First Sunday of Advent
Jer 33: 14-16; 1 Thes 3: 12 – 4:2; Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36
Deacon Larry Brockman
Today Jesus talks about “Signs in the sun, the moon, the stars, and on the earth…”, and so on. Sounds mysterious, scary, intimidating, fearful and so ominous. It certainly gets our attention, doesn’t it? And it begs the question, “what does it all really mean”?
But then comes the punch line: Because Jesus tells us that when we see these things coming, we should: “Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand”. Well, rather than try to explain the end of the world with this passage, let’s narrow the scope a little, and just consider what could happen at the end of our own world.
But first, let me tell you a little story. I was coming home from Seattle last week and felt just fine when I got on the plane. Shortly after the plane took off, I started to shake like a leaf, break out with a fever and sweat, and felt sore all over. I was coming down with an infection, a UTI to be exact. I put on my winter jacket, which had come to good use in Seattle. But even that didn’t keep me warm. And I was forced to make six or seven painful trips to the lavatory. Suddenly, there it was, I was facing a miserable trip of 6 straight hours on a plane. It felt like the sun and the moon and the stars and the whole earth were falling on me for all six hours. I’m not sure how I ever made it through the flight. It could well have been the end to my world.
In fact, it has taken me almost a week of bedrest to feel better. And I was actually checked into the hospital at one point. It seems the infection caused me to gain massive quantities of water weight in my limbs and it was taxing my heart; a life-threatening condition.
This incident reminded me of just how fragile life is. At any time, everything can close in on top of you, just like the opening words in our Gospel today described. At any time, life can be taken from us. So, maybe these words of Jesus are a signal for all of us to consider our own journey. and to recognize when our own worlds are caving in on us, with seemingly everything going out of our control.
So now, let us then ask the question that Jesus poses. Will we be ready to stand erect before God when that happens?
Jesus says we should “beware that our hearts do not become drowsy”. I had never really thought about that before- drowsy hearts. But our hearts, the seat of our emotions, our commitment to the Lord, and our spiritual awareness; they can become drowsy by preoccupation with the things of the world. Things like “anxieties of daily life”- illnesses, food, our daily routine, our leisure; or “drunkenness”- really any kind of addiction, like TV or the internet, or gossip. When our hearts are drowsy, then our sensitivity to the love of God and others becomes dulled.
If our whole world were to fall apart suddenly then and we find ourselves face to face with God, we won’t be ready, we will be scared of standing before the Lord. But we are the fortunate ones, aren’t we? Because we are God’s holy people, his Church. We have followed the advice of Paul to the Thesallonians. We have increased and abound in the love for one another. And we are committed to conduct ourselves in such a way to please God. That is what is on our minds, now, and going forward; even in the midst of the “tribulations that are imminent” in each life.
When we can do this, keep our hearts alive in Christ, then we can stand before the Lord when he comes to us no matter how suddenly or dramatically it happens because we have maintained our focus. We know what our hearts are seeking. They are seeking to rest forever in the Lord.