O Come Emmanuel !
The First Sunday in Advent is not about the wise men, the shepherd’s or the images we associate with Christ’s Birth. We haven’t arrived at that place.
Advent is a journey, a pilgrimage of watching and waiting. We are starting at a point of our preparation for those events as a believer one who relies on Christ. We see the need for our repentance. That’s why purple, the color of penitence, adorns our altar. We dare not rush to greet the Redeemer prematurely until we pause here, in darkened church, to admit that we do need redemption. Nothing within us can save us.
Advent comes from a Latin word – “advenire” - which means to come to... Advent, then is a time to think about “advents” - comings to - and to reflect on three comings-to in particular:
- The Coming of God to the world as a human baby
- The Coming of God to the world in His glory at the end of time where God’s purposes will be fulfilled
- The Coming of God into the world today. Jesus comes to us now in word and sacrament, in prayer and praise, in his Body, the Church. By the work of the Holy Spirit, the Jesus who was born in the past in Bethlehem and who will come in the future is present to us and in us now.
This present betweenness is not a time of the absence of God, but a time filled with the voice of God calling people out of the darkness of sin into the brightness of the kingdom. Jesus coming in human form fulfills both the words of Israel’s prophets and the events in Israel’s history that speak of God’ saving grace. .
During Advent, we remember and honor those who prepared the way for Jesus: John the Baptist, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary Joseph and others. We hear stories of the preparation and sing carols of expectation. His coming will not be what we expect, or have experienced, or can perceive .
Our Advent readings teach us one that such coming will be ever a surprise, ever new, ever unexpected. They teach us to look beyond even our own hopes. What newness in life, what new experience in faith, what new understanding, awaits us as we turn our minds and hearts to the coming of our Lord again this year?
Come let us prepare!
The Elect in Heaven
Mark 13:24-37
Jesus said to his disciples, "In those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see `the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
"But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake-- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
This passage is taken from Mark's version Jesus' final discourse – Jesus’ last extended talk with his followers before his arrest and execution.
The reading is apocalyptic. In Mark we are instructed to watch for the violent, earthshaking coming of the Son of Man and his kingdom.
If we are not watchful, we might be caught unaware and unprepared.
In Mark, Jesus doesn't return to judge; but to bring freedom for the believers from the sinful generation. He comes as a completely different kind of king to bring in a new and different kingdom.
This is not a Gospel offering tranquil and comfortable living. This is a Gospel that is urgent - challenging those who admire Jesus and who are impressed by what He says and does to take the extra step - into His footsteps and to follow the way of discipleship.
We do not know where our discipleship will lead - nor when Christ will return. Jesus insists that we must not allow not knowing these things to lull us into a false sense of security.
We are the doorkeepers - the ones left in charge.
Our responsibility is to stay awake to what is happening in the world - even when others seem to be sleeping - so that we are ready to welcome Christ into the world when He comes. This awareness sees life as God desires us to see it, full of its hopes and possibilities; as well it’s suffering and longing for completeness.
Watchful living is about carrying out our trust, as Mark illustrates it, in a way that finally makes the date of the end a matter of irrelevance. Readiness has as much to do with being ready for life as it has to do with its end.
Isaiah 64:1-9
This first scripture passage of the liturgical year opens on a note of impassioned pleading with God to come in all His power - all His glory - to let the world know His Presence.. a presence before which even the mountains would melt.
Isaiah is the Advent prophet because he and his disciples lived at a time of great longing for the coming of the Messiah and the restoration of God’s People.
The people have begun to recognize that their Exile to Babylonia was a consequence of their failure to live with integrity and in the ways of the Lord. Their selfishness had shrivelled them up like fallen leaves - their sin like the autumn wind scattering them.
Now the longing is for a Messiah to come and gather His people and to bring them home. The words flow with passion - and yearning. The writer faces up to the wrongs that have been committed. Coming home to Jerusalem was going to mean the end of all Israel’s shame and discontent.
We are beginning the time of Advent, when we remember the time God did come down, not on a mountain, but in human form. We can also say like the psalm "who has ever seen a God like this?" Unlike the psalm (Isa 63:15-64:12) we are not remembering the terrifying things which God has done but the giving of self through the birth of a babe.
The call is not to come as a child, as “God with us,” but to come in power, in theophanic splendor The time of advent is waiting again to celebrate the birth of the one who saves. However, we continue to sin, but again don't believe that God has turned God's face away from us. Indeed, the act of God to send self in the form of a son- child is pure grace and undeserved. It is this gift of God we remember and celebrate during the advent season.
We are in constant need of being remoulded or reworked. The Lord is envisioned as an artisan; a potter working, molding, fashioning in a continuing way this broken people. He also comes to a moment of trust and peace: God is the Father who does not forget His children - God is the potter - we are the clay, we are the work of God’s hands.
The reading follows a pattern often encountered in the Psalms - and one which it is good to pray when times are hard. We are shown that God does not insist on politeness - or that we say all is well when it isn’t. A real relationship with God allows us to express the pain of where we are. We tell God how it feels - and then, as the anger - pain - fear pass, we find that in the space where they were, something else has appeared - the certainty that God loves us and, no matter how it feels, God has not abandoned us to our plight - nor ever will...
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind-- just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you-- so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The first christians were remarkable in their world because they welcomed anyone who came to them. To anyone and everyone they met they said, “Come and see!” They trusted in the power of God, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to help them build a community.
Paul focuses his and his readers' attention first on God's grace in Christ. Almost certainly this is because he thinks his converts have lost this focus. Not only is Paul worried that the Corinthian believers have focused on themselves rather than on God when they experience manifestations of the Spirit, but he is also worried that they are deluded into thinking that what is now is all there is.
Whatever else Paul is grateful for (and whatever else he wants the Corinthians to be grateful for), the primary object of gratitude must be God. Every other reason for gratitude is rooted in the primary reason for gratitude – God's grace in Jesus Christ
What he means by this grace is spelled out in what follows. Grace is more than kind attitude. It is a way of describing God’s engagement with people and the effects it produces. So Paul highlights the way the Corinthians responded to the message or testimony of the gospel which he had addressed to them: they are able to articulate their faith and they have a deepened understanding or wisdom.
In fact Paul suggests that they have all they need: they lack nothing, but then comes a slight turn: ultimately it will be Christ who will really put them on a firm footing when he comes and God is the one we need to rely on ultimately. God is the one who really constitutes the community as a community of Christ, a Christian community. It began with God through Paul and it ends with God.
The Corinthians fully expected Jesus to return at any time - a belief they shared with all early Christians. Although they were already experiencing prejudice and persecution, they were strengthened by their conviction that it would not be long before Christ returned in glory and took them to their heavenly reward.
Paul wants the Corinthians to realize that they are not yet at the resurrection; they are waiting for it. They have their clocks set all wrong. This is the time of waiting for the end. This is the time of expectation. And during this time, it is essential to participate in the life of Christ which preceded the resurrection—in faithful obedience, in willingness to suffer for the sake of others, in dying to sin.
Going forward..
The Church has had her times of strength and vigour and times when faith has had to fight against the prevailing culture. Some would say that the Church is often at her strongest and most vigorous when she is fighting against oppression and persecution. At those times, people often find that the choices are very stark - to live for God as a disciple of Jesus, the Christ - or to compromise with what is obviously wrong.
At those times, people have to fall back on the gifts that God has given to them through the Spirit - the gifts of wisdom - courage - fortitude. Often they find that the gifts are stronger than they had ever imagined they could be and, as Paul says, allow them to be kept steady and to live without compromising their faith in God.
Perhaps a greater problem for the Church is where she lives in a culture that is apathetic or complacent. Where people see no need for faith, it is hard for the Church to evangelise. When people without faith seem to prosper, it can be hard for others to stay faithful to a God who promised to come back - but who hasn’t yet.
The gifts of the Spirit are as urgently needed then - as is good teaching and preaching - so that people are held steady in their faith and learn to wait in joyful hope for the coming of their Saviour, Jesus Christ - and to remember that God is faithful and fulfils His promises