I think sometimes we get confused. And one of the things we confuse is waiting and anticipation. In Luke we read about Annah, the widowed woman who lived her life in prayer and fasting in the temple, waiting... What does that mean?

I remember visiting my parents in Santa Fe early one summer. My Dad asked one if his mechanics is there would be a dance at the Pueblo that weekend. "No," was the reply. Late that Friday evening the man called and said, "We will dance this weekend. You can come. But you can tell no-one."

We went to the Pueblo Saturday morning. There was no activity that we could see. We walked around. An Elder brought a key and let us in the Church, showing us around. Still no activity outside. After a while we could faintly hear the sound of a flute and some rattles. People hurried from their homes to gather on the plaza. The dancers—Elders and spiritual leaders of various clans—began to emerge from the Kiva, the underground "church".

They had been gathered there to pray and converse with the Kachinas, the spirits of the helpers of the People. This was the Na"maan Ceremony, when the Kachinas return to the Holy Places and tell the Holy Ones what the People needed. It is one of the holiest ceremonials of the Pueblo religious cycle.

Why the wait? This moment was the "right" time—end of the time of waiting. It is not a time for "something to happen "It is a time for completion, for fullness. It is not found on a calendar or clock.

Anticipation, on the other hand is. Yes, it involves waiting. But it also presumes a particular outcome, a pre-determined set time. We hurry through it. Often, rather than fulfillment, we experience let-down. (In my imagination I anticipate our Christmas decorations to be put up at least be Halloween and Santa’s sleigh being led by Rudolph the Red Beaked Turkey.) The openness, the encounter with the spiritual dimension seems missing. We starve from lack of the experience of the Ever Present God who still comes to those who wait.