The Waiting Place
At the risk of making a very niche reference; do you remember at the end of The Italian Job (original version) where Michael Caines character says, “hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea!” If you haven’t watched the film I would take a look, it’s a great film but with a marginally irritating yet genius ending! The predicament the group find themselves in has no obvious way out, and it’s virtually impossible to work out what the ‘great idea’ could even be!
The world of youth ministry is vastly different to what it was 3 years ago, obviously! Navigating this new landscape has been incredibly difficult and our ability to connect and relate to churches, leaders and young people has been hampered by the after-effects of the pandemic. It appears to be much harder to get young people to attend events, let alone invite friends. It’s definitely much harder to find leaders to be part of a youth team. It goes without saying that the challenges facing young people have increased and so this weighs heavily on those of us trying to support young people. There is more we don’t know that we do know! If I’m honest I feel a bit like Michael Caine at the end of The Italian Job; stuck in the middle of a predicament, a ministry predicament! The difference is that I don’t have a great idea, I don’t even have an average idea! What I do have though is will, I am feeling tenacious and up for the challenge ahead. Even if I don’t have an idea to ‘solve the problem’ (I’m always trying to be a fixer!) I do know I need to keep going, keep turning up, keep supporting leaders, keep connecting with young people, keeping ask God for what’s next. We may be in a season where we run less activity, but I doubt it is going to be a season where God moves less!
God’s sense of humour continues to show itself in my daily readings or in the passage I’m given to speak on. He’s being incredibly subtle by giving me Isaiah 40:31 on Monday – “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Then on Tuesday giving me Lamentations 3:24 – “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” A grin is forming on my face as my stubborn inability to be patient is being graciously worn away by God!
Being patient means that we have to accept that we’re living in a moment of uncertainty, and when our brains crave certainty, it can make situations feel very difficult. Patience forces us to be present without certainty, without a plan, without knowing a specific reason for being, except to just ‘be’ and wait.
In Genesis 40 Joseph was forgotten by the chief cupbearer after the whole dream interpretation scenario which meant he was left in prison for an additional 2 years! Genesis 41 takes us straight to what happens next, but what I would have loved to have known was how did Joseph cope during those 2 years? What did he think about? How did he not lose heart? Maybe, just maybe, Joseph had discovered the habit of patience, I guess being attacked, thrown into a hole and sold into slavery will definitely teach you something!
Patience helps us live in the present and experience emotions and feelings that are often pushed aside by our busyness. I read a fascinating article written by someone who had observed the ‘intense atmosphere’ in Westminster Hall as people viewed The Queen lying in state. One huge difference to nearly every other area of our lives was that phones were not permitted. It meant that everyone experienced, whether they liked it or not, or even were prepared for it, a deep sense of emotion in the present moment. This moment couldn’t be filmed to look at later, or simply post online hoping for ‘shares’ and ‘likes’. This moment was a rare blessing and I believe when we create these unhurried times free from distraction we can feel, experience and discover things that would have otherwise been drowned out by the noise of our lives. Being patient ironically takes time, but time well spent as we will be presented with a opening landscape of possibilities that simply doesn’t happen without an intentional act of stopping, making space, waiting, pausing, being!
If we maybe put away our phones for a time, seek some space away from the everyday and embrace the initial discomfort of learning patience, I truly believe it will be substantially beneficial to not only our present, but also the future.
Maybe one of the reasons none of us like waiting is because when we stop we are forced to experience and see things that maybe we have chosen to hide. It may be that by rushing through life we think we are keeping the negative emotions and thoughts in check and out of the way. What if also we are stopping the positive and healthy parts of life from being fully known and enjoyed? It’s not rocket science to understand that all of our emotions contain lessons designed to help us grow and thrive. I bet every single one of us could maybe think of a time that didn’t go according to plan and yet we learnt something from it and moved forward differently because of it. As a youth leader I can tell you I have discovered as much about myself and my ministry from the times I’ve stumbled and fallen as from the times I identified an event or activity a success. The quote “Never let a good crisis go to waste” is often attributed to Churchill and I want to emulate this attitude. No matter how uncomfortable I feel my waiting needs to be also a time of looking, looking to see what God is saying in this next season.
Let us all pray for the ability to ‘wait’ as we take baby steps into this new season and new landscape. I will try and be patient but I will also look forward to the time where I can blow some doors off! (second niche reference!)