I just finished writing worship for Sunday.

Malls and gas stations and near every other establishment on earth are pumping Christmas Carols into the air.

In the church, we are marking Advent.  It is a time of waiting.  It is not yet Christmas, so we practice the pain of waiting.

It is the musical waiting that makes it hard to write worship this time of year.  I want to break out the songs that so need to be sung:  Songs about joy and love and glorias ringing from the choirs of angels.

I want that.

Instead, we wait.

Scripture from Matthew on this coming Sunday features John the Baptist calling people to change their hearts and lives in order to live God’s vision of grace.

Isaiah speaks of the peaceable kingdom and a world in which  those who have long been enemies will find harmony.

Paul prays that the God of hope will fill the new followers of Jesus with joy and peace.

Harmony, heart shift, joy and peace.

Perhaps this time of waiting isn’t so bad, after all.