“Stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power
from on high”.
And that is how it needs to be so often.
Hard on the heels of momentous, often unwelcome events,
those which absorb all our attention,
there is a need for a time of waiting,
waiting for the next stage of life to unfold,
to become clear,
waiting for the strength and courage to take the next steps.
Did the disciples wait patiently, confidently, as they obeyed,
staying in the city?
Or, like us so often, did they chafe and question,
fretting and wondering,
anxious to be getting on?
Or, did they hide away,
not daring even to contemplate the future?
Help us, God of kept promises
to be patient in the waiting times
until we too are clothed with your life-giving power
as we step out again on the road to the Kingdom.