WAITING FOR GOD’S COMING

 “Those who wait for the Lord (Yahweh) shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  --Isaiah 40:31

 Fifty years ago Samuel Beckett, who thought of himself as an atheist, wrote a play entitled “Waiting For Godot.” Many saw it as simply a gloomy and depressing story, while others, including myself, thought when we say it on stage as something a bit more significant.

 Two men, Estragon and Vladimir, wait by a tree on a country road. They are held there by the fact that they are “waiting for Godot to come.” While waiting on the first day, they are visited by two strangers. Pozzo, an elegantly dressed cleric, drives before him with a whip his slave, Lucky, tethered on a long rope and carrying Pozzo’s baggage, stool, coat, etc.. Stopping for rest and conversation, Pozzo has his lunch, sharing only bare bones with the other three. While there, Lucky is induced to recite a strange enigmatic “text” containing in subtle form traditional and formal arguments for the existence of God.

At day’s end Pozzo and Lucky leave Estragon and Vladimir at the tree “waiting for Godot to come.” Before night falls, however, a boy enters and says, “Godot will come tomorrow.”

On the second day, Pozzo and Lucky come again. This time Pozzo is blind and disheveled, the rope tether is shorter, and Lucky leads the way. Pozzo, lost and unsure of himself, is without clear direction, has no food, and cries for help. They stop again to visit Vladimir and Estragon who are “waiting for Godot to come.” Also, again after Pozzo and Lucky leave, a boy appears to announce that “Godot will come tomorrow.”

What does it all mean? Is it possible this is a parable of Biblical faith in the presence of the mystery of God, who does not “exist,” but is always “coming tomorrow” as creative, life-giving and sustaining spirit? Could the tree be the cross of Christ at which we ultimately wait for God’s appearing? Does Pozzo, on the first day, represent the arrogant and pompous self-serving of enlightened human society (including the institutional church), enslaving others with polite ways and manners, jargon and rhetoric, while giving only lip service and leftovers to those in need? How about the second day when he is blind and unsure of himself? Is that where we are today when we are not among those who live their lives waiting for God’s coming? Could Lucky (the graced one) be a sign of true humanity, serving others “as a slave”? And what about the boy? Is he the messenger (angel) whom comes to tell us that the true God is always “coming tomorrow,” meeting us in our future with promise and blessing, and calling us to be “waiters” (servants)?

During the second day of the story, with Pozzo and Lucky still on the scene, Vladimir makes a speech. He says, “Let us not waste our time in idle discourse…Let us do something while we have the chance? It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears. But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for once the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us! What do you say? … It is true that when with folded arms we weigh the pros and cons we are no less a credit to our species. The tiger bounds to the help of his congeners without the least reflection or else he slinks away into the depths of the thickets. But that is not the question. What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come….”

Is this not what truly sustains us in human life, the realization that we are always waiting for God’s coming with fresh gifts of grace each day, challenging us to do more than make speeches, but to answer the cries for help which meet us daily in our living? Is this not the Gospel (good news!) of the only God?

 Prayer:
Eternal God, who commits to us the swift and solemn trust of life: Since we know not what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour for serving You is always present, may we wake to the instant claims of Your holy will, not waiting for tomorrow, but yielding today. Consecrate with Your presence the way our feet may go, so that the humblest work will shine, the roughest places will be made plain, and Your image will be formed in all who faithfully and patiently wait each day for Your coming; hrough Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
                                                                             

--The Rev. Bob Fiske