The First Sunday of Advent

November 30, 2008

Year B

Mark 13: 24-37

St. Francis, Norris

And a happy new year to one and all. Today is the beginning of the church year. This is designated as year B in the three year lectionary cycle and year 1 in the two year daily office cycle. I won’t bore you with all the history and detail of this church calendar. Let it suffice to say that if you follow all the prescribed readings for both the daily office and the lectionary cycle you will have read almost all of the bible and some of the apocrypha, within three years.

If anyone is interested in how this works, I will be happy to show you. This year the Gospel readings will emphasize the book of Mark along with the occasional period that John is read. Last year we read the book of Matthew and next year will be Luke. And people say Episcopalians don’t read scripture.

It is all a big cycle or circle, if you will. A circle as you know has no beginning and has no end. All that being said, I was a bit confused when I discovered that the reading for the first Sunday in Advent is at the end of Mark’s Gospel and not at the beginning. Next Sunday will be from Mark: chapter 1 verses 1-8. John the Baptist will tell us to prepare the way for the messiah.

Today is not unlike that first part of Mark however. It is actually quite similar, if you look at it from the perspective of preparation and waiting. Advent means waiting. The difference is that the Gospel today is preparing for the messiahs return, rather than the beginning of his ministry. Next year will begin with birth narratives in Luke. Mark and John have no birth narratives. Matthew and Luke do. It gets a little confusing sometimes.

If I return to the concept of circular time there is no beginning and no end. When I read the Gospel today I think it implies the end of that circle or the end of time is someday coming. What we are told is that we need to be prepared for that end time and we need to stay prepared at every moment because we know not when it will be.

So, we have three beginnings to think about for Advent. Three beginnings to watch, wait and prepare for. The birth of Christ is one thing we are awaiting…the word of God becoming flesh. The beginning of the ministry of Christ in this world is a beginning that we watch, wait and prepare for. Finally the second coming of Christ is the beginning that we watch, wait and prepare for.

Now, since two of these waiting and watching events have already occurred, it would only make sense that the third option (or the second coming) is really the only one that should cause us to think about any sort of preparation. We always try to find some sort of sense in spirituality, don’t we? It is just our nature.

We need to wait and prepare and watch for the second coming, but I wonder how many of us really expect that occurrence to come about before we die? So we prepare for all of our lives for this second coming and then when it doesn’t happen…have we wasted our time? Of course not, but why not? Christians believe in the resurrection is why. We believe that we will be with Jesus in His kingdom after we move from this life. Have you ever considered that this moving to the kingdom might indeed be the second coming? If you have prepared the way for Jesus (and that preparation includes the birth and ministry as well as this second coming) it seems reasonable to me that you will indeed see the Son of Man with great power and glory. And the kingdom of man and earth will also have passed away.

I never considered this angle of “passing away” until now. I like the concept that the person does not pass away. The person enters the kingdom and what passes away is the earth or the physical realm….I have to be careful or I will wander into too much heavy philosophy.

We are all very much waiting for that second coming. We are all waiting for the ministry of Jesus to begin. We are all waiting for the birth of the child of God. None of us can grasp all the things Jesus has taught us. No matter how astute we may be, it is only through the Holy Spirit that the things Jesus wants us to know are revealed. We are not able to comprehend the kingdom of heaven but it is available to all of us at the right time. We cannot know when that time is but this much has been revealed: we are to wait watch and prepare for the time that Jesus will truly be in glory and power.

Someday that kingdom will be on earth as it is in heaven. Until that day comes be waiting and watching and preparing.