First Sunday of Advent

Jan 29 2025

Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones

Are you a watcher? Some are people watchers. I remember a former teacher of mine saying how he liked to sit by the window in a restaurant or, if the day was nice, on a park bench, and just watch people go by. It served as a reminder of God’s infinite imagination in creating us. Or, perhaps you are a clock-watcher, checking your watch frequently, even searching to find a clock whenever you enter an unfamiliar place. Clock-watchers tend to be on time and are especially appreciated when running meetings.

Advent calls us to be watchers, but neither of clocks nor of people merely passing by. We are called to be watchers for the Lord’s return. Now this might not seem as interesting as watching people, or as practical as watching the clock, or even as likely to get results, but its importance is on a deeper level. We are called to take seriously Jesus’ promise that he will return and that we are to live now in light of that return, that is, to live in the light this promise offers us for our lives.

As we watch for the Lord’s return in glory, we might catch glimpses of him more frequently here and now because he returns more often than we might suspect, but we miss it because we are not watching for it. So when we hear Jesus commanding his disciples, “Be watchful! Be alert!” this holds for us today—and tomorrow.

Consider/Discuss

Are you a watcher? Of what?
In your watching, have you had any experiences of kairos time, those moments of grace when you felt the presence of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit?
Can you become more watchful and grow into a deeper confidence that the Lord will return?

Responding to the Word

Make us a watchful people, Lord, living in such a way that we keep one eye watching for your return, while we meet the challenges of the present. Let us not grow discouraged or fearful that you will not return. Help us recognize how you come even now in your word and in the sacraments. Amen.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

The first reading consists of a communal lament and a prayer that recounts events in the history of Israel. The people are in a desperate situation, unable to help themselves, in need of someone who can rescue them from their plight. They feel abandoned even by their ancestors, and so they cry out to God. Attention then shifts from their distress to the mighty works of God. Those who seemed to be the least deserving of divine kindness hope that God, who worked wonders in the past, will work wonders now on their behalf.

Paul is grateful for blessings granted in the past to the Corinthians. He reminds them that these blessings came from God through Christ. This may indicate that the Corinthians have developed a certain smugness about their abilities. Paul then moves to the point of the passage, namely, the community’s waiting for the revelation of the Lord. The Christians are living in the “time between.” Christ has already been born, died, and raised from the dead. They now live in anticipation of his return. At issue are the manner of their lifestyle and the character of their commitment during this “time between.”

A thrice-repeated command—“Watch!”—surrounds a parable that emphasizes the need to be ready at all times, because Christians do not know when the Lord will return. The Greek word for “time” (kairos) refers to a special time, a decisive moment, more than mere chronological or sequential time (chronos). The short parable brings this point home. Like the servants in the parable, the Christians are instructed to be prepared at all times. The coming of the householder will be sudden and unscheduled, a kairos moment. Life between the times will go on as usual. There are responsibilities that must be carried out. However, life must still be lived with the realization that this is a time of vigilance. “Watch!”

Jan 23 2025

Advent Is Calling!

She stokes the fire and stirs the logs so that they get more air. From upstairs, she hears the breathing machine, whirring in and out, bringing oxygen to the one she loves. She cannot see the air around the logs. She cannot see the oxygen in the machine. But she is continually attentive to its movement. It is always there. It is always moving. Something could happen. She needs to be ready.

He is chopping onions, humming a tune. A pan lid clangs. A grunt sounds as a diaper plops to the floor. From the corner of his eye, he sees movement and then feels a tug on his pant leg. He reaches down to lift his beloved onto his hip. He slides vegetables into the skillet. The toddler is always there. He is always moving. His dad is continually attentive to his noises, alert to his motion. Something could happen. He needs to be ready.

For Israel, the Lord is always present, always active, always moving. The prophet Isaiah is alert to that invisible motion. He pleads to the Redeemer who has been faithful in the past, for his people are at risk: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!” Today’s psalmist begs, “Come, come to save us!” The divine “you” is constantly in Israel’s awareness as their enduring reality: always present, continually moving, forever acting.

It may not be the noise of the breathing machine in Mary Oliver’s poem “Oxygen.” It may not be the crawling boy in my son’s kitchen. But you and I, we too may have seasons of hyper-alertness at the edge of consciousness. In situations that carry some risk, we are ready.

Jesus alerts us today: The One we love is here. Something is happening. Be attentive. Watch!

Consider/Discuss

Consider the times in your own life when you have had that attentiveness at the edge of consciousness. What was the situation? Who was the beloved? What was the risk?
Like the oxygen that continually flows within us, the Spirit of God breathes in our lives right now. Like the toddler crashing pan lids around us, the Spirit is active and moving in this world. As we begin anew this Advent, how can we allow the grace of God to cultivate within us a livelier attentiveness to this divine movement?

Living and Praying with the Word

Savior of the world, you are the Prince of Peace. We are not at peace. We feel some risk. You have always been faithful to us. We are not always faithful to you. As we move into Advent, bring us to deeper conversion. You ask us to be more aware of your presence. You are here. You are active. You are always moving in our lives. Thank you for rescuing us in our past. We trust you to take care of our future. O come, Emmanuel. Come and save us!

Jan 23 2025

Scripture Study for

The Isaiah reading comes from the post-Exilic period, when Israel’s hopes for restoration remained unfulfilled. Years after their return to the ancestral land, God’s people remained under foreign rule and suffered agricultural, economic, and social difficulties, which many took as a sign that Israel remained under divine judgment. Thus the lament and communal confession in the reading, which features reminders of the deliverance from Egypt. God is Israel’s father (Exodus 4:22) and redeemer, an enduring reality that is the basis for the present hope in God’s fidelity. As in the past, Israel’s heart is hardened, but confession opens up the possibility of God’s saving return. As in the past God came to Israel as redeemer, so now Israel hopes to receive mercy again.

Paul begins his First Letter to the Corinthians by reminding them that they have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and are called to be holy (1:2). Paul gives thanks that they do indeed show signs of having received God’s grace in the form of spiritual knowledge and gifts. These manifestations of God’s grace are also confirmation of the truth of the gospel that Paul had preached to them (the “testimony to Christ”). These divine gifts also reveal God’s fidelity and desire to keep the Corinthians faithful as they persevere during this time of waiting. It is God who has called them to fellowship with Christ and it is God who will give them what they need to be faithful.

Jesus’ warning to his disciples is essentially an exhortation to avoid spiritual procrastination, putting off ultimate concerns because one perceives there is plenty of time to “take care of things” like repentance or growth in virtue. Just previous to this reading, Jesus had informed his disciples that only the Father knows when the end will come (13:32), which means it is pointless and dangerous to hope there will be time to get one’s house in order. When the Lord decides to come, those who have persuaded themselves they can delay their repentance or ignore their obligations to God and neighbor will be found “asleep.” Jesus leaves it to his audience to imagine the fate of those found asleep by the “man traveling abroad” when he returns.

Dec 05 2024

Counting on the Calendar—or on God?

“The days are coming,” says the Lord. I flip through my calendar to look at this upcoming new church year. Events are already penciled in—birthdays, speaking engagements, dental cleanings . . .
those days are coming . . .

I remember my calendar in March 2020. Those days were penciled black with busyness. The schedule looked exhausting. How could I possible get it all done? Then, one by one, each of those “busy-
nesses” was erased by the COVID-19 pandemic. What was scheduled to come—it did not come. All was cancelled. By the middle of August, I could not recall whether it was Tuesday or Saturday. Time became a blur. I had no idea what was coming.

It is now the end of November of 2021. What is coming? There may have been a time when we felt sure that our calendar was under our control—what was scheduled to be, that would be. Now, well . . . maybe that surety has been shaken? What will this next year hold? Will nations be “in dismay,” as Jesus says? Will people be “in fright” because of what befalls them? What is coming? We do not know.

Thank God for Advent! Advent is all about “what is coming.” As we move into this season, we reach back to see that the Lord has been steadfast, always with the people in their trials. Wrapped in that security, in that beloved-ness, we walk into the unknown. We have no other guarantees. Advent also means to hope for the future. No matter what comes, we will not be abandoned.

Jesus is coming. Jesus has come. Jesus is here. He tells us to look to him, to “stand erect and raise your heads.” That is hope. No matter what happens, God will be with us. No matter what.

Consider/Discuss

How has the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic affected your sense of control of the future? What is happening in the world today that shakes you? In your own personal history, how have you seen that God has been with you?
Looking back at salvation history, the everlasting, holy, and eternally wonderful God has promised to you and me to be our future. Our future is not something. Our future is Someone. In the strength of the Holy Spirit, how can we be vigilant in remembering the steadfastness of God and secure in faith no matter what lies ahead?

Living and Praying with the Word

Come, Lord Jesus! You know our fears. You know our feebleness. To be human is to know not what the future holds. We look into the unknown. We do not know what will happen. But you are our hope. Strengthen our weak knees. Help us to stand erect and raise our heads. Give us the inner assurance of faith that you are the Rock that will hold. Come, Holy Spirit, and stir up our hope. In you. Only in you. Come, O Prince of Peace, come and be born in our hearts!