I Am Waiting

By Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I am waiting for my case to come up

and I am waiting

for a rebirth of wonder

and I am waiting for someone

to really discover America

and wail

and I am waiting

for the discovery

of a new symbolic western frontier

and I am waiting

for the American Eagle

to really spread its wings

and straighten up and fly right

and I am waiting

for the Age of Anxiety

to drop dead

and I am waiting

for the war to be fought

which will make the world safe

for anarchy

and I am waiting

for the final withering away

of all governments

and I am perpetually awaiting

a rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the Second Coming

and I am waiting

for a religious revival

to sweep thru the state of Arizona

and I am waiting

for the Grapes of Wrath to be stored

and I am waiting

for them to prove

that God is really American

and I am waiting

to see God on television

piped onto church altars

if only they can find

the right channel

to tune in on

and I am waiting

for the Last Supper to be served again

with a strange new appetizer

and I am perpetually awaiting

a rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for my number to be called

and I am waiting

for the Salvation Army to take over

and I am waiting

for the meek to be blessed

and inherit the earth

without taxes

and I am waiting

for forests and animals

to reclaim the earth as theirs

and I am waiting

for a way to be devised

to destroy all nationalisms

without killing anybody

and I am waiting

for linnets and planets to fall like rain

and I am waiting for lovers and weepers

to lie down together again

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the Great Divide to be crossed

and I am anxiously waiting

for the secret of eternal life to be discovered

by an obscure general practitioner

and I am waiting

for the storms of life

to be over

and I am waiting

to set sail for happiness

and I am waiting

for a reconstructed Mayflower

to reach America

with its picture story and tv rights

sold in advance to the natives

and I am waiting

for the lost music to sound again

in the Lost Continent

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the day

that maketh all things clear

and I am awaiting retribution

for what America did

to Tom Sawyer

and I am waiting

for Alice in Wonderland

to retransmit to me

her total dream of innocence

and I am waiting

for Childe Roland to come

to the final darkest tower

and I am waiting

for Aphrodite

to grow live arms

at a final disarmament conference

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting

to get some intimations

of immortality

by recollecting my early childhood

and I am waiting

for the green mornings to come again

youth’s dumb green fields come back again

and I am waiting

for some strains of unpremeditated art

to shake my typewriter

and I am waiting to write

the great indelible poem

and I am waiting

for the last long careless rapture

and I am perpetually waiting

for the fleeing lovers on the Grecian Urn

to catch each other up at last

and embrace

and I am awaiting

perpetually and forever

a renaissance of wonder

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “I Am Waiting” from A Coney Island of the Mind. Copyright © 1958 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

I used to know something about Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and hi

Good Shepherd/ Determined Woman

Sermon Start
Luke 15:1-10
Lost and Found


Scripture this morning invites us to  ponder one - perhaps THE - central theme of our faith:  The surprising grace and mercy of God, who is pictured in the first mini story as the Good and Brave Shepherd, who seeks out each lost lamb -
Who in the second story is the Patient and Persistent Woman who will not give up until she has found her treasure.  This is the God who throws a party when any one who has been away flies or is carried or even crawls back home to the One who loves us all.

The story would be so easy to tell if we just could be sure where we are located in it.  Which part of the story belongs to us.  

Which are we?
Lost?
Found?

What are we supposed to be doing?
Searching for something that is lost?
or Celebrating what God has found?

In the set up to the story, do we identify with the tax collectors and sinners?  Or the righteous folks who worried that Jesus spent too much time with those ne’er do wells? Let’s start there:

Suppose you were to walk into Steak and Shake after church and find Jesus already there, with a motley assortment of losers.  Let’s people that table with . . . somebody just out of jail, a woman whose third or fourth marriage is on the skids,  a kid who is always in trouble at school, someone whose always sick, I don’t know --- think of the people whose lives make you think, “Thank God I’m not them.”  So Jesus is sitting in the corner booth with these guys, and some really nice folks who live down the street, who always keep their yard so nice and have really polite teenagers are sitting at a table there, and they sort of roll their eyes at the rabble in the corner, and wave you over.  But you notice that there’s an empty chair at Jesus’ table, too.  Where do you think you’d sit?  Where would you feel most comfortable and at home? At which of the tables do you belong? 

Maybe, like me, you’d see if there wasn’t a stool at the counter? 

And while you are perched on that stool, suppose you hear Jesus’ voice and he’s telling about the shepherd who, because of one little lost lamb, leaves 99 sheep in the wilderness to fend for themselves while he climbs hills and searches in ravines and wades through underbrush with bambles and thistles until the stupid little sheep who has wandered off is found, exhausted and panicked and vulnerable to predators, and freed from whatever has snared his wooly coat and kept him from following the flock.  And the shepherd picks up the sheep and doesn’t drive him, but carries him back to be reunited with the rest. 

You didn’t THINK you were lost, but you know you feel a bit like that lamb sometimes - you are alone, and you don’t know exactly where you are, and you seem to have wandered off the path you thought you knew so well.  You know the world seems dangerous and you feel as though you lack any protection from those who would do you harm.   And when Jesus describes the Shepherd’s strong hands lifting the lamb and placing him on his shoulders, you long to be carried in those strong arms to a place of safety and rest.

Maybe then you reconsider, and pick up your milkshake and start to join the table with Jesus.

But he’s still talking, and you don’t want to be rude, so you settle in to listen as he tells another story - a story of a woman who has lost an important coin.   It is a tenth of her bridal headress, the only real money she will ever own for herself.  And when realizes it is missing, she is frantic.  She begins looking for it immediately, not waiting until the morning light might aid her in her search.  She lights a lamp, and in that meager light she moves the furniture, she gets out her broom and sweeps every corner, inspects every crevice in the flooring until she finds it. 

And you think of things that you have lost --- and given up on finding.  Maybe it is the joy of living, which somehow slipped away awhile ago and you have been too busy to go back to try to regain it.  Maybe it is a commitment to someone or something, even your best self, that just isn’t there anymore.  Maybe it is a spiritual practice - - - prayer, or generosity, or hospitality that used to shape your life, but which lies forgotten . . . where?  You aren’t quite sure.  Maybe it is your faith.  People lose their faith all the time, and not everyone bothers looking for it. 

But whatever it is, the woman who sweeps and searches through the night reminds you of how much you miss it.  You want it.  And you think that maybe, if Jesus helps you, you might be willing to light the lamp, burn the midnight oil, upend your room and pick through the dust and spiderwebs in the corners of your life until you find it again.

The crowd at Jesus’ table is laughing and cheering again, as Jesus describes what happens at the end of the story -  BOTH stories end the same way:  There is a party, a celebration with rejoicing and music and food and good company.  Jesus says, there is  a party that reflects the party that angels have in heaven whenever the lost is found, when the wanderer returns, when a life is reunited with the God who loves us so.  That’s the kind of happy ending you want for your story.  You spin on your stool and head for the chair that’s been waiting for you this whole time.

Lost? 
Found? 
One who has lost a treasure?
or one who is actively searching?
Where are you in the story? 
Maybe you still aren’t quite sure. 
But at least you know where you want to sit at Steak and Shake.