient as a prophet! Be as patient as was Jesus in healing and teaching. Beloved, be this patient. Right now!