During the Summer of 2016, Carrie and I got the chance to take a short vacation weekend. We drove up to Atlantic City, New Jersey to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary. One of the highlights of the trip was that we attended a concert by the group “The Alan Parson’s Project.” We even got the surprising opportunity to meet Alan Parson after the concert and had our picture taken with him.

Now why is this so special to me? We have to go back 40 years ago to the Christmas of 1976. My Aunt Maxine had asked my mother what she might give me that year, and I asked for an album from a jazz musician named Maynard Ferguson. When she went to the record store she got confused and bought “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” by The Alan Parson’s Project. When she discovered the error, she went back and got the correct album but did not return the first. On Christmas Eve she gave me the Ferguson album and then gave me the Parson’s album also. I became a huge fan and have a copy of every album that Alan has produced over the last 40 years.

Once I became a fan, the next step was to go and see them in concert. This proved more difficult than I expected as the band never came to Oklahoma, or anywhere close by, so I could see them. Years passed and finally this year, coinciding with our 33rd wedding anniversary, Alan Parsons would be not too far away and at last I would be able to see them.

We as Christian are in a similar view as we await the return of Jesus and his second coming. The Bible tells us the story of Jesus ascending into heaven: Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1: 6 – 11)

Year after year passes by and still, we are not able to get to attend that great concert, however, as huge fans, to borrow that imagery, we are never in doubt that on one day, we will get to see Jesus in his Glory. This does not diminish our expectations of Jesus’ return. Each Sunday during our services, we gather around our table to celebrate communion. Our pronouncement prior to consuming the elements goes: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”

We, as the church, still wait for the return of Jesus, we never tire, we are never discouraged and even as it takes more years, we are still hoping and anxious for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus.