Prayer for the House of Representatives and then some.

Waiting for the snow to melt.

           I started my day this Holy Thursday preparing to pray at the House of Representatives this morning.  It seemed a bit odd to be doing this on a day such as this, a day when I am feeling reflective about Christ’s life, the Lenten journey I have been on with my congregation and the promise of gathering as Easter people on Sunday morning.  But Christ has taught me that there are times we are called into a variety of places at the most unusual of times. 

This is the prayer I shared with them:

          God-This morning we gather, it is April and yet we may feel that we are in a holding pattern as we wait...we wait for snow to melt, we wait for puddles to grow deep, freezing no more.  We wait for the sun to warm our backs and because we live in Maine we are not demanding, we do not require summer days to shed the jackets, ----we are waiting.  The good people gathered here this morning are waiting for the day to begin, they are waiting to speak, they are waiting to be heard, they are waiting to be part of the process.  The people outside these doors wait as well, they wait to be represented, they wait for decisions to be made, and they are waiting to be part of the process as well.  So on this April day, with snow banks still in view be with all the people who wait, may we be encouraged rather than discouraged, may we experience anticipation with joy rather than anxiety, may we understand that we connected by this simple act, we all wait.  May the work of this day celebrate the amazing resources that we have in this beautiful state and the variety of experiences of the people who live here. We are grateful for the families and loved ones of those gathered here; bless their homes, and the work of this day. 

It was ironic that just before I went to offer this prayer a gentleman said to me "Sorry to keep you waiting."  I told him that I don't mind waiting, and I meant it.  I have learned that waiting offers up the time to do nothing or some of the things that require us to simply stop.  Write, read, think, there are opportunities to seize while waiting, waiting for the phone to ring, the new arrival, the dreaded departure, the new beginning, the expected and unexpected.

Waiting for an appointment is a chance to just be and catch up on reading but if I am at home waiting for the call that someone is safe, someone is well....then I wait and clean with a vengeance.  It is ironic that some waiting requires us to sit --a respite from activity --and other times we can't stay still, pacing and moving. 

For those of us participating in Holy Week services we too wait, we wait for the bread to be broken, the cross to be carried, the black cloth to be draped, and the silent exits, yet we also wait for the good news.

In the movie The Terminal Tom Hanks character Viktor Navorski said "You say you are waiting for something. And I say to you, "Yes, yes. We all wait".

This is the good news... If you are waiting, you are not alone.