A Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 24:37-44
My dogs have excellent biological clocks.
At ten o'clock every night they find me wherever I am and they start to sing.
I don't think they can read the microwave clock,
but it's their dinner time and they know it.
They're ready.
They're anticipating something good.
They know what to expect.
While our liturgical calendars aren't quite as precise, we recognize the time too. We know Christmas is coming. Even if I manage to avoid the commercialism, when I smell turkey soup and I know it's advent. Even when the thermometer says 60 and there's no snow on the ground, I can tell by the red pricks all over my hands that today is the First Sunday of Advent. (I can never remember in time to wear gloves when making the advent wreath.) December will be here day after tomorrow and the countdown of advent calendars begins.
Advent. It means that Jesus is coming. Get ready. We've got ... now how many days is it? ... 26 days to prepare. (At this point the sermon is suddenly interrupted by loud organ music, playing "Joy to the World") What if TODAY IS Christmas? ! Are you ready? Your guests are already at your home waiting for you. Or you're the guest and you're already late. Is your house decorated, cookies baked, gifts wrapped?
Jesus says to us, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."
Jesus' first coming was a disruptive surprise. Birth is always a surprise. Babies just don't tell us exactly when they plan to arrive. Jesus birth in Bethlehem was probably typically inconvenient. Imagine Joseph's exasperation -- "You mean the baby's coming NOW? But we haven't even found a place to stay yet!"
But with pregnancy at least one has some general idea of when. The next time the "Son of Man" comes is completely unknown. Matthew even goes so far as to tell us that even the angels don't know when; and not even the Son knows .... ONLY the Father knows. So those who claim to know the time of the Second Coming are claiming to know more than Jesus himself?
The truth is that we just don't know. It could be anytime. Jesus is telling is to get ready: It could be right now. Sunday evening, November 29, 1998, 7:17 am. The door of St. Luke's in Willmar opens. Someone walks in. Turn around. Jesus is here. Do you see him?
Today could be the second coming of the Son of Man. When we least expect it, God, probably with gleeful delight, announces "Ready or not, here I come!"
Are you ready enough that you will see Jesus when he arrives, suddenly and unexpectedly? In general, we're not very good at surprises. We like time to prepare.
Consider my dogs, though.
They're good at surprises.
If I were to get out the dog food at three in the afternoon
they'd be ready.
They're always ready ...
because they spend most of their waking hours looking for and hoping for food.
I think this is the kind of readiness Jesus means. Do you spend most of your waking hours looking for Jesus? Today's message is "Get ready." Maybe that means practice looking for Jesus so you won't miss him. Live as if at any moment you might turn around and there he'd be. Wake up. Open your eyes. Look for Christ everywhere.
Now, that part sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it? "Seeking Christ"? That's our advent homework. It was assigned to us at our baptism. Remember recently we read the baptismal covenant? There we promised to "seek and serve Christ in all persons."
So here's a quite specific homework assignment for this advent, for right now: Practice looking for Christ. Look for Christ in everyone you meet. Open your eyes. Each day find someone who is for you an image of Christ.
How will you recognize them?
Then pray for the person who showed you Christ that day. It needn't be a long elaborate prayer. --If you see Christ in a friend, offer a quick ‘Thank you, God, for putting Jan in my life.' -- Or if you see Christ in a hungry child on television, say a prayer for the hungry, and give something to the food shelf. We might even bring the prayers back to church each week and name during the prayers of the people some of those people who have showed us Christ.
This isn't a difficult assignment; try it and you'll find Christ in the most surprising places. Practice looking for Christ. Look for Christ in everyone you meet. Then when Christ shows up suddenly, unexpectedly in your life you will be ready. And the light will shine in your life. Come, friends, let us walk in the light of Christ.
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