FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT (YEAR C)

[cappie]

We are living in a time of significant change. Whether it is the upcoming elections;  international conflicts and wars, climate change, or shifts in the economy, there is a feeling of uncertainty in the air.  It seems that things are out of control. Or, at least out of our control. Perhaps that is the point. We are not in control.

The first Sunday of Advent reminds us that we are not in control. It also provides direction and reassurance amid the chaos and confusion. This first Sunday of the church’s calendar year invites us to suspend our notions of time. The season of Advent reminds us of deep time. We are invited to wait for God’s realm.

The Gospel reinforces all of this when Jesus speaks with an apocalyptic voice. Jesus said, “ There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken”

It is tempting to try to make literal connections with our current time. Equally enticing is the desire to use Jesus’ words to predict the future. This, however, is beyond the larger point of what God is communicating to us this Advent season. The  theologian Frederick Buechner provides a framework for thinking about Luke’s words as we start Advent.   He writes “I think we are waiting. That is what is at the heart of it.” We are waiting during this season for the birth of baby Jesus. As Christians, we slowdown from the busyness of an always-on culture and the distractions of ever-present mobile phones to prepare our hearts and minds for Jesus’ birth.

We are also waiting for the healing of the world. We are waiting for just and civil relationships between people and among communities and nations. We are waiting for a new ethic of love, peace, and justice to envelop us. In the waiting, we are called to prepare ourselves and to be on guard. Our calling in the waiting is to move beyond busyness into preparation of a solidity in our interiority.

Jesus tells us, “ Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap.” It might seem strange to joyfully wait in anticipation of Jesus’ birth against the backdrop of the apocalyptic words in Luke.

However, the apocalyptic view of events on Earth is often used in scripture to reflect things happening on a higher plane. More is happening than what first meets the eye. We are waiting for the birth of Jesus who is also the one on whom we have been waiting to bring peace and justice on earth. And yet, we cannot take our eyes off the warning of a stirring of chaos and disruption. So, we are invited to stay awake and be ready. Jesus tells us that we are to be on guard, “ Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’”

  It’s in times like this that it helps to look to a prophet. Prophets point beyond “what is” and can help us to be ready for “what is to come.”   Jeremiah found hope during difficult times with challenges well beyond our own.  

Jeremiah says in our reading today: “ See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when I am going to fulfil the promise I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah:

‘In those days and at that time, 

I will make a virtuous Branch grow for David,

who shall practise honesty and integrity in the land.

In those days Judah shall be saved

and Israel shall dwell in confidence.

And this is the name the city will be called:

The-Lord-our-integrity.’

 

  We listen to Jeremiah and recognize that we, too, are waiting for a virtuous  branch of David to spring up. Who is this one that is to come and bring forward justice and righteousness? We wait. We wait with the hopefulness of Jeremiah, “The Lord is our righteousness.”  The advent we are waiting for is not an apocalypse, but the beginning of human beings again and again as they recommit themselves to bring the Realm of God here.”

  On this first Sunday of Advent, let us find the hope of Jeremiah and the continued promised newness his words give to us in this time. May we prepare ourselves and stay on guard.