On Hold

I did something rather stupid a couple weeks ago. It was time for Emilee to get a new mobile phone, so

we ordered it and it came. No problem there. Part of the deal was the trade-in of her old phone that was no longer working too well. She asked if I could help handle the trade-in. We waited a few days to make sure the new one was working properly, and without any issues, I sent the old one back. Well, the packaging for the trade-in came the next day. I had sent the old phone to the wrong place in the wrong packaging. So, I contacted customer support and the representative nicely said that I would have to contact the trade-in center. Before he hung up, he said, "Call in the morning." I thought, "Well, that was really a helpful tip." After several different days of busy signals and no connections, I finally got through. The wait time was reported with each piece of elevator music. The time started with 47 minutes. I was doing other things until it got to 11 minutes. Then I heard the next announcement, "...26 minutes..." We had been waiting to run a few errands, but at that point I told Kerry, let's just go with the speaker phone still on. While on the drive, the wait dropped to about 11 minutes, but then shortly after that the call ended. I called back and started the whole process over. Eventually, a very short conversation with a representative set up the search for the phone to make its way back to its correct next home. After I hung up, I remarked to Kerry that it had possibly been the longest time I had spent on hold for a while.

Yet, I knew as I was walking away from my own remark that I was no where close to any records. Many people are doing a lot of waiting these days. Waiting in line and waiting online for a great deal. Waiting to hear from a loved one or friend. Wondering and waiting for test results are all too common right now.

I would argue that being on hold is better than just general waiting. It is really helpful to get regular updates of wait-time, even if they change and get longer! Advent is certainly like being on hold. The readings for today all point to endings and judgements for the end of wait-times. The great civilization of Babylon is now closed to history. It provided great hardship for God's people, but would also be given the holy task of deliverance and return for them. Yes, God's people learn and discern while we are on hold.

Revelation 18:1-10

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendor. He called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling-place of demons, a haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul bird, a haunt of every foul and hateful beast. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and so that you do not share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her as she herself has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so give her a like measure of torment and grief. Since in her heart she says, ‘I rule as a queen; I am no widow, and I will never see grief,’ therefore her plagues will come in a single day— pestilence and mourning and famine— and she will be burned with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning; they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas, alas, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.”

God, you ask us to wait and to be patient. We often find this hard. Help us with markers and indicators. Illumine our way, even if it remains barred. Watch over all those that we name before you,... Give comfort to those who are grieving and hope to those dealing with exhaustion or unemployment. Let us be a way that others know God is waiting with us and for us. Amen.

Other Readings for Today:

Micah 4:6-13 

Psalm 79