Central Lutheran Church - Elk River

The Chronicles of Advent: Simeon with Pastor Ryan Braley

• Central Lutheran Church

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The hardest part of waiting isn’t the clock—it’s the uncertainty that pulls at your nerves and the loss of control that makes every minute feel heavier. We open the door to that tension and walk through it together, blending neuroscience, a fresh look at the Stanford marshmallow test, and an ancient story that refuses to blink in the face of delay.

You’ll hear why patience isn’t just willpower and why trust turns the dial on how long we can hold out. We trace Israel’s long ache for consolation and meet Simeon, an ordinary elder who sees a hidden king in the arms of a poor couple with two doves. Nothing in his world changes—Rome still rules, the temple still disappoints—yet he finds deep peace because his hope rests in a person, not a forecast. That distinction—optimism tied to circumstances versus hope grounded in trustworthy character—runs through everything from hospital results to prodigal kids, from addiction recovery to the quiet griefs we carry through the holidays.

We get practical, too. Name the gap between what is and what you long for. Reclaim small agency while releasing outcomes you can’t control. Remember past rescues to rebuild trust. Lean on communities that tell the truth and hold the wait with you. And craft simple rituals that make time feel held instead of hostile. If uncertainty has you clenched, this conversation offers a different way to stand in the in‑between—steadier, kinder, and more resilient.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s in a waiting room of their own, and leave a quick review to help others find us. What are you waiting for—and what helps you hold on?

Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org


SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, waiting is uh living in this gap. In between what is and what we long for. What we expect to happen. There's this gap and waiting is just living in this gap in between what is, how things currently are, and how we want them to be, what we long for, what we expect. Waiting isn't just time passing, it's not just that. It's time that's sort of charged with all kinds of energy and expectations and hope and emotion and disappointment and distraction and unrest sometimes. And meaning for sure. This is why waiting feels different if you're in a waiting room versus if you're just hanging out with a friend, snowboarding on the slopes or having a nice meal. It feels different, doesn't it? Because waiting is often charged with these extremely sort of uh poignant elements of life.

SPEAKER_01:

Disappointment and meaning and unrest and expectation.

SPEAKER_00:

And waiting, for many of us, is difficult. It's hard to wait. It's hard to wait in this gap between what is and what we long for. Because we don't want to wait, we want it now. In fact, there's a study that they did with young kids called the it's the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. Have you guys heard of this? Okay, none of you took seventh grade uh psychology in middle school, fair enough. Okay, this is a hilarious and also very good experiment. They took these kids and they put them in a room with a research expert, an adult, some by themselves, some with a partner, and said, Hey, we're gonna give you a marshmallow. And if you wait and don't eat it right away, you can eat it whenever you want to. But if you wait after a minute or two or three, we'll come back in, we're gonna leave you alone. And you know, kids alone can sometimes run amok, but or wreak havoc. They said, We'll leave you alone for about a minute or two or three. We'll come back in, and if the marshmallow is still there, we'll give you a second one. Now, again, you're free to eat it whenever you want to, but if you wait, we'll give you a second marshmallow. So the adult left, and that kid sat there staring at the marshmallow. You can Google video this. It's hilarious watching these kids that are just like, you know, they want that marshmallow so badly. And if they waited, they got a second one. Now, some of them just ate it right away. They couldn't help themselves. Like they wanted that marshmallow so badly. Others were able to wait. And a minute or two or three later, the research expert, the adult, came back in the room and gave them a second marshmallow. So it was a test in waiting, and what you thought was like self-control. And they found that the kids that waited, they did like a long-term study as well. They researched this moment, then they kept following these same kids. And the kids that waited, that were able to control themselves, they found out over the next subsequent decades, those kids overall had a better ability to regulate their own emotions as adults, or as like teenagers and and uh and pre you know pre-adults. They could regulate themselves in much better fashion. They had higher test scores, they had a better overall sort of return on life, you might say, for many of them. And they had a stronger, they had stronger coping skills as teenagers and as adults. And so that, oh, so folks that can you know can regulate themselves, can hold on, can wait, can have patience, actually end up living better overall lives. That's what they found, or so they thought. But the problem is waiting is very difficult. It's hard. It's hard to wait. I'm gonna ask those kids to wait in front of this marshmallow and see what would happen. There's all kinds of things at play here, but waiting is hard. And here's why waiting is so hard, if you ask me. Waiting is hard because waiting is pregnant with uncertainty. You don't really know. You're waiting for something to happen, and it may happen, it may not happen. You don't really know. That's why you're waiting. It's full of uncertainty. They found in studies that some people, a lot of people, I don't know the number, it's like overwhelming majority of folks, would rather have the results of something as a certainty, even though it might be a negative result. But if it was certain, they wanted that over and against, waiting for something that's in this liminal time of uncertainty that might be good or bad. I'll say it again because it's pretty shocking. Folks would rather have a certain result, even though it's a bad one. Like I just want to know the result, even though it's negative, rather than waiting to see if it's good or bad. Why? Because folks hate uncertainty. Also, there's this when you wait, there's this lack of control. There are so many things that you don't control when you're waiting. You can't. You're not driving, you don't have the joystick. You can't control it. That's why you're waiting. There's all kinds of ancillary extra things at play and at work here. And so we don't like to not, oh, if you're like me, we don't like to not be in control. I like being in control. And when I'm waiting, I can't often control the outcome. That's why waiting is hard. Thirdly, there's this time seems to warp when you're waiting, doesn't it? Like time has different experiences. Like sometimes like time takes a long time, sometimes it's a short time. If you're not watching a pot boil or preparing to boil, happens instantaneously. If you're not watching the microwave and the popcorn, if you're not watching your phone or your computer update the software, it happens almost right away. But boy, if you're watching it, suddenly you're feeling in your spirit like, my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? This moment, it takes forever. It's why waiting rooms are oftentimes excruciating because time seems to slow down, it bends, it morphs, it sort of ebbs and flows. It's a weird experience time. So, yeah, waiting rooms are often tough, like real waiting rooms. But also the waiting rooms of life, they're tough. You know, they're tough. When you're waiting for the results of the biopsy, that's tough. And you're left in this liminal space and things are uncertain and you don't have control and time is sort of bending. You're like, what is happening here? Like, it's hard to wait in that waiting room. Or if you have kids who are adults and like they're kind of like wandering kids, you're like, will they ever come home again? Will they ever sort of find their faith again? Will they ever stop being a knucklehead? Uh I don't know. It's this waiting room of life, and it's hard to wait. After the job interview, like, oh my God, is this gonna work or not? What are the results? I don't know. And you're left waiting. It's this in-between liminal kind of space and time. It's hard. Will I ever recover from addiction? Will I ever overcome this thing? Like, keep tripping me up. Will I ever be free of this? I don't know. Will I ever receive healing fully? Will I ever experience life in this fullness of a way that like Jesus talks about? Will I ever feel fulfilled in my life with my family, my job? My will I ever forgive so and so? Will they ever forgive me? I'm just waiting in this in-between time. Will I ever receive fullness? Will I ever be whole? Will I ever be able to overcome this? Will I ever receive the fertility results I want? Will I ever be able to have kids? What about this one? At this time of year, I think a lot about folks who've lost a loved one. Will the grief ever go away? Will I ever not be fully always thinking about that person that I lost? And so waiting is hard. It's tough. It's odd too because the science shows us that when you wait, it activates two parts of your brain. There's one part of your brain that activates when you wait, that lights up, that says, hey, it's fine, relax. You've been here before, you've seen the results of other things like this. Just relax, you'll be fine. That's one part of your brain. Literally, the other part of your brain is like, no, no, no, take control. Grab the joystick, grab the wheel, take it, it's yours, go do it, do something, do something. And so many of you have this experience when you're waiting, that you're kind of torn, or wrestling with yourself. And that's actually normal. It's kind of how science, how the brain is sort of wired. Do something. No, just relax. And so you wait in this uncomfortable time. The the Bible story we heard this morning, a guy called Simeon, or Simon, either way. Simeon is fine too. Uh Simeon is this random dude who just shows up in the book of Luke. He's not anywhere else in the Bible. And we know very little about him. We don't know his family is, we don't know his job. He's not a priest. He's hanging out at the temple for some odd reason. We don't know what he's doing there necessarily, other than he's waiting, we're told. But we don't know much about him. He's sort of this ordinary, average kind of guy who's just hanging out there. Now, one thing we think we know about him is that he's actually an older gentleman. And there's all kinds of reasons for that, but he seems like this old guy who's hanging out at the temple, just waiting. This average, ordinary old dude. Now, we're told in the text that he's actually righteous and devout, the gospel of Luke says. Now, remember last week Ben talked about how what righteous means. A righteous person in the Jewish story and in the Greek language here means a person who's like is honors the laws of God, who's trying to live in relationship with God and to live out the path that God has called them to live on to. So it's like someone on the journey. They're faithful, they're righteous, they're trying to live it out because they love God. They're devoted to God. And they believe that God loves them, has a plan and kind of a way of living in the world that's better than all other ways. And so, Simeon, we're told he's righteous and he's devout. So there you go. He's not a priest, but he's righteous, he's devout, and he's living up there at the temple. He's up there all the time, he's probably old. And also the text says this he's waiting for the consolation of Israel. Yeah, I love that. Now, some traditions hold that he's really old, maybe a hundred years old. Now, I don't know, but the ancient Near East life expectancy for a man was about 30 to 35 years old. Not long. So just after Simeon, we hear about a woman, an old woman called Anna. Anna was 84 years old. That's super old. Can I get an amen from all the old folks in the room? But Simeon was maybe even older. They don't know. We don't know. Some say he's maybe a hundred, some one tradition that I don't know if they're right, says it's like 270, that'd be a miracle. But he's old. Imagine this guy. I imagine the people at the temple, because there's people everywhere in this temple scene, they're watching him. He's up there as this old, decrepit, maybe he's bent over, scraggly hair, salt and pepper. Maybe he's got, you know, he can't see, he's maybe half blind. And he's up there every day waiting for the consolation of Israel. Like, what is this eccentric old kook doing now? What is he doing? They're probably laughing at him. Like, what's he doing? Now, consolation means this. Uh, it's this word that means, uh, sorry, consolation means uh this comfort received by a person after a loss or disappointment. So he's waiting for the consolation, the comfort for Israel. Which means that currently, then, if he's waiting for it, it's not there yet. That currently the people of Israel, I'll explain who that is in just a minute, they're actually in a current state of disappointment, of discomfort, of unrest, things being not how they should be, tension, you might say. And he's waiting for the consolation of Israel. Remember, Israel was the people of God. So, way, way back, rewind way back to Abraham and Sarah. Remember, Father Abraham had many sons. Remember that song? Okay, fair enough. You got it. You're tracking. You went to Sunday school. Uh Abraham marries Sarah. So after Adam and Eve, the whole thing, this creation experiment begins to spiral out of control. Cain kills Abel, the flood, everybody's wicked. And God's like, what am I gonna do? God chooses Abraham and Sarah. It's like, I'm gonna bless these two. I'm gonna show them how to live with me, and then they'll show the whole world. They were to bless Abraham and Sarah, God was, and then they would bless the whole world and show the whole world how to live with God. Because how does one know how to live with God? Unless you're shown. So Abraham and Sarah have a guy called, they have a kid called Isaac. So Abraham, Isaac, Isaac has a son named Jacob. Jacob changes his name to Israel. Israel or Jacob has 12 sons or the 12 tribes of Israel, that's what it comes from. And um, they become this great nation, a people that know how to relate to God. It's this beautiful covenantal relationship, like a partnership between humanity and God. And it's called the nation of Israel. Remember though, it was always to bless the whole world. And Israel gets it wrong a number of times. And I'm so glad that you and I don't have that problem, do we? They get it wrong. And because of that, because of their sin, their wayward ways, their inward focused living, they end up in exile. They're far from home, they're far from the temple, they're living under foreign rule, and they're waiting for God to restore them and to bring them back home, to heal their wounds and their brokenness. And they're waiting. And they wait for a very long time for God to send somebody to rescue them. They call this person a Messiah, or in the Greek it's called the Christos, the Christ. And they're waiting. And they do come back to the land, but it's not the same, and they're waiting. And Simeon, this devout and righteous Jewish man, is waiting for God to save the people of Israel and then save the whole world. He's waiting. He's waiting. Some people think for over 400 years in this dark place and time in Israel's history, and they are waiting. Yeah, there he is. He's living in the gap between what is and he longs for it. They long for someone to come rescue the people of God. And he's waiting. And then Joseph and Mary show up on this average, ordinary, I don't know, Tuesday afternoon at the temple, people everywhere, a lot of buzz and noise, kids, babies, they're probably in the temple courts and the court of women where there's women and men and you know all kinds of craziness coming going on. And Joseph and Mary show up because they're there for two reasons. One, they're there for a purification ritual. They got to purify Mary. Mary was had given birth about 40 days prior, and according to the Jewish law, she's unclean. Now you're like, that sounds crazy, because in our modern-day sensibilities, like, how could a woman who gave birth be unclean? Fair enough. In our modern minds, no doubt. But in the ancient world, remember that giving birth, childbirth was this incredibly holy, sacred, dangerous, mysterious thing. They didn't know how it all worked and what would happen. There was always, there was blood involved and danger, women died, babies died. It was like incredibly like life and death were brushing up against each other all the time. It was a very tenuous, sacred, holy, dangerous, mysterious thing childbirth was. And so after you gave birth and everyone came out okay and you lived, and there was like all this, you would go to the temple to give thanks to God for like, hey, thank you, God, for this beautiful gift for this baby. Thanks that we all live, and it's okay, and we're gonna be okay. And you would give this gift, a sacrifice to God, and then you would purify the woman because she would then be purified. And so this is what so they're there to purify Mary after this giving birth, this sacred traditional thing. And every ancient culture had these rituals and rules around childbirth because it was such a sacred, dangerous thing. And so they are no different. And they wanted to treat childbirth like this, like with reverence and awe. If you've ever been in the birthing room with a baby, it's amazing watching a mother give birth to this is crazy, this is a miracle, right? What is going on? So that's what they're there. They're there for that. They're also there to dedicate, to give Jesus, this baby, to God. Because that was what you did. In the Jewish law, you'd give the firstborn child to God. It was also according to Jewish law, it was a reminder, by the way, they did this because it was a reminder of what happened in the Jewish story years ago. So after Abraham and Isaac, those people of Israel end up in slavery in Egypt. And they're enslaved, they're being oppressed, treated horribly, and they cry out to God. God sends Moses, and Moses delivers them and saves them. One of the ways he does it, if you remember the story, is uh they have to give these signs to the Pharaoh who's overseeing their slavery, to like say, Hey, Pharaoh, let us go. And one sounds like God's like, Hey, the spirit of death will come through this area, and I want you, the Jewish people, the Israelites, to mark your door with blood, and the spirit of death will pass over you. Everybody else, though, the spirit of death will come in and it will actually take the firstborn child. And so, this is part of their story that God saves them. So every generation after that, God tells them, Hey, remember that I saved you back in Egypt. I delivered you from slavery. And that's from I'm a God who delivers people from slavery. And so, in order to remember that, bring your firstborn child to the temple after they're born and dedicate them to me. Just sort of offer a prayer, give thanksgiving, you know, offer a sacrifice, and this will be like a ceremony to remind you of the story. So that's what they do, they bring Jesus in and they consecrate Jesus. So they uh Mary is cleansed ceremonially, she's put back to rights, and then Jesus is given to God as a firstborn son. So that's what happens. And uh, and by the way, when you would bring a sacrifice to the temple, if you were wealthy, you'd bring a lamb. So those who are wealthy, you'd bring a lamb. If you were not wealthy, you'd bring two pigeons or two doves, specifically two turtle doves. And a partridge and a pear tree. Yeah, that's where we get that song from. This is the two turtles. So and Mary and uh Joseph, they don't have a lamb. They've got pigeons. Why? Because they're poor. They're peasants. This is shocking. This is the future king of the world. He's the lamb of God, and they bring him in as a baby, born to a peasant, teenage girl, and this guy called Joseph, who's a who's a tecton, a stonemason, probably. They got nothing to show, and they bring pigeons, they can't afford it. They're too broke. It's a reminder to me, at least, that the kingdom of God is often found in the weirdest places, among the poor and the marginalized, the outsiders, the sort of the ones who you would never guess it. I'm not saying that being poor is virtuous. I'm saying God is always at work in these places, you would never expect it. And somehow the poor, I don't know what it is, I don't know. Read the Bible. They somehow can see things that we miss when we have lots of things. Go figure. Their need for God is maybe more palatable, palatable. I don't know, but the kingdom of God, the salvation of the world comes among the poor in this story. They can't even afford a lamb, and they're carrying the lamb of God. And they show up, and uh Simeon sees them. Now, imagine this scene. Again, there's people everywhere, and there's noises and animals. It's a random Tuesday, and Simeon's been waiting for his whole life for the consecr uh for the consolation of Israel. And he sees this couple. I don't know why they're different, because nobody would have expected this in this random Tuesday, this couple that's poor, a peasant girl, and this guy who I guess is her husband, we're not really sure, and this random baby. And he sees them, and the text says he's moved by the spirit. Here's what it says in the in Luke's gospel. It says uh he's moved by the spirit, and he goes to the temple courts. When the parents bring in the child to do for him what the customs says, so what you know, to purify Mary and also to consecrate Jesus, Simeon takes the baby in his arms and praises God. By the way, this is the only time in the Gospels that it's explicitly mentioned that anybody holds in their arms Jesus, the Son of God. By the way, uh Luke says he calls him uh he says Simeon's waiting for the Lord's Messiah. Messiah, as I mentioned, is it means anointed one, anointed king. And in the Greek it's Christos or Christ. Christ, Messiah, same word. It means the anointed king. This was a problem if you're living in the Roman Empire. Because Rome already had a king. So if you come onto the scene like, hey, I'm the new king of uh the land, it's a problem politically, militarily, and every socially, it's a big problem. And Simeon is already announcing, oh, this baby is gonna upset this whole empire. This baby is the king of the world who will upset and turn over empires. That's the kind of thing that I'm just telling you, will get you killed. So there's a shadow of the cross already over this whole scene in the temple. So anyway, I digress. He praises God and he says this. I love it. He says, Sovereign Lord, is that you have promised you now may dismiss your servant in peace. In other words, oh I've been waiting my whole life. Now I can die in peace. Take me home.

SPEAKER_01:

Take me home.

SPEAKER_00:

It's after he sees and beholds the face of Jesus, he's ready to die. You ever notice how many times the folks who are most full of life are those who are most at home in their own mortality? My grandma Cooper, I'll digress for one more second. My grandma Cooper, Katie's grandma, when she died, she was like in her in the hospital and she was awake but was gonna die. She died like very shortly after this. We were all going to going through the room, saying goodbye and praying with her. And almost to a person, she kept asking us about us. How's your grandpa? How's your brother? How's your and we're like, uh, grandma, you're gonna die any minute. How are you doing? You know, she didn't care. It's like she didn't care. Like she was like, I'm fine, I'll be okay. And she died within the hour. Yeah, it's like those who have seen the face of God are most at home with their own mortality. Anyway, he goes on. He says, uh, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all nations, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, not just for Israel, it's for everybody. This thing I've done with Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob and the twelve tribes and Moses and so on, and then this baby Jesus, it's for everybody. And for the people, the glory of your people Israel. And then this says, I love it, the child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Like they'd already seen an angel, you know, the virgin birth, all that, all like all that crazy had already happened, and then they hear Simeon talk, this old random guy. He's not a king, he's not a priest, just some random dude at the temple, waiting his whole life, some kooky old zany fella. And then they hear what he has to say and they marvel at what he says. Because he promises this is it, this is what I've been waiting for. You can now send me home. I'm ready to die in peace. I love that. He says, I can now die in peace. By the way, there's no memorial here. If you've been in Israel, we're in Israel a couple years ago, and there's no memorial. We're like, hey, this is where Jesus had his third birthday party. There's no memorial there, there's no site there. Most of the time, you're like, oh, it kind of happened over here, not really sure. Maybe over here. We don't really. And here's why. Nobody knew when it was happening, this would be a big deal. Like, no one thought, oh, you know what? This third year, uh, three-year-old baby uh or kid, this birthday, we should memorialize this. Let's put a stone up or a sign. Nobody did, because nobody knew what was going on. And it's an ordinary day at the temple, and nobody else sees it. But Simeon has eyes to see and ears to hear. Because he's been waiting for so long. He said, Now I can die. I can die in peace. I love it. I love it. Simeon is this minor character. He's a nobody. He's kind of like you and I. Just nobody's just random people living in Elk River, Minnesota. Just waiting and hoping for God to do something. And he sees the baby and it changes everything. I wonder about us. Like, what about us? What are you waiting for today or this advent? What big things? Um, certainly like the redemption of all things, you know, when Paul writes that God will bring all things under his leadership and reconcile, restore all things, and the end of revelation when God renews heavens and new earth, and there'll be no more shedding of tears, and the waters of chaos will be held at bay. I'm waiting for that for sure. But what else are you waiting for? Maybe the healing of a friend or a loved one or all the things we mentioned earlier. What are you waiting for? And what is your waiting founded in? See, Simeon has hope that God will bring a savior, a Messiah, a Christ. But his hope isn't based on circumstances, by the way, because circumstances change, they come and go. Like, that's not called hope, that's called optimism. Optimism is based on the circumstances. And like, you know, when things look up, okay, I feel good. Like, okay, the odds look good. That's not hope, that's that's circumstantial optimism. Like, whenever I repair my car, I'll do it on my own. I'm not a mechanic, but I'll tinker. And I have optimism that I can replace these spark plugs in under 30 minutes. And I watch the YouTube videos and I maybe call Dan a big lake and I ask for his advice, and then lo and four hours later, I'm like, shoot, I guess I don't know what I'm doing. The circumstances have changed. This is a lot harder than I thought. I'll I have I have optimism that I won't overeat at Thanksgiving. I'm gonna be fine, I'm just gonna watch it, but I'm eating. I'm gonna do that. And then you show up and the circumstances have changed. There's pie and there's ice cream and there's turkey and there's uh you know, brisket. Like this, let's go for it, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's circumstantial. Hope is different. Hope isn't based on circumstances because what happens when the circumstances don't change? By the way, Simeon's circumstances have not changed. Rome is still in charge, the people of Israel still wander. The temple is still corrupt, the spirit of God had left the temple, it's still not there. Things are in disarray, the circumstances haven't changed. What's changed? Oh, he's holding the baby, and he's he's beheld the face of God and Jesus. His hope is not circumstantial. Those haven't changed. His hope is in Jesus. His trustworthiness is in is in Jesus. And this couple who brings their baby to the temple to give thanks to God for this baby that they lived, reminding them that God had saved them in the past, that God was saving them now, and that God will save them again, this future feast of restoration. Yet they remind and Simeon sees all of that. And he sees the baby, the face of God, and he has hope. Oh, I can now die in peace. By the way, this study in Stanford, Stanford Study, they thought, oh, this is just kids that had better self-control that did fine. They learned other things as the study went on, though. One of the biggest changes or the nuances they found was that one of the things that really helped that kid wait was whoever the adult was. If that kid trusted the adult, the kid was more likely to wait. Do you get that? It wasn't like they just white-knuckled it, like, oh yeah, or that some kids had better self-control than others, maybe somewhat, but like a lot of it was like, no, they trusted the adult in the room that that adult would do what they said they were gonna do. I trust in them. Friends, may your hope today, in this in-between time of tension, I know, I get it. We have pockets of beauty and goodness and wonder and like grace and life and forgiveness and healing. We have pockets of them. We also have war and unrest and political divide and anger and emotions and death and sorrow and disease and cancer. We have all of this. But may you today in some mystical way behold the face of God and remember that God has saved us in the past, that God is saving us now, and that God promises to redeem and renew all things one day. And may that indeed fill each of us today and this Advent season with hope. Amen.

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Ryan Braley

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