Senoldo
First Advent
ID 126840163 © Senoldo | Dreamstime.com
Dec. 1, 2019 – First Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalms 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44
In one of the old prayers for the first Sunday in Advent we are invited to “cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which Thy son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility.” Book of Common Prayer 1853.
Advent would have us learn something new regarding time. Mostly we live in chronological time. That would be the blank pages on the calendar, the endless ticking of the clock, the march and the change of the seasons. There is a certain tediousness about chronos time. Sun comes up, sun goes down, hands on the clock go round and round – the relentless march of the seasons.
But suppose we learned to tell time in a different way?
Saint Paul had no time for angels and wise men and shepherds, but students are often surprised to discover that he had a Christmas Story. In Galatians 4:4 we find “when the Kairos had come." Kairos, a special moment, invades chronological time, actually a pregnant moment. And this event that happened marked time, had the power to change past, present, and future. We name that event Jesus the Christ. Amid gray routines, endless ticking of the clock, something happened. When the fullness of time had come, or in one pregnant moment, God brought forth a son, born of woman, born under the law, this one who comes to redeem even these times and fill the world with hope.
So here we are in the Year of our Lord 2019 with bills to pay, kids to raise, politicians to endure, the poor who are with us still, fear of the future and forebodings, and a word: to watch and wait, to prepare, to shout, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” To wait in hope is to anticipate.
Of all the creatures, we are the ones capable of Hope. Hope is a great mystery. It simply sometimes happens. But I have discovered that it takes at least two persons to discover hope. Where two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ, Hope can happen.
In doing some reading for Advent, I came across words written by Albert Schweitzer. At that point in his life, he had failed in his efforts to put the four gospels together into one story. "The Quest for the Historical Jesus" seemed lost to the ages. But after all of that scientific study, he ends his book with these words:
“He comes to us as one unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside. He came to those men who knew him not. He speaks to us the same word: 'Follow Thou Me' and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflict, the suffering which they shall pass through in his fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery; they shall learn in their own experiences who he is.” – Albert Schweitzer
Join with me this month as we make the Advent Journey.
On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, which sparked the 382-day Bus Boycott. Later she would give as her reason for not going to the back of the bus, that her feet were tired. “God, thank you for tired feet.” – Paul Jones. (Biographical dates and material are taken from Paul Jones, An Eclectic Almanac for the faithful. Upper Room Books, Nashville.)
The Rev. Bill Cotton of Des Moines is a retired clergy member of the Iowa Annual Conference. Together with friends and colleagues he produces the weekly resource "MEMO for Those Who Preach." This post is republished with permission from that newsletter.