I Waited Patiently for the Lord
‘I waited patiently for the Lord : and he inclined unto me, and heard my calling.’
(Psalm 40:1 BCP)

Unanswered Prayer
Have you ever prayed desperately, asking God for something you really need, and nothing happened? I imagine the answer to that is probably, ‘Yes!’

You didn’t get the healing, or the job, or the partner you really wanted. Perhaps you began to ask yourself, ‘What’s all this that the Bible says about God answering prayer?’

But nowhere in the Bible are we promised that God’s answer to prayer will be immediate. He may not be ready yet, and God’s time is always best. God may know that you’re not ready yet, and he’ll give you what you need when you can make the best use of it.

God always answers prayer, but the answer may be ‘yes’; or ‘no’, because what you’ve asked for may not be what’s best for you; or it might even be ‘wait’.

Waiting
Advent is the season for waiting. We wait for Christmas, and, because of all the planning, and the shops starting to sell Christmas goods earlier every year, sometimes it seems as though it’ll never come.

Just think of all those people in the Old Testament who waited for the coming of the Messiah, and died without seeing his birth. Think of Simeon, the old priest who blessed baby Jesus in the Temple, and Anna the prophetess, who both spent all their lives waiting for God to show mercy to his people, and recognised in this tiny baby the answer to their prayers.

Who are we, then, if God’s answer to our prayers seems a long time coming? We must learn patience.

In our life
We wait for God to intervene in our own lives. God promised justice; why does he allow all the injustices in the world? God promised guidance; why do we flounder for so long in the mire of doubt and indecisiveness? God promised healing; so why do so many people fall sick, and die unhealed?

To all these questions, God answers, ‘Wait’. Wait patiently, and wait in hope. God will intervene, when he’s ready. It may not be in the way that you asked him to; and if you’re not alert, you may not recognize God at work when he comes to you.

But if you’re ready for the ‘God of surprises’ to do the unexpected, and willing to co-operate with him when he calls you to, there’s no limit to the good things you and God may be able to do together.

Then, if what you specifically asked for doesn’t actually come to pass in this life, but you’ve waited in faith, hope, and love, God will come to you when you die, and reward your patience. Eternal life will be so wonderful; it’ll completely overshadow your temporary disappointments.

The end
In Advent we wait for ‘the End’, but people never stop arguing about what this means. Does it mean a second coming of Jesus to earth? Does it mean the disintegration of the physical universe, a sort of ‘anti Big Bang’? Or is it just a poetic image?

Perhaps that doesn’t need to concern us, as long as we’re ready for anything. Jesus said, ‘The end is not yet’ (Matthew 24:6). So don’t be disappointed, there’s plenty of work to be done in the meantime, in caring for the needy and spreading the good news of God’s love.

Advent hope
Advent is also a time of hopefulness — patient hopefulness.

A fine prayer for hope is found in the, Book of Common Prayer, Collect for this Sunday. The Common Worship lectionary, which we follow here, has moved it to the Last Sunday after Trinity, which is often celebrated as Bible Sunday.

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who wrote the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549, translated most of the Collects from the Latin Missal. But on the Second Sunday of Advent he wrote an entirely new prayer, based on the Epistle for the day, which we just heard read from the Letter to the Romans. It’s a super prayer:

A psalm
The same message of hope drawn from the promises of Scripture is in Psalm 40 — which we sang earlier:

Patience
Here are some more quotes about patience:

And a couple of anonymous verses:

Finally, one I’m sure you’ll recognise:

Come to my heart
Patience is a grace that only God can give. This Advent, will you wait patiently for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, in moments of challenge, as you are dying and at the end?

Will you welcome him when he comes at last in justice to right all worldly wrongs?

Then sing in the words of the hymn: ‘O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for thee.’
(465 — New English Hymnal)

The Walls of Jericho
Joshua 5:13—6:20

Lord God, take my words and speak through them, take our minds and think through them, take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you, you who are Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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A spiritual
I considered starting my sermon this evening by singing a bit of Elvis Presley to you. But I imagine you’ll be pleased to hear I soon gave up on that idea. I wouldn’t be able to do the song justice. And, as it’s an early Elvis song, from his Gospel album, ‘His Hand in Mine’, released way back in 1960, I wouldn’t be able to do the moves justice either. Even if I could, wearing these robes they’d be lost — even Elvis wouldn’t have earned his nickname had he worn a cassock and surplice. So I’ll just read the chorus instead.

The song is, of course, based on the Old Testament reading we’ve just heard; which tells the story of how the Israelites captured the city of Jericho before they advanced into the land of Canaan.

‘Joshua fit the battle of Jericho’ is a grand old American spiritual song, and has been recorded by many different artists over the years. If you have access to the internet, have a look at YouTube, and you’ll find lots of variations. But one of my favourites is the Elvis version.

It seems an odd thing to sing, ‘Joshua fit the battle’; but I imagine ‘fit’ is a dialect word for fought, otherwise its just nonsense — which, I guess, isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.

It’s a song that’s encouraged generation after generation to fight spiritual battles against seemingly impossible barriers, confident that through the help of God they’ll succeed at last.

Spiritual battles
You notice that I said ‘spiritual battles’. The Old Testament is a very warlike book — or, more properly, library of books. It’s as violent as some of the modern films we see in the cinema and on our television screens.

But if anyone thinks this means that God condones the use of force to overcome evil, they’re mistaken. These are old legends, and therefore not necessarily historically accurate. The archaeological evidence is far from clear whether the walls of Jericho, the oldest city in the world, ever collapsed. It’s a yarn passed down from generation to generation. And its purpose isn’t to encourage physical violence, but spiritual perseverance.

Barriers
There are many spiritual barriers that need to be broken down.

There are barriers of mistrust, between individuals and between nations. There are barriers of race and class that divide the people within a nation, even in relatively stable countries such as our own.

There are barriers of poverty that prevent the starving people of the third world from sharing in the relative prosperity, which we enjoy. There are trade barriers and sanctions, which makes that poverty worse for individuals in those countries affected.

There are gender barriers, and the famous, or should that be infamous, ‘glass ceiling’ which prevents women being promoted to a level that their competence deserves — sadly, this happens in the Church just as much, if not more so, than in secular institutions.

There are barriers of sin and guilt that can separate us all from God.

God wants all of these walls, all of these barriers, to come a-tumbling down, so that we can live together as brothers and sisters to each other, and as children of a loving heavenly Father.

Patience and perseverance
But to bring these barriers down requires patience and perseverance.

For six days the people of Israel had to walk all the way around the walls of Jericho in silence. The soldiers went in front; behind them were the priests with the Ark of the Covenant and the seven trumpets; and after them the rest of the people, without firing a single arrow.

Not a sound was to be uttered, apart from the blowing of the trumpets, which I think must’ve been incredibly difficult. It isn’t hard to imagine the questions that would’ve been on the minds of the people as they walked around that city, especially as the days wore on.

The city was besieged, and apparently impregnable. But the Lord told Joshua they weren’t to give up prematurely.

The soldiers of Jericho must’ve gone through something of a roller coaster ride of emotions at this extraordinary behaviour. You can imagine them being quite concerned when they first saw the Israelites coming. But as the days wore on, and all the Israelites did was walk around the walls, you can imagine their confidence growing. Then perhaps doubts would’ve started to creep back in — the Israelites were so quiet, they appeared so confident in what they were doing, surely they must have a plan.

Then on the seventh day, the Israelites walked around the city seven times. That must have taken a very long time, probably most of the day.

At last, when they’d done this, they were allowed to let all of the tension out, and shout and blow the trumpets. At this astonishing sound, ‘the walls came a-tumbling down’, and Jericho was conquered for the Lord.

In the case of all the other barriers we’ve mentioned, also, the process of breaking them down is often a long one, and not one for the faint-hearted.

Prayer and praise
We don’t know what the Israelites shouted. Their battle cry would’ve probably been the Hebrew equivalent of, ‘God for Harry! England and Saint George’, and will have involved calling on the name of the Lord. So it was likely to have been a combination of prayer and praise.

Both prayer and praise are needed in all our spiritual battles: prayer that God will help us, and praise because we’re confident that he’ll bring the barriers down; for it’s only God who can break down the spiritual barriers, break down the spiritual walls.

God will bring them down
In Saint Paul’s time there was a barrier between Jew and non-Jew. It was a barrier of suspicion and mutual hatred — until all races united in one Church, as children of the same God. Then, Saint Paul said:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. (Ephesians 2:13-16)

Compared to breaking down entrenched barriers of fear and distrust between races and nations, bringing down the walls of Jericho was a cinch.

With the patience and perseverance of his people, and their prayer and praise, God in his own time will bring a-tumbling down all the barriers which divide his people. Trust him!

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Amen