Advent 1 09.10

November 29, 2009

Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36

 Beginning and Ending and Beginning

Beginning

I saw a great Advent story about a group of women and their preparations to be ready.

They see the signs, and preparations begin.

They will not be caught unprepared when the day comes.

They are meticulous – studying carefully, planning each step they will walk.  They know there is danger ahead, but also rewards of which they can only dream – if they stay on course and endure.

The story was in the Columbus Dispatch on Friday morning.

They are women preparing for the first day of the Christmas shopping season; the day after Thanksgiving, now popularly and widely known as “Black Friday”.

 I was impressed with their thorough preparations, their attention to detail.  There was an urgency.  They didn’t want to miss out.

And that comes the very day after Thanksgiving, when people are tired from the holiday!

This is the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I’m not sure about what urgency may have pushed you to be here today. I know that  I had imagined this might be a good Sunday to take off (guess this indicates the level of energy I was expecting.  I am, of course, here though!). But it is the First Sunday of Advent.  The beginning of a season in which we are not simply getting ready for Christmas, but getting ready to see Jesus on that day when he comes again.  That day is coming – sometime. For now – we must prepare ourselves to be ready to see Jesus now, in the living of these days.

Diana Bargant has written "The Advent way of life does not necessarily require unusual behavior on our part, but it calls us to live the usual unusually well. It affects the everyday events of life; it directs the way we interact with people; it informs the attitudes that color our judgments and motivations. It is as ordinary as the birth of a child; it is as extraordinary as the revelation of God.”

As extraordinary as a new beginng.

Today is a new beginning.

But then too it is undeniably about Endings. Rev. Jacqueline King grew up and was educated in the north, but now lives in the South.   “I now reside in the Bible Belt and experience many Christians who see the end of the world as coming very soon. I wish I had a nickel every time my sweet neighbor said, ‘Pastor, it is just the signs of the times…Jesus is coming” My neighbor was so convinced that Jesus is coming any moment that if she heard anything unusual, she ran out the door and expected to see Jesus Christ descending gloriously from heaven. Most people heard a jumbo jet flying overhead, but she heard the apocalypse.” We cannot escape the fact that Jesus talks about end times in today’s gospel.  His talk of “that day” can spark uncertainty. In fact, his words should stir the greatest certainty.

Our times are in God’s hands.  We need not fear the ending.  We can live today. Which brings us back to Beginning.

Jürgen Moltmann, 20th century
I tried to present the Christian hope no longer as such an "opium of the beyond" but rather as the divine power that makes us alive in this world.”

The divine power makes us alive -- today. Remember the quote from Diana Bargant, "The Advent way of life does not necessarily require unusual behavior on our part, but it calls us to live the usual unusually well. This is about Today. The Lord is our Righteousness. We ask God to alert us to the threatening dangers of our sins Today. We ask God to redeem us to live a life of justice Today. We ask God to replace our fear with hope, and joy. Because, “when these things begin to take place (WE CAN) stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is near.”  Our future is in God’s hands.  Do not cower in fear.  “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly.”

Sisters and brothers, be ready.  Be prayerful.  Be nurtured by the Word and the Sacraments – by Jesus.  Then we are freed & equipped to live the usual unusually well.  amen