Thought for the Week - 12/12/2021

 

Dear Friends,

I wonder if you enjoy queuing. I guess you may reply that it depends on what I’m waiting for. I discovered this week that on average we spend one hour and twelve minutes as week in queues, and that during lockdown in 2020 this is likely to have been much longer. An hour and twelve minutes seems like a long time to be standing around doing nothing, particularly when we consider the speed at which we tend to live out our lives in this twenty first century. Waiting patiently in line is often thought to be a quintessentially British custom along with our love of tea, fish and chips and cricket on the village green, but in a survey from a few years ago of 2,000 British adults it found that queue jumping is our biggest pet hate. One of the great themes of Advent is waiting, pausing on our busy journey of life and in 2 Peter 3 we read of the apostle urging his audience to make themselves ready for the second coming of Jesus, to be prepared for ‘The Day of the Lord’, the time that will bring the judgement of God and the end of all things as we know them. ‘The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you wait eagerly for the day of God to come’ (2 Peter 3:10-12). In the book At Home in Advent, we read, ‘Waiting for God is never boring, nor predictable, nor convenient. It is more likely to be frightening, exciting and sometimes disappointing, because we don’t know exactly what is going to happen, or how, or when. We do not really know what we are waiting for in that eternal queue, but we are assured that it is worth waiting for and will far exceed our expectations’. The apostle Peter concludes, ‘Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation’. So perhaps the next time you find yourself in a queue you might reflect on these things and use your time usefully and wisely.   

Grace and peace,

Neil

                        

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