Kneeling, waiting on God can be infuriating. This image from our Te Deum window over the West (actually south but who’s counting) doors of the cathedral is a detail we never really see because the window is so high. I think this is Mary of Magdala because she is often in purple since she is considered in lore to have gained her family wealth by the trade of purple dye. She holds a golden bowl of some precious thing and she waits.
And so do we,
We wait and we listen and sometimes we even strain to hear God. And while all this happens God is surrounded by Glory – that heavy, sumptuous music and praise which is the due of the creator of the universe. And, still, waiting of God is not easy. We want answers – well, I know I do. And I would perfect them when I ask for them and not is some divine bread-crumb line of clues which seems so often to be how God does God’s answering of questions. And of course the “why” question seems always to go into a celestial trash bin directly from the prayer-printer.
So we wait and we watch and we notice that even in the glory, there is an echo of tenderness, like lavender in the air of an office of typists while we wait on God.
