Like most of us, Rich Villodas has trouble waiting.
His latest book comes from that personal experience he believes will resonate with others in this Advent season of awaiting the birth of the Christ Child.
Waiting “is very painful, I would say, which I think is in the tradition of the people of God in the Scriptures where waiting is often fraught with challenge and complexity, reminding us ultimately of our dependence upon God, the one who comes,” he said in a recent interview with BNG.
Yet waiting on Jesus is an important part of the Christmas tradition, he added. That’s a theme he explores in Waiting for Jesus.
“On one level, waiting exposes our deficiencies and on another it cultivates dependence. I think that’s the unique human experience and what it means to be in relationship with God. The question as it relates to waiting is what is the work of formation in us?
“Some of the language I use is that what God does in us as we wait is more important than what we’re waiting for. That’s the journey of waiting. … God’s not just out here trying to give out Christmas gifts left and right to say, ‘Here you go.’ He’s trying to form something in us. That’s the tension we have with waiting.”
That’s not to minimize some significant things people are waiting for like healing in their bodies or reconciliation of relationships, he said.
As pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large multiracial congregation in New York City, he admits he needs the message to wait on God as much as anyone.
“Often, we write books we need for ourselves. My writing emerges out of my own struggle. Some people write because they’re curious about a topic. Others write because they have struggled with a topic they need to find words to journey through life.”
“Often, we write books we need for ourselves. My writing emerges out of my own struggle.”
But this is more than sharing his own journey, he said. “I invite the community into my journey. I’m offering something more than just my journey. I’m offering something from God. To talk about things like rejoicing and peacemaking and waiting and beholding.”
In the book, Villodas explains the complexity of Jesus’ birth and the political nuance taking place at that time with King Herod. He avoids pointing the finger at others but instead looks to himself.
“I could’ve very easily gone here in the one-to-one comparison. Herod and a political leader or Herod and a narcissistic church leader; that’s the easy way out. I think what the Spirit invites me into is to ask the question, ‘To what degree have I been like Herod? To what degree am I living and seeing others as a threat, a unilateral threat to my existence? To what degree am I seeing others through the lens of fear and anxiety, a sense of scarcity mentality?’”
Jesus didn’t come to depose Herod as king, the pastor explained. “If Herod would’ve taken his rightful place under the king, he could remain king. But Herod didn’t want to be under anyone. Jesus didn’t come to take his throne, per se. He wanted Herod to lead from his throne in the way of Jesus.
“I have to wonder: Where have I had a scarcity mentality? Where have I been driven by fear, not by openness? … Am I going to be open or am I going to be clenching and fearful? Advent confronts us along those lines.”