1st Sunday of Advent
READING 1:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm
25 READING 2: 1 Thessalonians 3: 12-4:2 GOSPEL: Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
One of our guys spotted a fellow standing on the edge of the sidewalk holding a sign which read: “THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR.” He went up to the man and said, “Do you really believe that the end of the world is near.” “That’s right, friend,” he said. “Are you sure?” “I am quite certain, young man.” “How near?” “Oh, very near!” “Could you be more precise?” “The world will end this very week!” Our guy thought for a minute, then, full of anxiety, he asked, “Before or after the SEC Championship game?” Congratulations to our mighty Gators for wining the SEC Championships in football and Volleyball. I believe our football team is on its way to the National Championship to join our basketball team at the top. We learn more at 8:00 PM tonight if the world doesn’t end. Advent is a time to remember that as the People of God we look ahead. What thought does the future hold? Ask a senior in high school in December which college she is going to next year and you will see the anxiety come over her expression. Ask a college senior what he will be doing next year and you will realize how hostile a question that would be this time of year. I was talking to a 2005 graduate at a tailgate party. I asked how he liked his job. He said, “I worked hard to graduate in four years,” then he slapped the top of his head. He said, “What-was-I-thinking?!” It is easy to understand why Jesus said “do not let your hearts grow drowsy with the anxieties of daily life.” The world is an uncertain place. It seems to stagger from one crisis to another. Advent comes to us as a shock, for its only direction is forward, its only word is for the future, and it will tolerate no fear. Think of it: no one in the New Testament ever looked backward; they only looked forward. The most famous person in the Bible who looked backward was in the Old Testament; she was Lot ’s wife and she was turned to a statue of salt. She could not let go of familiar not-so-good security to accept God’s invitation to better-than-ever happiness. Like her, worshipping the past grinds us to salt, while anticipating the future energizes us. When we celebrate the Eucharist, we engage in the most radical act of facing the future that is possible for humans: we take the ordinary creatures of the dated present, the bread and wine; we remember the past suffering out of which this action comes, the history of our salvation; but we receive the body and blood of Christ as an act of faith and courage for the future. By this we say that we will not be held hostage by the past or be paralyzed by the anxieties of the present but that we live for tomorrow, we begin anew, and we celebrate and anticipate our redemption. We are people of the new dawn, people of the new day, people of the day that is to come, and we are never too old, never too young, to embrace the dawn of the rising Son/sun. The only game in town is the future and we join on this First Sunday of Advent with all those who wait for the coming of the Lord expecting Good News! Fr. Jeff McGowan |
