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Viewpoint from Revd Dan Waite 20/04/2018

Revd Dan Waite
Associate Minister, St Andrew’s Church, Gorleston

as published in the Yarmouth Mercury

“EXPECTANCY” comes from Easter

 
Here we are once again in the season of Easter, full of hope and expectation of what God is going to do in the world. We are reminded again that Jesus has overcome, that his blood shed on the cross has conquered sin and death; and that his Holy Spirit is abroad amongst us. Coupled with that, the seasons of the year have moved on from depressing winter into spring and the anticipation of summer and sunshine and all the glory of God’s creation.  New life is shown in flowers and trees and in all the size range of insects and birds and animals. Hope is a wonderful thing, it fleshes out our belief and faith, but expectation takes hope that one stage further
 
As a young couple might hope for a baby, when a pregnancy is confirmed, then         hope for a child becomes expectancy of a baby, the situation is within our        understanding. As a baby develops we have an expectancy of the child growing       and crawling and walking and talking. We have an expectancy of a child         learning at school and how to live in a family and social situation and develop        into adulthood within society
 
In worldly terms we have a pattern in which we can express our expectancy. The Jewish nation was expecting a Messiah. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowd shouted out “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the       Lord”.   For the most part, the Jews expected he would be a charismatic warrior king who would lead them into driving out the hated Roman presence from their land and restoring their nation to its former glory. They were blind to Jesus’ real mission of establishing God’s eternal kingdom. Earlier in his ministry Jesus was unable to carry out many miracles in his hometown of Nazareth, they knew him as a carpenter and so had no faith or expectations of him as the Messiah, the Saviour of the world
 
As Christians, we need to bring more ‘expectancy’ into our lives of faith and prayer. The Easter story itself shows us that we can rely on, and so expect God to bring something good out of a bad situation. So, as we exercise our faith in prayer and action, we need to develop an edge of expectation. We need to learn how we can see situations not with the world view, but with our all-powerful God’s perspective – often through prophetic words, for God loves to tell us what he plans to do. Our prayer of faith for healing or any other situation needs to be expressed with expectation that God will act. We need to let go of our limitations and let God fill our expectations                         
         

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