Advent.
Watch Out!
You do not know the hour of the coming of the Son of Man.
“Adventus” means coming. We Episcopalians/Anglicans
believe that Advent is not only the beginning of the liturgical year; we also
believe that it is the Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end “again”. Christ is eternally coming. Christ is our hoped for great expectation.
“In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He was with God in the beginning. Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been
made. In him was life, and that life was the
light of all mankind. The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” [John 1-6 (NIV)]
Christ
is the Logos [Creating Cosmic Wisdom],
“Word”, that is an eternal creating power permeating the universe’s energy. Advent is hoping without limits. “God coming” is actually an active
noun. In Genesis 3:8, we read, “And
they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the
day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God
amongst the trees of the garden.” God
had not been outside the garden. His
Breath was only a peaceful presence in the shade. God is always within life.
Awareness
of God’s presence is not a welcome realization! It seems that Adam
and Eve’s response to “God with us” was to hide. I suppose that we share
their dread, because we have been hiding from God since the beginning of our
own awaking that God is with us. We sing, “O come, O
come, Emmanuel”, yet, our hearts whisper, “not yet, not now”! Quick,
cover up our shame! Pretend we are not
anxious.
We
dread God’s judgment of our limitless cravings that bend us to total self centeredness. Yet,
like a child whose bravery insists that she is able to stand and to run own her
own, quickly loses her courage when she discovers she has run too far, and run
out of sight of Mom and Dad. She discovers that she has lost the
arms of security and found the embrace of despairing
loneliness. Lost! Alone!
While
on one hand we fear Immanuel, “God with us”, as a challenge to our
willfulness, on the other hand we fear, “God with us”, as a loss of self
and of freedom. Immanuel exposes our freedom as bondage to self as
solitary confinement that separates us from any contentment in fellowship with
others and with God, The OTHER.
We
are filled with dreadful discontent that exposes our broken sacred image of
God. He is coming. We wait. He arrives with
healing in His wings! Really?
He is born that we no more may die. Really? He gives us second birth. Our
image is reclaimed and restored in His coming.
Really? Really!
That
is what Advent brings. Sound like good news? God’s coming
brings to us hope, peace, joy, and love! Thanks be to God for the manger
where his promises are wrapped in bonds of rags and an infant waves from a
manger. The baby’s name shall be called Immanuel, “with us is God!
Amen.
Concluding ...Watching, Waiting
As
a child I remember the thrill of hiding from my mother’s watchful eyes.
Freed
from her sentry, my brothers and I would run to the creek to dive naked into
its warm splendid wetness. We would splash and have water
fights. I would swing from a rope and fly to free fall into the open
arms of sky and water.
Oh,
no! I hit a tree buried in the creek’s soft
bottom. Bloodied, and full of fear, I sprang from the water running
for home. Running for mother! My brother caught up with
me and shook me. “Are you an idiot? You’re OK! It’s
just a scratch! Mother will punish us all for your ugly, bloody
face!
I
shouted in pain, and rage, and guilt, and disbelief, and hope. “I’m
going home!” I ran as fast as I could. Naked, bleeding, I
threw my bloody face into my mother’s lap! I looked up with hope
into the eyes of Immanuel, “God with us”, judgment and salvation.
Get
ready. Watch. Wait.
Come out! Hope Peace, Joy, and Love
comes to each of us in our life’s gardens in the early dawn and in evening’s
shadows, and even in the lonely nights.
God is always with us, we need only come out of hiding.
O
come, O come, Immanuel! Amen.
