“Waiting”
A meditation for Amahl
I am a wise man looking for a sign.
I believe that the world is meant to be a fairer place and that I should help to change it. I have access to people of power and authority, but I am not sure how to use my influence.
Pray for me and for all other influential ones who are waiting for a sign.
I am a poor widow looking for a purpose.
I am tired of being talked about,
treated as a statistic, pushed to the margins of human conversation.
I want to meet someone who will have time for me, someone who will listen to me, someone who will not take for granted who I am or what I have to offer.
Pray for me and for all poor people who are waiting to be taken seriously.
I am an old man waiting for my death.
I have looked at the world so long that it wearies me. I have prayed to God so hard for my people to be delivered from all that diminishes and destroys them.
And I wonder, as my life closes,
if change will ever come.
Pray for me and for all older folk
who are waiting for a savior.
I am a young mother waiting for my child to be born.
I feel the new life inside me,
I sense great promise throughout me,
I know my love grows for the one I have not seen.
Yet I fear that the world may be a hostile place for the little one who is to come.
Pray for me and for all expectant mothers who are waiting for their child to be born.
I am everywoman and everyman.
In my loneliness,
I am waiting to be visited;
In my uncertainty,
I am waiting to be reassured;
In my happiness,
I am waiting for deeper fulfillment;
In my soul, I am waiting to be wanted.
Pray for me, and for yourself,
for we are all waiting.
I am the Lord your God.
I have waited on you,
And I have heard your prayer.
Now is the right time,
and I am coming soon.
So, prepare a way in the desert,
A cradle in the hay,
A meeting place in the marketplace,
A table in an upstairs room,
A cross on a hill,
A grave in a garden,
A throne in your heart as in heaven.
For now attain, I will bend down
and remember you.
I will answer your prayer,
and your waiting will end in joy.
~ Adapted from the Iona Community
