RCL Year B (Advent 1) - November 30, 2008

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Advent 1) - November 30, 2008

Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37

People always are in a hurry... especially this time of the year! Even so much that it caused a young man in New York to loose his life this week. On “black” Friday, he was merely doing his job by unlocking the doors to the Wal-Mart and he was overrun by thousands of people, just so they could shop during the wee hours of the morning. People always seem to be in a hurry, especially this time of year. In a hurry to rush to the store and spend money, in a hurry to put up the tree and bring out the decorations, and in a hurry to send cards and well wishes to folks they haven’t seen or heard from in years.

The stores are putting up the decorations earlier and earlier, wanting to create that rush toward Christmas. Wanting people to buy, buy, buy and make their financial woes go away. It almost seams the stores feel that if they put the decorations up earlier, that it will make people think Christmas will come earlier…

But what are folks really looking for?… are they looking for that “feeling” of Christmas to come – by putting candles in the window, tinsel on the evergreen, and mistletoe in the doorframe. Do they really want to spend all that money on all that stuff that they don’t really need?

What are folks wanting to happen? Are they wanting Christmas to come sooner… and then when it finally comes, why do they only celebrate for a day.

The saddest thing that I have ever saw was someone who put their Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, and then tossed it out on the street on the 26th of December. They had it up so long that it was all dry by the time the actual holiday started… the holiday that lasts a whole 12 days!

That’s where we are today. Right here in the midst of all that social chaos that the commercial world has created twirling around us. We are here right here! Right here starting the new year.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of the Christian year. This is the Sunday when we begin to re-tell the story, our story... the Christian story once again. And our story starts out as chaotic as the world around us. With the exhortation from Jesus to wait! Wait for his coming again... When the Son of Man will come with great power and glory, and the elect will be gathered from the four corners of the earth!

But know one knows when this will happen, so we are to keep alert, keep awake and watch! So advent for us is a season of waiting, and watching, and being alert. This may seem a bit strange for those that are in a hurry to get to the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem. That is such a sweet story, why in the world would we start out the year by being fussed at to stay awake, and make ourselves ready for Jesus’ coming again?

Well, the two kind of go hand in hand. Today, we are like the ones back then who awaited the birth of the Messiah. We know not the day, nor the hour when he will appear, so we must continuously watch and wait. The difference is, we know who we are waiting for. We live in the anticipation that Jesus will return like he said he would.

This is where we start our story. With the joyful anticipation, with the expectation that we will see the Christ face to face. But waiting is not a comfortable thing for most of us to do. In fact, it makes us worried and anxious... the longer we wait, the more anxious we get, and the more jittery and fearfully excited about the unknown.

So most of us choose not to wait at all. Or we make waiting a passive thing that we just routinely do. Instead of something we actively do. We may passively wait like we wait to be next in line at the grocery store, or for a bus to arrive. But active waiting is much different. It’s intentional, it’s deliberate, and it requires preparation.

I learned last year that the parade in Cleveland is a big affair, people line the streets and wait, wanting to get a good seat and a good view. They prepare most of the morning, and the little children are excited. Excited about what candy they will get thrown to them or what old cars or fire trucks they will see. We only know that the parade has started because of the sound of horns or drums. The excitement starts to build as each sight and sound goes bye. The excitement was expected, but there was some mystery surrounding the whole event. That’s the kind of waiting I am talking about...

The people of old waited to be delivered by a messiah, who the prophets told them would be born. So they lived in a continual state of readiness because they did not know the day or hour of his arrival. We wait today, at the beginning of Advent, in the very same way. But, we are not waiting for a baby to be born in a barn, that has already happened, and it is a wonderful story... and there will be twelve whole days to celebrate!

But today, we are called to wait, to prepare, to be pregnant with expectation and excitement, and to be actively watchful. We are called to take some time out and be still and listen for the Christ who will come when we least expect it.

Taking time out in this time of year for us is counter-cultural there is so much expected of us… go here, go there, do this, do that, buy this, buy that… We have gotten tied all up in these expectations of what we need to do and where we need to go that it has become our tradition, and our way of dealing with the season.

We have done it so long, that we don’t know any different. Kind of like the people that have lived by the train tracks for so long that they no longer hear the sound of the train. We get accustomed to the “noise” of Advent so much that we no longer notice it. Or if we do, it doesn’t jolt us awake as it once did.

I would like to invite you to the observance of a Holy Advent. Don’t be in a rush to put up the decorations, but wait, and let the anxiety build, be watchful, and expect something holy to happen.

As children, we used advent calendars that we opened each day of advent, counting down the days until the birth of Christ. We were innocently filled with anticipation as we waited to see what would be behind the next little door, and what story would it tell us.

Some use the advent wreath in the home, like the one we have here, to help us mark the time until our savior comes again. Each Sunday, lighting one more candle, until all the candles are lit. And we realize that God is getting nearer and nearer to us.

We are called today to keep a Holy Advent, a special place between the birth of a baby and the coming of Christ in glory. A place between the “already” and the “not yet.” As we strive to live in the middle of this paradox, we not only get to know better the One that has already come into the world, who lived as one of us, who died, and was raised again… But, we start to prepare ourselves to live in the realm that God has promised us. And then we can start to experience, even now, some of what that life might be like.

So keep alert, watch, and wait. For Jesus is near. Come Lord Jesus, Come.