Advent One Year B
2017
Fr. Dale Matson
Because this is
the first Sunday in Advent and the first Sunday of the new church year, I would
like to begin with some remarks that will help us orient ourselves in the
church calendar. The church year is celebrated in three-year cycles and this is
the first Sunday of year B. In year B the
Gospel readings are primarily from St. Mark.
The first of four advent candles in our wreath is lit representing expectant
hope and is sometimes referred to as the “Prophecy Candle”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent).
Bishop Menees had this to say about the
season of Advent four years ago. “The season of Advent is a season of
preparation - preparation for our death (or the 2nd Coming of Christ which ever
comes first) and preparation to receive the incarnate Jesus born of the Virgin
Mary in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. This preparation begins by seeking God's help
to "cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of
light." It is only by the help of
God the Holy Spirit that we can in fact truly examine our lives and repent of
our sins. (Mark 1:15) Repentance of sin
alone is not enough - forgiven of sin, we are vulnerable and so we are called
to clothe ourselves in the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).”
In a
way, the season of Advent reminds me of Lent. In Advent we anticipate the Birth
of Christ in Lent we anticipate Christ’s death and rebirth. Both seasons use shades of purple for the
liturgical color. Both seasons include
fasts and both seasons deal with penitence and preparation. I think however that there is an anticipatory
JOY in advent and an anticipatory SORROW in Lent.
You might think this
first Sunday in the new church year as a complete break in the flow of our
lectionary readings but in fact, the readings at the end of year A anticipate and prepare us for the readings for the beginning of year B. Going back three weeks
we learned of the virgins waiting the arrival of the Bridegroom. Is this not a
metaphor for Christ’s return and preparation for Advent?
Two weeks ago we
heard from St. Paul in 1st Thessalonians (5:1),”Concerning the times
and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written
to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come
like a thief in the night.”
In the Gospel
lesson for the same Sunday Jesus uses the “Parable of the talents” to make the
point that the Master will return. “Then he went away. After a long time the
master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.” Is that not also a
description of His return?
And in our
readings for last week- Christ the King Sunday we hear in the opening of the
Gospel lesson, “Jesus said, ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all
the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the
nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep
at his right hand and the goats at the left.’”
And that is the
beauty of the flow of our lectionary readings. Even though every church year
begins with Advent and ends with Christ The King Sunday, the church year is
really an eternal circle of sacred time. Is Advent just
about the return of Christ and anticipating our own death or is it also about
what we are to be doing while we await His return? Certainly the parable of the
talents indicates we are to be investing according to the extent of the gifts
we have received. We are to be ever vigilant that we, unlike the foolish
virgins are not low on oil when He arrives. We have to be ready to drop
everything when He calls us. Unfinished business will remain unfinished. We
cannot be like the disciple in Matthew who asked to bury his father first. It
is interesting to note that he did not say his father had actually died. It is
very possible he was saying indirectly that he needed to wait until his father
died which was really an indefinite postponement.
My question to you
is this. Do you really want him to
return? I will not ask for a show of hands. Here is the answer I believe most
would give. It is the same answer as the disciple who wanted to wait for his
father to die. This is the answer if you are honest with yourself. “Yes, I want
Christ to return but… not yet.”
Let me take you on
my journey beginning with my youth. This will allow most of you to recognize
the answer you might currently give and to feel less guilt. When I was 16, I
think I may have said, “Lord please wait until after I get my driver’s license
and when I got that, then “Lord please wait until I graduate from High School”,
then, college, then get married, then have children, then become a deacon then
priest, then finish Ironman Hawaii, then have grandchildren. Each time I was
not saying, “Don’t come.” I was saying, “Just postpone your coming Lord until I
finish this or accomplish that.” How is that any different than the disciple
who had something to do first or the virgins who needed to go buy more oil?
How are things
different for me now? I am ready. I
am ready for the Lord to return. Yes, I make plans for the future. I calendar
future events daily. But…there is no more bargaining. No event or
accomplishment is as important as His return for me now. It is not just that I
am old and poured out. My brother Don, who is a Christian and will be 81years
old this month told me, “I’m not ready for Christ to return.” I guess he’s
thinking about planting his garden for next spring. So it isn’t age alone. Maybe
there are some of you with chronic pain and ill health that wish Christ would
return. I think in my own life that being ready is the last step before
accepting God’s will in all things including your own death.
What are you
anticipating during Advent? Are you
looking forward to Christ’s return with JOY?
What kind of plans are you making and what are you doing? Are you immersed in a paralyzed anxiety
anticipating an Apocalypse or are you celebrating an Eschatology that calls you
to action? St. Paul says in Romans, “You
know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For
salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far-gone,
the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the
armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day.” (Romans 13:8-14)
While we wait for
His return, we are called to action. We
are not called to worry. As we say in
our concluding prayer of the Liturgy we are called to do the work He has given
us to do. What work has our Lord Given you to do? The word “Liturgy” itself means “work”. What
are we doing with our gifts and talents?
Life moves so very fast. There is
not much time left. Each of our own end
times draws ever nearer. Our collect today calls us to cast away
the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this
mortal life. This life truly is mortal
What are we doing
with the time we have now? There is not much time left to do the work we are called
to do. Kitty Carlisle who passed on at age
96 once said, “After we turn 50 years old, every 30 minutes is breakfast.”
We hear this also
from our Gospel.
“Then they will
see `the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then he will send
out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the
earth to the ends of heaven. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as
its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is
near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is
near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but
my words will not pass away. “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither
the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.] Beware; keep alert;
for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a
journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work,
and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake-- for you
do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at
midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he
comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
Here is the reality for us. Each one of us is in the midst of his or her
own end times. Each generation is
the last generation. Christ has come for
all people before us who have died in Him.
He has come for many of our parents and will come for us too. In John 14:2-3 Our Lord states, In my Father's house
are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Revelation 22:20
states, “He which testified these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
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