November 28

The First Sunday of Advent E. Bevan Stanley November 28, 2021 Year C Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36 From the prophet Jeremiah: In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In the Name of the one, holy, and undivided Trinity, Amen. Happy New Year! This First Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a new liturgical year in the Church’s calendar. The season of Advent consists of the four Sundays before Christmas. It is a time when we look forward to the coming of the Messiah. On this first Sunday of Advent, we focus on the second coming or Advent of the Messiah at the end of time. Then in the following three Sundays, we have readings that lead up to the first advent of the Messiah, when he is born at Bethlehem. In today’s readings we hear two different representations of the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One. In Jeremiah we are told: “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.” In this prophecy the Messiah is pictured as one who will establish a reign of justice and righteousness. This is the ideal kingdom that is the subject matter of most of Jesus’ preaching. In the Gospel reading Jesus says, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Jesus borrows the imagery of cosmic distress from Daniel to speak of a time of radical change. This will be a time when the world as it is becomes the world as it should be. This will mean the end of one way of being the beginning of another. In another place, Jesus speaks of this change as the birth pangs of a new age. Jesus continues with a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” Half a century ago Bob Dylan expressed the same thing by singing, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Notice that in the first part of this reading, Jesus says that our redemption is drawing near. Now he is saying that the kingdom of God is near. Then comes Jesus exhortation to be ready. “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Pay attention, stay awake, be alert. These are important principle of the interior spiritual life as well. I know that I need to work on mindfulness, of staying in the moment. I know I need to work on this because I am always having to go back and check to see if the I really locked the door or not. I am not paying attention to what I am doing. I need to focus and take things one at a time. And this mindfulness, paying attention also applies to public life as well. We need to be paying attention to what is going on around us. Again Bob Dylan expressed much the same ideas in these lyrics: Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’ And you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’ The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is rapidly fadin’ And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin’ Here we are still in the grip of a pandemic. We are facing an ecological crisis. Our government is not able to make decisions because of political wrangling. Changes are coming fast and furious and we are right to be anxious. The word of God to us this morning is that these changes are the signs that our redemption is drawing near. Change can be challenging and costly, but on the other side is the possibility of a new world. In this new world the first will be last, and the last first. The God will cast down the mighty and raise up the lowly. Jesus calls us to pay attention, to be alert. He urges us to be on guard so that our hearts are not weighed down with worry. Rather, we should pray to have strength to meet these challenges and to stand before Jesus. We are to welcome this new world. His overriding message is the message he started with at the beginning of his ministry: Turn your mind around and believe the kingdom of God is near at hand. Embrace the future. This time of Advent is a time of hope and anticipation. We are invited to keep our eyes peeled and our hearts open.