A reflection on the lectionary readings for the first Sunday of Advent.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the season before Christmas in the church calendar in which we intentionally anticipate what is to come. In our instant gratification society, so many have lost the excitement of anticipation, the shaping of ourselves that happens in hopeful waiting.
In the church of my childhood, the gospel story we read today was used to frighten us. If we weren’t ‘ready’ for the second coming, we’d spend eternity in fire and torment. If we weren’t ‘ready’ we’d get left behind. There was even a so-called Christian song about it. The song didn’t offer hope or encouragement or even instruction on how to be ready, just the doom that came with not being ready.
One of the many things I am grateful for having learned in the Episcopal Church is the understanding that our response to Jesus’ invitation ‘Follow Me’ is about living our regular ordinary days here and now AND the life to come. We are invited to participate with God’s redemptive purposes in this life as we reveal the Love of God in and through our lives. We journey with Jesus for a purpose not a goal.
Prior to the bit of Matthew’s telling of the good news we read today, Jesus has been talking about the very real and scary events in this world: wars, earthquakes, famine, persecutions, and great suffering. He warns against false prophets and false messiahs. And he says plainly that no one will know when the time will be that God will come and renew all of creation and so we must be awake and alert for what is to come.
The things Jesus talks about, eating and drinking, marrying, working, tending to the needs of our families, these are the ordinary things of every day life. And in our regular lives, unexpected disruptions occur: job loss, death, illness, broken relationships. Are we ready for God to show up in the midst of the struggles of this life? Are we ready for God to show up when we are doing the ordinary things of life? Do we live in hope or fear?
God’s greatest desire is to be in daily relationship with each of us. Jesus came to show us in flesh and blood what this looks like. It doesn’t look like fear or competition. It looks like companionship, mercy, and grace. To be ready for God to show up in our every day looks like the love God has for us.
Jesus says over and over that this Kingdom of God is available to us now, almost as much as he says do not be afraid. He isn’t offering us an escape from this world but the means of navigating it. Wars, earthquakes, famines, persecutions have been happening since long before Jesus came and will continue until in God’s timing the New Heaven and New Earth come to be. Our purpose as we follow Jesus is to shine the light of God’s Love in the midst of all of it. And, yes, there will be times when we can’t, we each at times become overwhelmed by the unexpected sorrows of life and in those moments the Jesus-following community around us shines the light for us so that no one feels left behind.
Jesus uses the metaphor of God showing up like a thief not to make us fearful but to illustrate how God can take us by surprise. When we work daily on our awareness of God, we become more and more ready to receive God’s Love so that we are still always in awe of God and always aware that God is with us.
It’s natural to want relief from the suffering and pain in this world. Together we regularly cry out to God “how long”? And together we keep our eyes on Jesus and our hearts open to the Holy Spirit, trusting in God’s timing. We weep with each other, celebrate with each other, and work for the benefit of each other.
Today’s Advent word is HOPE. Hope isn’t necessary in an instant gratification world. Hope isn’t wishful thinking. Hope is the wisdom of trusting God’s Way, remembering that God is with us always. The life God wants for us, the life God made us for cultivates hope because it is a life of relationships. And relationships take a lifetime to cultivate. Relationships are living and growing. Relationships have purpose not goals. Our relationship with God and our relationships with each other enable us to be fully human as God made us to be. I cannot be fully who God made me to be without God or without you.
Our life with God isn’t just about the next life, but this one also. In all that we think, say, and do, we are to want good for all people. Most of us don’t have the means to change the whole world but we do have the daily opportunity to shine God’s light of Love to those around us. We can share the hope we have in God knowing the more we share the more there is. We can live always inviting others in and never scheming to keep some out. God doesn’t want anyone left behind and neither should we.
This is a busy season. Many of us are making preparations for the celebration of Christmas. That’s what Advent is for: preparing, waiting, anticipating. Make time each day to wait on God to reveal God’s presence with you. Light a candle, sit quietly and listen. Whatever comes into your thoughts, offer it to God, your fears, your worries, your struggles, your wishes and dreams. Hold on to the sure and certain hope that God is with us always. Be ready to receive God’s love. Amen.
Mother Nancy's Coffee Thoughts 