Waiting for Heaven – by Rev. Whitney Altopp
Are you looking for love, joy, and peace in these weeks leading up to Christmas? The news reminds us of past sorrows and horrors and present ones as well. The suffering that we remember through either first-person contact or only a few degrees of separation puts a pall on this season of sparkle. We know that the hope for joy and peace is not found in our items purchased for Christmas celebration. As Christians our hope is in Jesus, the Christ, who came as an infant 2000+ years ago and promises to come again. Let us be clear, however, that this hope is not passive or sedentary or naïve. It is a hope that calls us into cooperative action in the redeeming work of God—here and now. I find the words from this hymn from the Iona Community particularly profound in reminding us of God’s initiative to show love to all creation and God’s invitation for us to live as ones who have received it by living lives that reflect God’s redeeming, saving love.
Heaven Shall Not Wait
Heaven shall not wait
For the poor to lose their patience
The scorned to smile, the despised to find a friend:
Jesus is Lord
He has championed the unwanted;
In him injustice confronts its timely end.
Heaven shall not wait
For the rich to share their fortunes
The proud to fall, the elite to tend the least:
Jesus is Lord
He has shown the masters’ privilege
To kneel and wash servants’ feet before they feast.
Heaven shall not wait
For the dawn of great ideas
Thoughts of compassion divorced from cries of pain:
Jesus is Lord
He has married word and action
His cross and company make his purpose plain.
Heaven shall not wait
For our legalized obedience
Defined by statute, to strict conventions bound:
Jesus is Lord
He has hallmarked true allegiance
Goodness appears where his grace is sought and found.
Heaven shall not wait
For triumphant hallelujahs
When earth has passed and we reach another shore:
Jesus is Lord
In our present imperfection;
His power and love are for now and then forevermore.