Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
December 3, 2107
1 Advent B
When I was a child,
Thanksgiving began the season perhaps most accurately called "Are we there
yet?" The season of "Are we
there yet?" was not Advent, since we had never heard of Advent, and yet
had some things in common with the holy season we begin today. The season of "Are we there yet"
was certainly a season of preparation.
Preparation for Christmas at our house began in earnest on the day after
Thanksgiving and for my brother, sister, and I, mostly involved making lists of
all the things we wanted for Christmas.
There was some decorating involved and a lot of cooking and cleaning as
we prepared for relatives and friends to arrive. This is where I learned that real preparation
for Christmas involves butter, pure vanilla, and good chocolate.
Secondly, the season of
"Are we there yet?" was a season of anticipation. In the case of "Are we there yet,” our
anticipation began as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey was cold and usually
peaked with a meltdown or two by December 1.
We would have done anything to make Christmas come right this
minute. The season of "Are we there
yet" was a season of restless counting of days-my mother savoring every
day we were still in school before the holidays and we children counting the
days until we were out of school and could spend all our time anticipating
Christmas.
Finally, the season of "Are we
there yet?" became a season of patience.
After an early meltdown or two, we children figured out how to
wait. Some things in life just cannot be
forced to come more quickly and we could be miserable for the remaining three
weeks until Christmas or we could try to be patient. Miserable got old fast and did not make the
time pass any more quickly. So, we
figured out better things to do with our time.
As we begin the season of Advent today,
we are called to a season of anticipation, preparation, and patience even if
those activities look somewhat different in Advent than in the season of "Are
we there yet?" But whatever our
practice of Advent might be, however we might understand anticipation,
preparation, and patience to get us ready for the birth of the Christ child, we
probably came to church this morning expecting to hear something a little more Christmassy
from Scripture. This morning we hear
nothing about a baby, nothing about angels or shepherds or even prophecy about
the birth of the messiah. What we get
instead is a lament from the Hebrew people calling God to come down here right
now and do something, words of encouragement from Paul about the last times,
and a grim description of Jesus' return.
How on earth are these readings supposed to help us begin our Advent
journey?
What our readings have to do with
Advent is that they all call us to God's version of anticipation, preparation,
and patience. In the reading from
Isaiah, the people have returned to the Promised Land from their exile in
Babylon. Rather than finding a land of milk and honey waiting for them, they found
a land that was uninhabitable and a people who were devastated. The people know their complicity in their
problems. They admit that they have
sinned and made God angry. But they also
know that they are nothing but damp clay without God. The people are anticipating God’s action
because they remember that God has acted on their behalf in the past. In a world where genocide, gun violence, scandals,
and natural and human made disasters seem rampant, I can easily make the same
lament to God. Get down here and do
something! Now! And I am reminded of the prophetic voices
that call us to prepare for the action of God by living as the people God
created us to be-not acting as damp, unformed clay in the face of injustice but
being the vessels God created us to be. Scripture
calls us to anticipate God’s action by living as the people God calls us to be,
now.
Paul, unlike Isaiah or
Jesus, tells the people that they are prepared for Jesus’ return-that the grace
of God given to them in Christ Jesus has given them the strength and the
spiritual gifts they need to be ready when Jesus returns. Paul lives in deep
anticipation of the day when Jesus returns and he encourages the Christians in
Corinth to do likewise. If we live like
Jesus will return any moment, faithfully rather than passively, then our lives
will make the world look a little more like the world Jesus came to redeem.
Just as the Hebrew people were experiencing
fearsome times in the reading from Isaiah, the faithful to whom Mark was
written were also experiencing fearsome times.
Jesus' followers were being handed over to councils. Families were divided. People were being put to death. God
needed to come down and do something. Now. On the one hand, Jesus’ words this morning seem
to tell us that when things finally get bad enough, Jesus will return. But on the other hand, Jesus’ words also
promise that, in the midst of suffering, Jesus is near. The people can anticipate a time when there
will be no more terror and trials, when God will act and Jesus will gather them
up. But Jesus also calls them to prepare
for that time by watching for the ways in which Jesus is near now.
Are we there yet? The answer is yes, and no. The promise of Advent and the promise of
Scripture is that God will act, both now and in the future. God calls us to anticipate God's action by longing
for that action so deeply that we will do anything to make that action a
reality. God calls us to prepare with
such deliberation that God's presence is real to those around us. Now. And God calls us to be patient, but not
passive. God will act in God's good
time, but in the meantime, God acts through us.
We are not formless lumps of damp clay, but the vessels of justice and
peace God created us to be. Advent calls us to keep alert and be part of what
God is doing in our midst now, so we and the world around us will recognize
God’s action in the future.
Amen.
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