Wait for it...


If you were left in a room with a plate of marshmallows and asked not to touch them, what would you do? I know my answer.

Apparently this was a serious experiment conducted with children in the 1960s. Tracking them in later life, scientists concluded that those who could wait turned out to be more successful. Well now we have a similar experiment, right here in Church.

Sorry, there are no marshmallows- but I can offer you the season of advent which starts today. Advent invites us to wait, before we enjoy the celebration of Christmas. Looking down the high street or flicking through our own diaries may make this seem a forlorn hope.

Despite this background noise, however, Advent demands patience; patience to wait for the coming of Christ at Christmas and patience to wait for his return at the end of time and the ultimate fulfilment of the Kingdom of Heaven.

I have never been very good at waiting but according to one new book, it is an important Christian virtue. ‘The meaning is in the waiting’, says Paula Gooder in her book of the same name, containing daily reflections for advent. Through such active waiting, she suggests that we can learn to savour the present moment, to recollect God’s promises from the past and to yearn for their ultimate fulfilment in the future.

As a gentle chant from the Taizé community puts it:
Wait for the Lord,
Whose day is near,
Wait for the Lord,
Keep watch, take heart!