Luke 1:39-45: Waiting together

How do we wait? Our gospel lesson and our dialogue sermon suggests that we wait together as did Mary and Elizabeth.
What happened when Mary received the words of promise?
She went to Elizabeth. Something was happening to Elizabeth as well as to Mary. Elizabeth and Mary came together and enabled each other to wait.
These two women created space for each other to wait. They affirmed for each other that something was happening that was worth waiting for.

For us, as a community of faith, this is a model for our living. Mary and Elizabeth model for us support, celebration and affirmation in which we can build up what has already begun in us. Mary and Elizabeth are gathered around a promise, that affirms that something is really happening.

The whole meaning of Christian community lies in offering a space in which we wait together for what we have already seen. Community is the place where we keep the flame alive among us and take it seriously so that it can grow and become stronger in us. In this way we can live in a spirit of hope and courage in a world that is marked by darkness and despair.

Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, living in expectation – that is the meaning of community and the Christian life.
(H. Nouwen, Weavings, Jan. 1987)