1C Advent
1 Dec 2024
Ad venire: to come. Changed only a bit over the millennia to the “beginning” or “the start”. We are at the beginning of the church year, which is a great circle of time and of seasons. In this year we are welcomed into the world of Jesus through the eyes of Luke.
Our collect on the first Sunday of Advent is the same every year. It was written for the original BCP in 1549 and our own BCP Rite 1 retains the original language of Thomas Cranmer’s masterpiece.
It strikes me that, while the church year has made its circle around the sun and through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and the Ordinary Sundays over 2000 times as well as reciting this same collect for 475 years, we must be optimists. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. We cast away darkness and turn to the light, we go from mortal life to life immortal, we remember Jesus as humble yet coming again in majesty. It speaks to us of the here and now: we ARE to cast off the works of darkness and we ARE to put on the armor of light.
The almost but not just yet. What is almost? What is not just yet? I would dare say it is not retribution and sorrow, but restorative justice and joy!
Most of us live in the here and now; we have routines, and we rather expect things to stay the same. Maybe that is why Hallmark movies are so popular. But things don’t stay the same, do they? Cathedrals were built to last thousands of years and some have made it at least one millennium! Notre Dame de Paris just reopened after the devastating fire several years ago. The expectations I had were that I would get an education, have a career, maybe have a family, and have some time for “fun” stuff and adventure. No plans for disasters. No plans to be a pastor! I rather think of my days now as being rather the same, one after the other. Weather is the only expected unexpected thing to happen. Are we ever ready for the unexpected? The dreaded phone call that a spouse or child or parent has died unexpectedly in an accident, a sudden illness, or a murder will completely upend your world. Pearl Harbor upended my parents’ world. They could tell you where they were and what they were doing on Dec. 7th, 1941. I can tell you where I was and what I was doing on Nov. 22nd, 1963, and Sept. 11, 2001.
“There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and on the earth the nations will tremble with fear. Panic and confusion will grow strong when they hear the sea roar and see the waves swell. The people will shake with fear.”
On Boxing Day (Dec. 26) 2004, an earthquake and tsunami killed around 228,000 people in the basin of the Indian Ocean. It was the worst earthquake and natural disaster ever recorded in Asia.
“Then they will look up and see the True Human Being coming with power, riding on the clouds, and showing his shining greatness.”
Nov. 14th, 1940. The Luftwaffe bombed Coventry England, destroying the cathedral, built in the early 15th century. After the war, a new cathedral was built, intentionally leaving the ruins of the older building at first as a reminder, but later as a symbol of reconciliation. Nails from the old cathedral were fashioned into crosses and, when the nails ran out, they were and still are supplied from a prison in Germany. One of the crosses was sent to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, which had been destroyed by Allied bombs.
We want, and need, a certain amount of stability in our lives, but we should never succumb to complacency. We need to be ready for disruption. Who wants to read a novel where nothing unexpected happens? God disrupted Abraham and Sarah by telling them to go to the Levant! God disrupted Jonah, giving him the same command to go. God sent the Israelites to Babylon and a new people were forged from those exiles. And now we are embarking on the journey through apocalyptic visions, with John in the wilderness, then to Bethlehem and the disruption to humanity that came with the birth of a baby.
Be prepared! Travel light; don’t let yourselves get burdened with a life that will keep you from hearing the call of Jesus. Yes, Jesus is coming to disrupt your lives. Make a mess of the whole thing. Karl Barth, the great German theologian, said we go to church to make our last stand against God! God is just too much for us and we would be happier if He would just leave us alone! But he won’t. Like any life changing event, Jesus will come without warning. Stay alert; be prepared.
Yet these are not meant to be words to instill fear in our hearts! Jesus’ first coming was good news and so is his second coming. We are told to be prepared, but not afraid. And how do we prepare? We pray and we walk the good road while we have breath on this earth. You know what is asked of you!
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