From the Pastor's Study
From the Pastor’s Study
Urgency or Impatience
Feb 02, 2022
Feelings of impatience and a sense of urgency often feel very much alike, but they are very different from each other. A child may feel impatient as she waits for her birthday. Each night, when she is tucked into bed, she and her mother count how many more sleeps it will be until her birthday. I sometimes feel impatient when I have ordered something online, and it is slow in arriving. I repeatedly log onto the website and view the tracking, watching my package’s snail’s pace movement around the country. Very often we feel impatient because things take too long to happen.
A sense of urgency is quite the opposite. A university student often has a lot of work to complete before the end of the semester, and he doesn’t feel he has enough time to complete it. Or a contractor has fallen behind with the house and the closing date is fast approaching, but there is so much left to do. These kinds of things cause a sense of urgency in us. Urgency evokes the same physical and mental reactions as impatience – uneasiness, inability to sleep, discontent, irritability, etc. – but urgency is addressing a real problem while feelings of impatience arise because we have created a problem where there really isn’t one. We feel impatient because there is too much time, but we feel the sense of urgency because there is not enough time.
Lately I have been experiencing feelings that could be understood to be either impatience or a sense of urgency, and it all has to do with COVID and the restrictions. Others tell me to be patient which implies, of course, that I am feeling impatient. And maybe I am. But I wonder if I am also feeling a sense of urgency.
COVID has taken many things from us, and we all would like to get some of those things back. I am impatient, for example, to get rid of the mask requirement, but I don’t see any real urgency to do so. Those who have breathing problems, on the other hand, might feel a sense of urgency instead of mere impatience. I was impatient for restaurants to open again, for I enjoy having breakfast with a few colleagues. For that I can learn to be patient, but for those who earn their living in the restaurant industry, there has been a real sense of urgency.
Some of the things COVID has taken from us, however, do call for a sense of urgency. It is very difficult to visit those who are the hospital, for example, yet those who are ill need to be able to see their family, friends, and pastor. Visits are very limited in our hospice system as well, and it is fundamentally wrong that family and friends cannot freely visit those whose earthly journey is coming to an end. Access to retirement homes and long-term care facilities is also significantly restricted, and that is a loss we cannot live with for long. Education for our children has been terribly disrupted, and some estimate that it will take a decade for our system to be restored. Manufacturing and transportation systems have slowed down leaving us without access to some of the things we need or want.
In the church, there is an even greater sense of urgency. Many of our children and youth programs give us an opportunity to reach members of our broader community, and it may well be that what they hear in our ministries may be the only time they hear about Jesus. Worshipping at home (thankfully we have that option) fails to take into account that worship is a communal experience where we encourage each other, uphold each other and hold each other accountable. Worshipping online cannot be compared to the blessing of gathering together. Even our coffee fellowship after our morning worship service is a time when we, as the body of Christ, are strengthened in our faith and community. Equipping God’s children for works of service and bringing the gospel to the community are the foundational tasks of the church. If we do not have a sense of urgency about this work, we have missed our calling as followers of Jesus Christ.
In the past two years many churches have put much of their ministry on hold. Like with anything of urgency, there is usually a little leeway before the effects of ceasing our work begin to show. In many congregations, however, the restrictions are starting to have serious effects on the spiritual lives of the members. Many are becoming complacent, uninterested and disengaged. I sense a little of that in the Blyth congregation, although it is not nearly as noticeable as elsewhere.
I may be impatient, but perhaps what I am actually feeling is a sense of urgency. The right response to impatience is to wait and do nothing, to be patient until it is over. The only response to urgency is to get moving and get things done. A child who is waiting for her birthday to come can do nothing but wait, perhaps distracting herself so she doesn’t think about how many days it will be before the big day arrives. A student who is feeling a sense of urgency cannot be idle. He must work, because the time is short. If it merely impatience we are feeling at this present time, then we ought to do nothing. If it is a sense of urgency, should we not be pressing forward?
Pastor Gary
