Advent 1
By the Reverend Martha Frances
Year A, Advent 1
2 December 2007
Text: Matthew 24: 36-44; Romans 13: 11-14
Other Readings: Isaiah 2: 1-5; Psalm 22: 1-11
The Christian year begins with the first Sunday of Advent—today—so we can rightly say, "Happy New Year!" Advent means "coming," & now is a time of looking both backward & forward. Of course, we all look back to the birth of Jesus, God coming to earth in the flesh—"incarnate"—to live among us & teach us how to live as God created us. We also anticipate Christ's coming again, first born into our lives each day as we open ourselves to his grace & love, & then eventually coming again in glory to fulfill God's reign. As we explore each of these "comings," perhaps today's scriptures will speak more fully to us.
When I was a little girl, I hadn't heard of Advent, & we didn't change the color to blue in churches where I grew up like we do here, but nonetheless, I learned a sense of Advent from the way our family behaved. From Thanksgiving onward, our family tingled with joy & expectation in all we did. Since we always spent Christmas in Dallas at my grandparents' house, most preparations moved us toward that trip. Mother began baking in early December, admonishing us not to touch either cake or pie for it was going to Mimi & Grandaddy's. We were allowed the cinnamon & sugar rollups made from the leftover dough, but never the real dish. We didn't dare enter our parents' bedroom or closet if the door was closed. Dad was a preacher, so he spent most nights at the church, but we always found time to decorate a tree in our little house.
The real tree, however, the one that Santa visited, was at my grandparents' house, & not decorated until we arrived on Christmas Eve. The drive from wherever we lived in West Texas took all day, so after lunch, we kids started asking, "Are we there yet?" We knew, of course, we wouldn't get there 'till after dark, but as soon as we left Ft. Worth, we began watching for the Dallas skyline bathed in lights on the crisp December sky & for Pegasus the flying horse atop the Magnolia building, the tallest building downtown. Pegasus is still there, by the way, obscured from most angles by the skyscrapers towering over him in modern Dallas.
Arriving at the grandparents', we were hugged & kissed by aunts & uncles from across the street, & we tolerated the nuisance of a hot meal, eventually getting to the decorating. Grandaddy had old-fashioned bubble lights already on the tree, their bubbling a mystery to me even now. Hot chocolate & homemade fruit cake were plentiful, & each of us begged to be boosted up to place the angel on top of the tree. The manger scene rested atop the mantle with shepherds, wise men & a camel beside Mary & Joseph, but the baby Jesus would arrive only the next morning. After our tree trimming, someone would read Matthew's or Luke's Christmas story & we'd sing the verses we recalled of a few carols. Especially exciting was the year I was old enough to stay up for the midnight service at the big church downtown, returning to put Santa's gifts for my younger sister under the tree.
Such was the anticipation of myriad childhood Christmases. Christmas Day was almost an anti-climax after all the excruciating waiting. Yet we knew, even then, all this preparation was about the coming—the advent—of the Christ child. In some ways, we were then very close to my sense of Advent today.
I can remember few presents I received as a child, except for the year of the chemistry set with which my boy cousin & I emptied the house of adults until the rotten egg smell dissipated. Our family did little store shopping but made lots of gifts. Mimi stashed away treasures all year long, & each Christmas afternoon, after wrapping paper had been removed to the alley & dinner dishes washed, she would suddenly appear with a gift she'd just found, sans wrapping paper.
Advent is a time for preparation. It's not just a time for shopping & cooking & traveling kinds of preparation, but also a time to open our hearts, leaving room for the Christ child's coming to each of us anew. It's a time to listen to the Hebrew prophets like Isaiah predicting an era of peace when the Prince of Peace will return, when swords will be beat into plowshares, spears become pruning hooks, nation no longer lifting sword against nation, & the craft of making war becoming obsolete. [Our final hymn today allows us to pray collectively for just such peace-making.]
Christians have looked back to such prophecies for centuries & have seen in Jesus' birth fulfillment of these anticipatory visions. Certainly, we do well to celebrate the coming of this babe, God who turned the world upside down, establishing a new covenant in which we are called to owe no one anything except to love one another. Jesus' birth celebrates the scandal of particularity: a certain child entered the world to live as a particular human being so we can allow God to teach us to become more like God.
It's also clear the time of peace which passes all understanding is not yet here. We must still pray & work for the peace of Jerusalem as today's psalm calls us to do. Especially in a day when war seems rampant in many parts of the earth, we must yet yearn & work for peace within the walls of Jerusalem, the city which 3 world religions call a center of their faiths. We must pray for shalom to be within Jerusalem's towers.
So Advent is not just about celebrating Jesus the Messiah's sojourn on this earth 2000 years ago, as life-changing as that was for us & for the world. Advent is not just about preparing for Christmas as I did when I was a child.
Advent in this grown-up world is about looking forward as well as backward. It's about following the admonition in Matthew's gospel today to "Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day the Lord is coming." Matthew's emphasis throughout is on constant watchfulness & preparation. Noah's neighbors were certainly taken aback as the waters rose, & neither will we receive more warning. Our Advent wreaths emitting progressively more light each week as we light more candles are clear signs that the night is far gone & the day is near.
Next, Matthew assures us that the thief could not break in & steal from the householder if the owner knew the thief's schedule. All these warnings are provided to strengthen the believers to remain faithful even in difficult times, especially since many expected Christ's 2nd coming to be soon & were becoming weary. Matthew regards the "delay" of the parousia as a gift, a time of grace during which so many more have the chance to hear & accept the gospel. Here at Hope we can see the present as grace time to reach out to others to grow our church into the hospitable community where more people will be excited to come to worship with us. Our recent pledge campaign & budgeting for next year plus our dreams of building adequate facilities for the future indicate a need for each member of Hope to take seriously Jesus' admonition to share the Good News with others. Our energy can much better be spent committed to the future of this parish than in nit-picking about each problem which isn't perfect. That's why our welcoming & incorporating ministry had better be "radical hospitality," & I hope many of you will join with me in making such hospitality a reality here at Hope.
Indeed, Matthew sees this "in between" time as the opportunity for worldwide evangelism, time when the Church's duty is to usher in the reign of God. We're to live as expectant people, helping each other to be open to Christ's invitation, not so much as individuals but as a community. Advent has an urgency about it which is unrelated to whether the Christmas shopping gets done or who coaches which college or professional sports team into post-season play.
St. Paul says salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers. He says the night is far gone & the day is near. Then Paul gives us great imagery for what we should be doing. We should lay aside the works of darkness & put on the armor of light, living as honorably at night as we do in the day. What behaviors would we have to give up to be a beacon of light to others? Paul lists reveling & drunkenness, debauchery & licentiousness, quarreling & jealousy. Those activities sound a lot like holiday partying, but they are not what make a holy Advent. Advent is a time when we need to spend some effort cleaning our side of the street, paying attention to how we lead our daily lives, asking ourselves if these are the behaviors we would be proud of were our lives to end today.
We are all called to put on the armor of light, to wear Jesus Christ like a garment, to show forth Christ's love by behaving toward our neighbor as we would like to be treated ourselves. The time of Christ's return is described as a time of light when the Bridegroom comes & the marriage feast is waiting. We're all invited into the banquet; no one will be left out unless he or she refuses the invitation. Will you come? Who will you bring along with you?
My friend the author Madeleine L'Engle died this year. Years ago she penned this invitation for Christ Jesus to enter our lives. May it also serve as your call for a holy Advent:
Come, Lord Jesus! Do I dare
Cry: Lord Jesus, quickly come!
Flash the lightning in the air,
Crash the thunder on my home!
Should I speak this aweful prayer?
Come, Lord Jesus, help me dare.
Come, Lord Jesus! You I call
To come (come soon!) are not the child
Who lay once in the manger stall,
Are not the infant meek and mild.
You come in judgment on our all:
Help me to know you, whom I call.
Come, Lord Jesus! Come this night
With your purging and your power,
For the earth is dark with blight
And in sin we run and cower
Before the splendid, raging sight
Of the breaking of the night.
Come, my Lord! Our darkness end!
Break the bonds of time and space.
All the powers of evil rend
By the radiance of your face.
The laughing stars with joy attend:
Come Lord Jesus! Be my end!
Year A, Advent 1
2 December 2007
Text: Matthew 24: 36-44; Romans 13: 11-14
Other Readings: Isaiah 2: 1-5; Psalm 22: 1-11
The Christian year begins with the first Sunday of Advent—today—so we can rightly say, "Happy New Year!" Advent means "coming," & now is a time of looking both backward & forward. Of course, we all look back to the birth of Jesus, God coming to earth in the flesh—"incarnate"—to live among us & teach us how to live as God created us. We also anticipate Christ's coming again, first born into our lives each day as we open ourselves to his grace & love, & then eventually coming again in glory to fulfill God's reign. As we explore each of these "comings," perhaps today's scriptures will speak more fully to us.
When I was a little girl, I hadn't heard of Advent, & we didn't change the color to blue in churches where I grew up like we do here, but nonetheless, I learned a sense of Advent from the way our family behaved. From Thanksgiving onward, our family tingled with joy & expectation in all we did. Since we always spent Christmas in Dallas at my grandparents' house, most preparations moved us toward that trip. Mother began baking in early December, admonishing us not to touch either cake or pie for it was going to Mimi & Grandaddy's. We were allowed the cinnamon & sugar rollups made from the leftover dough, but never the real dish. We didn't dare enter our parents' bedroom or closet if the door was closed. Dad was a preacher, so he spent most nights at the church, but we always found time to decorate a tree in our little house.
The real tree, however, the one that Santa visited, was at my grandparents' house, & not decorated until we arrived on Christmas Eve. The drive from wherever we lived in West Texas took all day, so after lunch, we kids started asking, "Are we there yet?" We knew, of course, we wouldn't get there 'till after dark, but as soon as we left Ft. Worth, we began watching for the Dallas skyline bathed in lights on the crisp December sky & for Pegasus the flying horse atop the Magnolia building, the tallest building downtown. Pegasus is still there, by the way, obscured from most angles by the skyscrapers towering over him in modern Dallas.
Arriving at the grandparents', we were hugged & kissed by aunts & uncles from across the street, & we tolerated the nuisance of a hot meal, eventually getting to the decorating. Grandaddy had old-fashioned bubble lights already on the tree, their bubbling a mystery to me even now. Hot chocolate & homemade fruit cake were plentiful, & each of us begged to be boosted up to place the angel on top of the tree. The manger scene rested atop the mantle with shepherds, wise men & a camel beside Mary & Joseph, but the baby Jesus would arrive only the next morning. After our tree trimming, someone would read Matthew's or Luke's Christmas story & we'd sing the verses we recalled of a few carols. Especially exciting was the year I was old enough to stay up for the midnight service at the big church downtown, returning to put Santa's gifts for my younger sister under the tree.
Such was the anticipation of myriad childhood Christmases. Christmas Day was almost an anti-climax after all the excruciating waiting. Yet we knew, even then, all this preparation was about the coming—the advent—of the Christ child. In some ways, we were then very close to my sense of Advent today.
I can remember few presents I received as a child, except for the year of the chemistry set with which my boy cousin & I emptied the house of adults until the rotten egg smell dissipated. Our family did little store shopping but made lots of gifts. Mimi stashed away treasures all year long, & each Christmas afternoon, after wrapping paper had been removed to the alley & dinner dishes washed, she would suddenly appear with a gift she'd just found, sans wrapping paper.
Advent is a time for preparation. It's not just a time for shopping & cooking & traveling kinds of preparation, but also a time to open our hearts, leaving room for the Christ child's coming to each of us anew. It's a time to listen to the Hebrew prophets like Isaiah predicting an era of peace when the Prince of Peace will return, when swords will be beat into plowshares, spears become pruning hooks, nation no longer lifting sword against nation, & the craft of making war becoming obsolete. [Our final hymn today allows us to pray collectively for just such peace-making.]
Christians have looked back to such prophecies for centuries & have seen in Jesus' birth fulfillment of these anticipatory visions. Certainly, we do well to celebrate the coming of this babe, God who turned the world upside down, establishing a new covenant in which we are called to owe no one anything except to love one another. Jesus' birth celebrates the scandal of particularity: a certain child entered the world to live as a particular human being so we can allow God to teach us to become more like God.
It's also clear the time of peace which passes all understanding is not yet here. We must still pray & work for the peace of Jerusalem as today's psalm calls us to do. Especially in a day when war seems rampant in many parts of the earth, we must yet yearn & work for peace within the walls of Jerusalem, the city which 3 world religions call a center of their faiths. We must pray for shalom to be within Jerusalem's towers.
So Advent is not just about celebrating Jesus the Messiah's sojourn on this earth 2000 years ago, as life-changing as that was for us & for the world. Advent is not just about preparing for Christmas as I did when I was a child.
Advent in this grown-up world is about looking forward as well as backward. It's about following the admonition in Matthew's gospel today to "Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day the Lord is coming." Matthew's emphasis throughout is on constant watchfulness & preparation. Noah's neighbors were certainly taken aback as the waters rose, & neither will we receive more warning. Our Advent wreaths emitting progressively more light each week as we light more candles are clear signs that the night is far gone & the day is near.
Next, Matthew assures us that the thief could not break in & steal from the householder if the owner knew the thief's schedule. All these warnings are provided to strengthen the believers to remain faithful even in difficult times, especially since many expected Christ's 2nd coming to be soon & were becoming weary. Matthew regards the "delay" of the parousia as a gift, a time of grace during which so many more have the chance to hear & accept the gospel. Here at Hope we can see the present as grace time to reach out to others to grow our church into the hospitable community where more people will be excited to come to worship with us. Our recent pledge campaign & budgeting for next year plus our dreams of building adequate facilities for the future indicate a need for each member of Hope to take seriously Jesus' admonition to share the Good News with others. Our energy can much better be spent committed to the future of this parish than in nit-picking about each problem which isn't perfect. That's why our welcoming & incorporating ministry had better be "radical hospitality," & I hope many of you will join with me in making such hospitality a reality here at Hope.
Indeed, Matthew sees this "in between" time as the opportunity for worldwide evangelism, time when the Church's duty is to usher in the reign of God. We're to live as expectant people, helping each other to be open to Christ's invitation, not so much as individuals but as a community. Advent has an urgency about it which is unrelated to whether the Christmas shopping gets done or who coaches which college or professional sports team into post-season play.
St. Paul says salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers. He says the night is far gone & the day is near. Then Paul gives us great imagery for what we should be doing. We should lay aside the works of darkness & put on the armor of light, living as honorably at night as we do in the day. What behaviors would we have to give up to be a beacon of light to others? Paul lists reveling & drunkenness, debauchery & licentiousness, quarreling & jealousy. Those activities sound a lot like holiday partying, but they are not what make a holy Advent. Advent is a time when we need to spend some effort cleaning our side of the street, paying attention to how we lead our daily lives, asking ourselves if these are the behaviors we would be proud of were our lives to end today.
We are all called to put on the armor of light, to wear Jesus Christ like a garment, to show forth Christ's love by behaving toward our neighbor as we would like to be treated ourselves. The time of Christ's return is described as a time of light when the Bridegroom comes & the marriage feast is waiting. We're all invited into the banquet; no one will be left out unless he or she refuses the invitation. Will you come? Who will you bring along with you?
My friend the author Madeleine L'Engle died this year. Years ago she penned this invitation for Christ Jesus to enter our lives. May it also serve as your call for a holy Advent:
Come, Lord Jesus! Do I dare
Cry: Lord Jesus, quickly come!
Flash the lightning in the air,
Crash the thunder on my home!
Should I speak this aweful prayer?
Come, Lord Jesus, help me dare.
Come, Lord Jesus! You I call
To come (come soon!) are not the child
Who lay once in the manger stall,
Are not the infant meek and mild.
You come in judgment on our all:
Help me to know you, whom I call.
Come, Lord Jesus! Come this night
With your purging and your power,
For the earth is dark with blight
And in sin we run and cower
Before the splendid, raging sight
Of the breaking of the night.
Come, my Lord! Our darkness end!
Break the bonds of time and space.
All the powers of evil rend
By the radiance of your face.
The laughing stars with joy attend:
Come Lord Jesus! Be my end!
posted by
Hope Episcopal Church
at 12:18 PM
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