In God’s eternity, time has no beginning or end—it is an endless now. But in love and mercy, God entered time through Jesus, embracing our limitations—aging, waiting, and passing days—to bring us salvation. Jesus took on our brokenness, exchanging it for divine righteousness, so that we, bound by time and sin, might share in God’s eternal life. Through his life, death, and resurrection, our fleeting moments are transformed into something everlasting. Jesus connects us to God’s timeless reality, overcoming sin’s separation and drawing us into the fullness of divine life that knows no end. We call what God does here through Jesus a “happy exchange,” or a “blessed transposition.” Jesus becomes like us, and we become like him, like God.
Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Patience—one of the heavenly virtues. To be patient is to endure waiting with strength, especially in the face of uncertainty. Patience and waiting are often intertwined, two sides of the same struggle. Patient waiting requires a fortitude that doesn’t come easily when the future is unclear or when fear and anxiety press in. Interestingly, the word “patience” and “passion” share the same Latin root, a word that means “to suffer” or “to endure,” reminding us that patience isn’t passive but active—a kind of waiting that involves strength, resilience, and trust. Scripture again and again tells to wait—wait for the Lord, wait with hope, wait with faith. Today, the Psalmist declares to us—“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.” This patient waiting is not just about enduring time but holding on to hope with strength as we trust in God’s timing—timing that is determined in the light of our Lord, in the light of Jesus himself.
But what does it mean to wait with strength? To wait with courage? To wait in a way that reflects trust in God rather than inert resignation or hopeless apathy? Today, we finish our series on particular saints. We began with St. Patrick of Ireland, a saint who showed us simplicity in our relationship with God, then we moved onto St. Lucia of Syracuse, who showed us grace and truth in our relationship with God, and then we moved onto St. Nicholas of Myra, who showed us fidelity and compassion in our relationship with God. Today we look at the life of St. Joan of Arc, who shows us what it looks like to wait in hope, with strength and courage, even in the face of overwhelming odds.
Joan, or Jeanne d’Arc as she was called in her native French, was born in a small village in France in 1412. From an early age, she began hearing voices she believed were from saints Michael, Catherine, and Margaret. These voices gave her a clear but daunting mission: to help save France during a terrible war with England, the Hundred Years War, which ironically lasted 116 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 4 days.
Joan wasn’t from a wealthy or powerful family—she was just a farm girl. But she believed so strongly in her mission that, at 17, she made her way to see the dauphin, the crown prince of France. What’s amazing is that before she ever led an army, Joan had to wait. She waited patiently for her chance, trusting that God’s timing would guide her. And when the moment finally came, she was ready. She convinced the dauphin to let her lead his troops, and against all odds, she helped lift the siege of Orléans—a turning point in the war.
Even though she achieved incredible victories, Joan’s journey was far from easy. She was eventually captured, put on trial by both church and state, and condemned for heresy. Through it all, Joan never wavered in her faith. At her trial, which was more of a setup than a fair hearing, she stayed strong, even as she was sentenced to death. At just 19 years old, she was burned at the stake. But her story didn’t end there. Years later, her name was exonerated, and today she’s recognized for her faithfulness—a symbol not only of bravery and faith, but of patience and hope.
Joan’s life shows us that sometimes the most important part of our mission is the waiting—the quiet trust in what we believe, even when the world is uncertain. Even after receiving what she believed was a divine mission, Joan had to wait for the right opportunities. She needed to secure an audience with royalty, gather support, and receive military backing. This required patience, persistence, and trust in God’s timing. Joan’s waiting was marked by preparation—both spiritually and practically. She trusted that when God’s time was right, he’d open the doors she needed to walk through. For us, too, waiting doesn’t mean sitting idle. It means staying attentive, prayerful, and prepared. Like Joan, we are called to be ready to act when God’s timing aligns with his purposes for us.
“Wait for the Lord,” the psalmist tells us today. “Be strong and take heart.” This call to strength during waiting isn’t about gritting our teeth or toughing it out on our own. Rather, it’s about drawing strength from the one we are waiting on—God himself, for all that Jesus promised. Joan of Arc knew this well. She wasn’t strong because she relied on her own abilities. Her strength came from her confidence in God who called her.
When we are called to wait—whether it’s for direction, for healing, or for resolution in difficult circumstances—we too are invited to find strength not in ourselves but in the Lord. We wait by leaning into God’s promise, by holding onto hope, and by refusing to let fear dictate our actions.
“Take heart” is more than a call to look through pollyannish pink glasses. It’s a command to be courageous, even when the future is unclear. For Joan, courage wasn’t just about leading troops into battle. Courage was about remaining faithful in the long, grueling process of waiting for God’s promise to unfold. Even in her final days—during her imprisonment trial, and execution—Joan’s courage didn’t waver. She remained confident that God’s will would prevail, even if she didn’t live to see the full victory.
We all face moments where we feel surrounded by uncertainty, where the answers don’t come quickly, and where the path forward is unclear. In those moments, the psalmist’s words, “take heart,” challenge us to remain steadfast in our Christian commitment, just as Joan did. We take heart not because we see the end of the journey, but because we trust the one who walks with us through it.
One of the hardest parts of waiting is trusting in God’s timing. We often feel the urgency of our situations. We want resolution now, answers now, action now. But God’s timing is perfect, even when it feels delayed to us. Joan didn’t charge into her mission without first waiting for the right time, the right people, and the right conditions. She trusted that God’s timing was crucial and that acting too soon would undermine the mission she’d been given.
In the same way, we are called to trust that God knows what he’s doing, even when we don’t understand why the waiting seems so long. Trusting God’s timing means being willing to stay patient, knowing that he’s working in ways we cannot yet see. Like Joan, we prepare our hearts, deepen our faith, and remain ready to act when the time is right, but we also rest in the knowledge that God’s timing is always best. Waiting isn’t passive. Faithful waiting is an active trust in God. Joan didn’t sit back during her waiting periods. She prayed, she trained, and she sought God’s guidance every step of the way. Her faith was active—preparing her for the moment when God would call her to act. Similarly, our waiting should be marked by discipleship—prayers, worship, service, learning, giving—that even as we wait, we grow in our relationship with God. It’s in the waiting that our trust is deepened, and our faith is refined.
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” This verse invites us, urges us, challenges us, prods us into a posture of trust, patience, and readiness. We’re called to wait with strength, to take heart in the face of uncertainty, and to trust in God’s perfect timing. In the waiting, we find our strength in him, and when the time comes to act, we are ready—prepared by the very season of waiting that once felt so difficult. To be sure, waiting can be difficult.
But we’re patient, with that kind of nervous excitement, like before a big surprise because we know what is to come. It may feel we’re like trying really hard but not getting anywhere. And yet we are; it’s the nature of things. Still, underneath all that waiting, there is hope—hope that someday, something wonderful will finally be fully revealed—the consummation of God’s promised salvation in Jesus for us and for all creation, the peace that surpasses all understanding.
Like Joan of Arc, we do well to wait well—not in passivity, not in fear, but with strength drawn from Jesus himself, with courage sustained by the Holy Spirit, with hearts steadfast in conviction. We wait with purpose and resolute in our trust in God’s unshakable promise. We do not yield to uncertainty; we do not falter in the long silence of delay. In waiting, we find strength forged by the fire of the Holy Spirit, courage rooted in the sacrifice of Christ’s love. Like so many before us we stand ready—ready to answer when Jesus calls, ready to move with determination when the path is made clear by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Waiting is not weakness. Waiting is preparation. In the stillness, Christ strengthens our hearts; in the quiet, the Spirit reveals God’s purpose. We wait with conviction, with unwavering hope in Jesus, and with readiness that, though it from time to time wane, never gives up. For in patient waiting, we discover the strength of Christ, the power of the Spirit, and the fullness of God’s will.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev'd Daniel W. Spigelmyer, Jr. 