A season of hope and expectation
The first Sunday of Advent
A few words on Advent in general. Advent transports us back to the longing of the prophets of Israel for the coming of a Saviour. The Saviour has come! But salvation is not complete. We proclaim, ‘Christ has died, Christ is risen’, and then add, ‘Christ will come again.’
Why? Because there is so much ‘unfinished business’ in the work of redemption. Our world and even the lives of believers still appears very ‘unredeemed’. Our salvation is still being worked out.
The first generation of Christians believed that the Lord would return very soon to complete his messianic work. They were dismayed when some believers began to die and still he had not come (1 Thess 4:13-18). The later writings of the New Testament, the four Gospels included, all address this problem. It may be that the Lord will not come tomorrow, next year or even before this generation dies out. But come he will – in a time known only to God (Mark 13:32).
Meanwhile, this time of waiting is not devoid of meaning – like time spent waiting at a bus stop. This ‘in-between’ time is a sacred time, a time for the Church to proclaim the Gospel to every nation (Mark 13:10; Acts 1:6-8). It is a time to make sense of the present, while never giving up the hope that God’s Messiah, Jesus, will have the last word.
Advent is the season that honours and celebrates this waiting aspect of the Christian life. Because we live in the time following the first coming of the Saviour, the prime focus of our waiting and our expectation is upon the
second coming of the Lord. But because salvation is not complete, because we are so conscious of a world still ravaged by suffering and violence, we can identify with the prophets and the holy men and women who hung upon the promise of salvation before the first coming of the Lord. Their cries express our own longings and hopes for a liberated and just world.
The second coming of the Lord
The Gospel (Luke 21:25-28, 34-36), taken from Jesus’ long instruction on the future (21:5-38), again focuses upon the second coming of the Lord. It is full of the kind of apocalyptic descriptions and portents that have always excited the fundamentalist religious imagination. They create real difficulty for preachers today. The important thing, I think, is to focus upon the basic intent of such discourse, which is to address the sense of dismay and challenge to hope that calamities of various kinds present. While God may appear to be silent or absent, somehow all these things are held within the divine purpose, which will ultimately win through. The reference to the coming of Jesus as ‘Son of Man’ catches up the vision of Daniel 7:13-14, a text which played a very significant role in early Christian messianic hope. Jesus will come ‘with all his saints.’ The ‘communion of saints’ that unites the Church on earth with all who have gone before us to the Lord and with all those holy ones who lived before his coming, will, at last, be revealed.
While the basic message is one of comfort and reassurance, the second part of the Gospel adopts a more admonitory tone. Believers must be like people expecting visitors but unsure as to when exactly they will arrive. The time of waiting requires attentiveness and a sharp spiritual sense. Anything that dulls the spirit (like not praying and deepening our faith) or causes it to be distracted (absorption in the material excesses of life) must be avoided.
Advent is a time for examination in such areas. It is also a time for exploring our deepest longings and desires and allowing them to surface. They can ride up, so to speak, on the rich Scripture texts that the Church puts before us at this time.
God’s only wish in our regard is to communicate to us the life and love for which we long. Each Advent should expand both our longing and our capacity to receive the gift of God.
Prayer for the week
Advent: A Season of Hope and Expectation
Advent, a time of waiting. A time of year-end busyness.
Advent, a time of preparation. A time of hectic tidying up.
Advent, a time of prayer. A time of crazy shopping.
Advent, a time of meditation. A time of frantic partying.
Advent, a time of rest. A time of running around meeting deadlines.
Advent, a time of calm. A time of cooking special menus.
Advent, a time for love.
A time for making space, clearing away the clutter in our hearts,
Getting rid of bitterness, letting go of grudges, making space for others,
Making room for the coming of Jesus.
St Angela Merici ~ Pray for us
St Ursula ~ Protect our future
Amen.
