Meditation: Advent 1

by Carrie Eikler
Romans 13:11-14, Isaiah 2:1-5, Matthew 24:36-44

I love how the scriptures on this first Sunday of Advent can surprise us.
No lovely angel visitation. No mention of a baby.
We are, of course, shaped already by the tinsel and merriment of the season
and yet these scriptures,
[like a hairy dirty John the Baptist,
who crashes your dinner party by noshing on his locusts]
these scriptures shock us by speaking of
judgment
fury
floods
dare I say it…
rapture?

In a word, these scriptures tell us: prepare.

At its essence, Advent is preparation for meeting the
incarnate God.
The God not way up there
but the God that is among us:
walking, crying, needing.
It’s not just about recounting a story long ago
but welcoming Christ in: again, and again.

The scripture from Romans alludes to this, gives us a taste of what this means
What is it that we need to strip away from our hearts in order to
love more? Give more? Receive more from our God?
The artist Jan Richardson reflects:

“Advent beckons us beyond the certainties that may not serve us—those sureties we have relied on that may have no substance to them after all. Advent is a season to look at what we have fashioned our lives around—beliefs, habits, convictions, prejudices—and to see whether these leave any room for the Christ who is so fond of slipping into our lives in guises we may not readily recognize.”

You know, these scriptures don’t sound so Christmas-y, do they?
They sound a lot more like the introspection and confession-seeking
practices of Lent, don’t they?
Historically, Advent has—and still is, if we allow it to be--
a penitential season.
The church would save the Christmas celebration for…Christmas!
12 days of Christmas celebration, in fact, ending with Epiphany.
Where Lent is a time of preparation for the celebration for Easter,
Advent is a time of preparation for the celebration of Christmas.

Now, I have had my fair share of penitential Advent sermons. Lots of “no, no, noes” and “don’t do this, don’t do that.” Making you feel bad for indulging in that shopping, that rushing. Getting lost in “the trappings” of the season.  Those sermons about “the reason for the season” and all that.

So yes,
I really want to give you the message today to:

be still.
wait.
don’t run around with the shopping.
stop.
just be.
prepare your heart.
quiet your heart.
sssshhhh.
[whisper] quiet…

[pause]

But these scriptures today are anything but quiet!

I mean, the lection from Matthew’s, and the similar scriptures in Mark and Luke
are called “a little apocalypse”.
Think about that…Advent starting with an apocalypse. Even a little one!

No, these are not quiet scriptures
These are pointing to an event that would not be quiet.
A birth. A life of rabble rousing. A horrific death. An unthinkable resurrection

Even now, if we think we are four weeks before the birth of Jesus, Mary would be,
what…36 weeks pregnant?
That time when pregnant women are done with waiting.
Mary is probably groaning on her feet
shouting for Joseph to get her some ice cream
and furiously making plans for the confounded trip to Bethlehem
for this ridiculous census!

How do we hold these together?  The call to be still and wait,
while we are faced with scriptures that are anything but?

Again, Jan Richardson:
“Perhaps the preparation and expectation to which Advent calls us are not to be found solely in the spaces we set aside during this season. Although it’s important to keep working at finding those contemplative openings in these days, I suspect that Advent is what happens in the midst of all this. We find the heart of the season, the invitation of these weeks, amid the life that is unfolding around us, with its wildness and wonders and upheavals and insecurities.”

Finding God amid the life that is unfolding around us.
The wild, wonderful, chaotic, insecure life.
A birth-experience type of life.

Each year this gospel scripture challenges us to remember that Christ calls us to
keep awake
stay alert
be ready.

You may not find a quiet heart this season.
You may not find it easy to still yourself
or to have patience.
If not, you’re in good company.

But while you are doing whatever it is you are doing…

open your eyes.
Look with Advent eyes
Look to where the Spirit moves
in the midst
 your harried, everyday life.

In preparation, therefore,
let us pray.  And after the prayer,
I invite you into moments of silence…
silence you may not get much these days.

Let us pray:
Growing God,
getting ready to be born
to Mary.  to us.
We want to be still,
but we know it will be hard.
We will likely fail spectacularly.
So help us.
Help us to be still…

And when we are not still,
attune our eyes so in our movement
we see you around us…

But in these moments, we quiet ourselves
so you can work on our spirits, our eyes.
Come to us in this silence, waiting God.

[silence]

May our eyes see you,
our hearts feel you
our spirits meet your Spirit
as we move from this place, Growing God.