Advent's waiting now gives way to Christmas. But still there is waiting. In the various accounts of Christ's birth we find people who wait in different ways, and for different things.

Consider the innkeeper who waits for business, then shuts out the strangers because he has what he was waiting for: plenty of customers. He has no more room. He is not open; the door is shut.

Then there is Herod. His waiting is marked by fear, or resentment. And so he is unable to be open to the message of the Magi. Fearful and anxious about losing his power, his heart is insulated against what he might hear or see that would threaten what he has: power. He waits in an attitude of suspicion, anxious that someone will come and take his power away from him.

The shepherds wait. The tradition has it that the shepherds were poor and simple people. They did not have great ambition. They had to struggle with life's demands, trusting that ordinary things would come their way, waiting for the fruits of their labor so that they could meet their daily needs. They wait in quiet trust. Theirs is a calm and restful waiting as they quietly tend to their duties on the hillsides.

They are ready to hear. Their hearts are open to God's coming. Surely they are frightened at the beginning, upon first hearing the startling news. But because of their simplicity and their hope born in waiting, they waste no time in getting to the manger. They are able to surrender to what they see, to what they hear.

Mary waits with trust and openness to know God's will for her. She is attentive, expectant, waiting joyfully for the birth of her child. Her waiting is now coming to fullness. In spite of the fact that her circumstances were less than ideal, her waiting blossoms into a fullness that gives birth to the world's hope.

Joseph waits, too. His waiting is one of attentiveness to the will of God, alert to the new responsibilities that will be his with the birth of the child. Because of his openness to what God was asking, he could surrender in waiting to what was awaiting him. He could live through his waiting with a heart open to whatever God was asking of him. He is quietly present to God. He waits for the will of God, in patience, open to learn how to care for and to protect this woman and the mysterious child.

As we wait for the celebration of Christmas this year, perhaps there is no better time to ask: What are our hearts waiting for? How are our hearts waiting? Like the heart of the innkeeper and of Herod, closed and anxious? Or like the heart of a shepherd, of Mary, of Joseph?

If we are honest with ourselves about what we are waiting for, then we will know how to wait. What is more, we will know how long to wait. For if what we are waiting for is truly good and worthwhile, we will be willing to wait as long as it takes.

We may be waiting for our families to be reunited at Christmas. Or we may be waiting for that one particular Christmas gift. Perhaps we are waiting for a well-deserved break from our labors, a time for rest and rejuvenation. These are all good, and all worth waiting for.

But the deeper question is: What is the one thing --- which is not a thing at all --- worth waiting for?

At Christmas, what we wait for is the coming of Love into the world, the Love seen in the open arms and beaming smile of a vulnerable child. We await the gift of the God who is with us in all our joys and hopes, but just as much in our grief and anguish. This God whose name above all names is Love does not enter the world like a Hollywood superhero, taking away all our brokenness and alleviating all our suffering. This is Emmanuel --- God with us --- in the tragedies of our lives just as much as in our triumphs.

Even at Christmas, we have to surrender to the waiting. In the waiting of the shepherds, in the waiting of Mary, in the waiting of Joseph, we see how we are to wait. And we see what is truly worth waiting for: the Love that comes to us in powerlessness and littleness, without defense or force. And so we must wait quietly and attentively to God's constant coming, more often than not in unexpected, startlingly gentle ways.

But the waiting is not all ours. God waits in patience for us to accept the offer of Love given and giving in the vulnerability of the child in a manger. Glad tidings indeed: God is willing to wait for as long as it takes for our response to the Love that came and comes into the world at Christmas!