It would truly be ‘Livin’ the dream,’ or ‘One more day in paradise,’ two phrases so often spoken in response to the question, ‘How are you?’ The ‘it’ I’m referring to is a place of serene soul restfulness during an extended time of waiting for a response or a particular outcome. A place of no anxiety, no sleeplessness, no whining, no accusing God of not caring, no temper tantrums. Just mature trusting.
As we go again into the first disciples’ experience of waiting, we arrive at the ninth day. Nine whole days of waiting and wondering – and, yes, worshiping. Their days are calmer now, having worn themselves out from the fury of those first hours of prayer and intercession back in their rented room in Jerusalem. That said, their days have retained an intensity to them.
They’ve quoted back to one another all the Scripture passages they could remember. They’re still actively going over all of Jesus’ teachings to see what they most surely had missed. They’re guiltily revisiting the attitude Jesus had when interacting with those most needy – guiltily, because they’ve had to admit, they wouldn’t have been able to do likewise (one of the worst times was when they tried to send the little children away from Jesus!). Some days there were more questions than answers. At those times they felt they’d never really understand all they needed.
In between the times when everyone was praying, or contemplating quietly, they’d been eager to have Mary, Jesus’ mother, fill them in with stories of his youth. Standing out from all the others were the stories of his birth, the terrible decree of Herod, the wild escape to Egypt. Mary told them, too, about Simeon and Anna in the temple and the time Jesus was missing because he had stayed back in Jerusalem after the festival to ask questions of the Jewish scholars. The disciples got to know about Joseph, too, and about Jesus’ cousin, John. All this personal information had prompted testimonies of how Jesus had called each of them to follow him. Gratitude was on every face in the room, and it directed them to times of praise for God’s plan for them, His great love and compassion, and yes, (could they do this?) His sense of humor.
Tomorrow is a Red-Letter day for us as the Church as it most certainly was for the group gathered in that upper room. Looking forward, as always, to seeing you 21st Century disciples then, 10 AM, 3 PM UK, 4 PM FR. PD
