Dear friends,
A few weeks ago, Pauline was summoned for jury service, so with some trepidation, she set off to the Crown Court, wondering what was in store. The answer was soon apparent – lots of sitting around and waiting. She was armed with a good book, which was just as well, because by the end of the week, she still hadn’t been called on to a jury, and at last received an apologetic email to say that her service, though appreciated, was now finished. It would have been easy to write the experience off as a waste of time, but on one of those frustrating mornings sitting in the jurors’ lounge, she was suddenly reminded of the words, ‘They also serve who only stand and wait’. Researching them later, we discovered that they were written by John Milton, the great 17th century poet who lost his sight in his early forties, at the peak of his powers. He longed to be busy in God’s service as others were, and as he had once been, but realised that God was calling him to other forms of activity – the exercise of patience, standing still and waiting, and actively choosing to submit.
Jurors are chosen and called, even if they are required only to wait – and refusing to turn up is not an option. The writer of this week’s’ Lectio 365 reflections reminded us that God says, ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.’ It is so easy to interpret this scripture as a call to physical activity, but might we see waiting also as service? Patience as endeavor? Submitting to enforced inactivity as our essential contribution to God’s cause? In a season of waiting, we can and must hold on to the promise that God is still using us to bear fruit which will last, and that He will always respond when we call on His name, because prayer is never wasted. Jurors who sit and wait are essential, as there must always be enough jurors present to cover a case should it become necessary. They might never be used in the way they expected, but the court can’t function effectively without them. It’s the same in any field of Christian life and service, because, as Milton knew,
God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best…
They also serve who only stand and wait.
With our love and prayers, as you wait on Him,
Matthew and Pauline