Anticipation

When Tom and I were sitting at LAX some 30 years ago with 18-month-old Joshua, passports and tickets to Thailand in hand, two trunks of books and clothes already on the plane, we knew things would be different very soon. While we knew this was what we were being called to do and had been prepared for, we couldn’t know how this step would impact every day of our lives thereafter.

This Sunday’s readings seem to explode with anticipation. After all, next Sunday is Palm Sunday – the beginning of Holy Week. We can feel this building “The days are coming….” Jeremiah says… The new covenant will be written “…upon their hearts;” and we pray with the Psalmist to prepare our hearts for this day ‘Create a clean heart in me O God’.

Jesus is anticipating what is the culmination of His mission.

"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…
"I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
'Father, save me from this hour'?
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name." …
…Now is the time of judgment on this world;
now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw everyone to myself."

Today, when mission doctors and their families sit at the airport ready to board the plane to begin an assignment at a mission hospital or clinic, they may be anticipating the experience, being both excited about the possibilities and anxious about the upcoming challenges. They take this step into the unknown with the surety that they are called to do so because of their faith in the One who has been lifted up.

This week we are called to go deeper – continue our efforts as we prepare to renew our Baptism on Holy Saturday – Prayer, Sacrifice and Good Works - what will we do to discern what we are being called to? How can we be obedient to that call?