By Mother Rebecca

Happy New Year!

Though the rest of the world celebrates a new year on January 1, we will turn the page into a new year this weekend as we observe the first Sunday of Advent.

We ended the year last Sunday with Jesus’ description of the eschaton – the final event in time when God will bring the story of the world to its conclusion. This ending, Jesus tells us, will begin with a coming.

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. (Matthew 25:31)

The word Advent, from the Latin adventus, means “coming” or “arrival.” In these next four weeks, we will watch and wait for Christ’s coming. For many years, my Advential watching and waiting was focused on the birth of a baby in Bethlehem, on a child in a manger, on shepherds and angels a star high in the sky. My watching and waiting involved decorating the house, shopping for Christmas gifts, cooking and baking for the feast to come. At the end of the season, our family would go to church and find the baby – just as the angels had promised – lying in a manger. We’d return home, having watched and waited for Jesus and having found he was indeed born on Christmas Day, and we’d celebrate with those we love.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to understand that Advent isn’t as much about watching and waiting for the birth of Christ, but for his second coming – the one we heard about this past Sunday. When we observe Advent in this way, as a time to prepare for the end of the story, the rhythm of our Decembers changes considerably. Far from decorating and feast-making, Advent becomes a time to reflect on what will take place when the Son of Man comes again and sits on the throne.

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. (Matthew 25:32-33)

The sheep will be welcomed into the kingdom; the goats will not.

This fall, we’ve been sharing our stories. Last weekend in my sermon about the end of the story, I observed that when we come to the end of the greatest story ever told – the story of God’s enormous love for the world – we will be judged by how we have loved. Cast your minds back to the Sermon the Mount where Jesus asks, “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Matthew 5:46). Advent is a time in which we ask ourselves: Have we loved the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, and imprisoned? Or have we merely loved those who are easy to love? The reality of our lives is that we’ve done a little of both, sometimes reaching out to love the least of these in our midst and other times defaulting only to loving friends and family.

Friends, the watching and waiting we do in Advent is nothing short of a gift. It is the gift of time in which we can examine our lives openly and honestly, time in which we can reconnect with our priorities and recommit ourselves to following Christ. Our lectionary readings and collects will serve as guides in the journey. This week, Jesus will caution us to keep awake, for we do not know when the master of the house is coming. And, because we know we have so much to learn about following the Savior of the world into love, we will pray:

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

I’ll see you Sunday!

Rebecca+