Waiting To Sing, To Drink, To Stop Waiting

Psalm 40.1-8
"I waited patiently for the Lord, who stooped to me and heard my cry.
The Lord lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a high cliff, making my footing sure.
The Lord put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the Lord."

Matthew 9.14-17
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’

40

I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?

You set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm.
Many will see, many will see and hear.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?

You're familiar with the idea that wine takes a certain amount of time to fully mature. I know that I often struggle with waiting; for a winemaker, who has to wait until just the right time to enjoy a wine at its best, I imagine the wait must be intolerable. How many of us have developed the capacity to wait well? We shuffle from foot to foot in the checkout lane, groan and grumble in traffic, fidget at the doctor's office. My brother and his family, and my sister-in-law and her family, are on their way here for a visit this weekend and we just can't wait to see them in our new home. The snow is keeping us from fully unpacking my tools and shop materials, and it's getting to where we're grumbling about the wait. Even when there are good things in store, when we know the outcome will be something desirable and enjoyable, it's hard to wait in a world of drive-thru meals, automatic payments and instant credit.

Jesus was asked by John's followers, "Why aren't your disciples fasting like everyone else?" The assumption behind the question was that followers of a great teacher would strengthen their faith and their learning by fasting and other "waiting" disciplines. But Jesus wasn't a teacher: he was the Messiah, and fasting in the presence of the Messiah would be akin to fasting during a wedding feast. When the wine is ready, you drink it; when the wedding feast has come, you eat and drink and dance and celebrate; when the Messiah has come, the time for waiting is over and the time for celebration has come.

Jesus said that the days would come when the wedding party will be gone and the time for celebration will be over. I wonder if these days are what he was describing. The Messiah seems distant at best and absent at worst. One celebrity dies tragically young and receives more attention than thousands of children suffering and dying every day in countries around the world. Churches splinter and fall apart for reasons they can no longer remember. God has promised us a new song, but how long until we will be able to sing it? How long until the song will be heard?

Here, in this moment, God answers the prayer: NOW. Now is the moment to sing. Now is the moment to let the new song sound forth. It may not seem like the right moment, but the moment is not what matters: the song is what matters. Even if the song is a question, like "How long?", the fact that we're singing at all says something about the God who created us and in whom we trust. Earlier in Matthew's gospel, Jesus told his followers, "You are the light of the world...let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Here, now, in this present darkness, our song is the light God has given us. When Jesus is present, that is the moment to sing, regardless of what that moment might look like to the world around us, because the song has the power to change the world, to bring light into darkness.

In the movie Sideways, Paul Giamatti's character, Miles, is a dedicated wine snob who's been holding a bottle of Pinot Noir for years, waiting for the absolutely perfect moment to enjoy it. When that moment comes, it's not what any wine drinker would expect - but what matters is that the wine is ready, the moment has come, the song must be sung, so to speak: so Miles drinks his Pinot Noir and he is changed, forever. For us, who ask God, "how long?", the answer returns: "Now. Sing now - and see how the world may be changed, how you might be changed, through My song, My new wine, My love." It's time to sing, friends. Amen.