How many of us like to use public transportation? Bait Subway Guy love the subway. And that means I have to walk to the subway now. Walking around the neighborhood. I’ve noticed something. So you have to tell me if I’m correct or incorrect and whether or not you are one of these people. So waiting for a red light. I have noticed that pedestrians don’t wait on the sidewalk.

They walk out into the street and wait for the light to turn green. Now the dilemma. There’s oncoming traffic. And if somebody is making a right turn or a left turn, just kind of like a sitting duck. So how many sort of step off the curb into the street while they wait for the light to change? Show of hands, please.

interesting. Interesting. Now, very similarly for those who are waiting for the bus. So waiting on the sidewalk by the bus stop. But at some point, they’re actually going to walk into the middle of the street, look down to see if the bus is coming now. Not sure whether that is going to make the bus come sooner. But is it a good idea to walk into the middle of the street to see if the bus is coming?

Do we all agree that the answer is no? How many people leave the sidewalk to go into the street to see if the bus is coming? Show of hands, please. You might want to rethink that. Or. And this is my favorite. Waiting at the subway, at the station. We’re on the platform. Somebody goes to the edge of the platform, leans over to see if the train is coming.

Now, going near the edge of the platform is not a good idea. Going and leaning over to see if the train is coming. Even worse, idea that that someone would deliberately push anyone onto the tracks. But quite frankly, if I tried to do that and saw a rat, I would probably throw myself on the third rail. So not a good idea.

How many people waiting for a subway go to the edge of the platform and lean over to see if it’s coming? Show of hands, please. Really? Why is it that we wait that way? Is it simply that we’re impatient? What is it that we need or want when we do that? What is it that we are anticipating? Well, the evil Joe says people are just impatient.

They’re not willing to wait. They’re just being annoying. Patient Joe wonders if they’re in a hurry to get across the street because there’s someone who is homebound waiting for them and they’re in a hurry to get to the person in need. Or the more understanding Joe thinks there are hurrying. They’re anticipating getting to work because someone needs them at work to get the job done.

They’re anxious. They’re eager to do the work at the subway. It could be that at the end of a long day, they just want to get home and take their shoes off. The question becomes, what are we waiting for? How are we being patient as we wait for whatever it is? Or isn’t that the question? So if the question is, what are we waiting for?

What are we waiting for? What is the launching of our heart at this very moment as we move into the second Sunday of Advent? Are we longing to see the coming of the Lord? Are we eager for the Lord to come in glory? Are we listening for that voice of Jesus Christ speaking to each and every one of us?

Are we waiting for the problems to be solved at this time of year? Money problems, or are pressing? A lot of people are worried. Are we hurting in any way? Our families hurting? Are we longing for Jesus to bring us security to take the burden of the shut in and make the shut in the hole again? Are we worried about our health?

Are we worried about our children or our parents? What is the burden right now that we are carrying that we want to surrender to the Lord? Do we feel the tensions of living in the modern world? Are some part of us longing to be somewhere else? Does each and every one of us have a favorite escape fantasy? For many years, my escape fantasy was to live in an apple orchard in upstate New York, where there was no traffic, where there were no cell phones, where there were no people, only apples, me and apples.

That was the escape that I thought was the longing of our heart or my heart. Do we listen to our hopes or do we give in to the despair, the tension, the problem? Are we longing to really experience our religious faith? Are we waiting for someone to give us the evidence that everything will be okay? Or are we simply ready to throw ourselves on the third rail and say, I’m finished?

Or are we waiting in anticipation for God, our lovely or loving father to direct the desire of our hearts toward salvation? Because those were the words of the prophet. Comfort, give comfort to my people. That’s what Isaiah says. He reminds us that we are looking to God. Our God is the God who fills in the valleys, Who lowers the mountains?

Who smooths the way. Ours is a God that removes tensions and problems and anxiety. And we journey on this highway to heaven. Our hope is that God’s promises move us to strength and courage as we journey with others. The hope of our ascended in a world that is filled with unkindness. We are to hope for kindness in the Lord, and we don’t have to wait for the bus to come or the subway or the light to change.

We can make God’s kingdom a reality right now. But this isn’t easy. The temptation is to say, Well, some day it will happen in God’s eyes. Today is the day. We have now to make the paths straight and the eternity to walk on them. We are the generation of John the Baptist. He has arrived. The Baptist fulfills the prophecy.

He points the way to the hope, just like we do. John told the people around him that, Faith, you have to wait in faith. Jesus has told us I am the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, we now prepare for his coming again in glory and help everyone else to prepare. And today is the day. Today, we hope.

We just can’t sit around. We’re on the street. We’re on the corner. We’re on the bus stop. We’re on the platform. Hope is a working virtue. We learn it. We live it. We trust it. Comfort is coming. Kindness and truth are coming. Justice and peace are on the way. Jesus is coming. And if we believe, then we know what we’re waiting for.

It’s not a bus. It’s not a green light. It’s not a subway. It’s Jesus Christ. And we know that in our experience of hope. So how is it that we wait? Do we stick our necks out waiting for the subway? Do we go into the middle of the street, waiting for the bus? Are we eager for that green light to give us the go ahead?

Because now the bus is in the bus stop. The train is at the platform. The light is green. Are we going toward salvation in hope? And are we bringing that hope to others as we go to the Eucharist now? Let us pray for the patients to act in hope. Let us pray that the grace of God will give us the go ahead and that will, in the second week of that work for the coming of the kingdom.