Our gospel from Sunday assures us that even as the earth shakes and the nations tremble, we lift our heads high as we wait for our redemption, which comes near to us in the birth of Christ for whom we wait in this season of Advent. We do not know when God's kingdom will break in, but we know that our waiting is not in vain. Here are some further thoughts on the meaningfulness of waiting:

Even on this side of Good Friday and the resurrection of Jesus, there is brokenness in our world that no cart full of Black Friday bargains can fix; there is hunger in our souls that no plateful of pumpkin custard can fill; there is twistedness in our hearts that no terrestrial hand can touch. “The whole creation,” St. Paul declared, “has been groaning together for redemption.” In Advent, Christians embrace this groaning and recognize it not as hopeless whimpering over the paucity of the present moment but as expectant yearning for a divine banquet that is already being prepared. In Advent, believers proclaim that the infant who drew his first ragged breath between a virgin’s knees has yet to speak his final word. In Advent, the church admits, as poet R.S. Thomas has put it, that “the meaning is in the waiting.” And what we await is a final Advent that is yet to come.

I know that I need this yearly reminder of the meaningfulness of waiting—and I do not believe that I am alone. Just as the ancient Israelites waited for the coming of the Messiah in flesh, we await the consummation of the good news of God through his return in glory. Left to myself, I turn too quickly from the God of the Gospel and bow to the gods of efficiency—false gods that proclaim waiting a waste, a “killing of time.” Advent reminds me that time is far too precious to be killed, even when that time is spent waiting. Advent is a proclamation of the Gospel through the discipline of waiting.

(Bobby Gilles, "Celebrating the Waiting: Why Advent Still Matters," Sojourn Community Church blog)