Presence vs. Coming

Another Advent begins as we count down to Christmas,

            the happiest of Holy Days.

And yet many are grieving – 

            grieving the loss of loved ones in those places where war is waged,

            grieving those lost to illness, those separated from us by distance, 

                        those families where members are estranged

                                    and there is need for reconciliation.

It is also an anxious time 

            as we begin to see the impact of climate change,

                        lack of affordable housing 

                        and at the same time an influx of refugees and migrants.

 

The world is out of kilter,

            and so how shall we then carry out this Advent?

What will this Advent have to give us in this troubled time?

 

The scripture readings for this first Sunday of Advent

            may seem eerily apropos.

You might, in listening to them, start thinking about 

                     “end times” and “second coming” and huge, cataclysmic events.

 

From Isaiah, who knew disaster and exile, these verses:

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence-- 

as when fire kindles brushwood …
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

From the Gospel of Mark:

“In those days…the sun will be darkened, 

and the moon will not give its light, 

and the stars will be falling from heaven…”

 

Well, the readings today really sort of encourage “end times” thinking.

 

We have a description of the Coming of our Lord as a huge cosmic event

            not just as when the foundations of the earth are shaken.

In the Mark reading it is the heavens that are shaken, 

and stars fall like so many ripe figs 

when the tree is given a vigorous shake.

 

How can we possibly prepare to face that?!

            We weren’t prepared for the pandemic 

                                                even though it had been predicted.

            We haven’t been doing enough to prevent global warming

                        and now glaciers are disappearing at a quickening pace,

                        and oceans rise and storms are worse.

 

However these scriptures, nevertheless, tell us to keep alert, be awake, 

during all the hours of darkness by which we are surrounded.

While others are asleep, 

unconscious in their awareness, literally or spiritually, 

you be awake, watchful, alert.

 

Keeping alert and awake 

            is a quality or capacity of faithfulness that is held up to us 

                        as of great necessity and urgency.

 

Now, I am NOT talking with you this morning 

about the final, apocalyptic coming of Christ at the end of time.

There is another kind of coming, it appears, 

that is perhaps even more significant, 

or at least more personally relevant and immediate, 

for which we must be on the watch.

 

It is the Advent of Christ showing up in our lives 

as a spiritually potent presence 

even while and especially when

we are in the midst of going about our daily lives.

 

I would like to suggest that it is not so much seeing Christ in others,

                        whom we minister to or who minister to us,

            but more than that, 

and not limited to human interchanges alone 

in which Christ’s Presence can be recognized.

 

It is Christ between us, 

        as the dynamic at work in community or in encounters or in solitude,

            when the transcendent becomes immanent,

            when we sense God’s Presence or Voice or guidance,

            when we know deep in our being 

that what is going on at the moment is 

beyond our known capabilities, out of our control,

but utterly all right,

            because the Resurrection Spirit of Jesus is present and at work.

 

This One who takes us by surprise is potently present, 

and we just suddenly realized that.

 

Now here’s the point.

It is not intermittent events of Christ’s Presence bursting in on us 

that take us by surprise – that’s not it – 

but rather one long, continuous event of Presence

that has been drifting in and out of our awareness.

 

Christ’s Coming is not a series of Advent occurrences, 

but a steady, relentless Presence 

       to which we intermittently open our eyes and see and recognize                         and are startled and amazed at what we have encountered.

What if we were to wake up and stay awake to this Presence?

All we experience would be the coming of Christ.

 

I would suggest to you 

that a bone fide course of action for the faith community to take is this:

1)   Heed the prophetic call to repentance.                                      

    Be engaged in reconciliation one with another.

2)   Give up attachment to belongings.                                

    What!  In December, that month of crazed buying,                   

    with that focus on acquisition Christmas morning?!                          

    (Listen to our kids and ourselves talking –                              

    the question we ask each other on December 26 is “what did you get for Christmas?”)                        Let go of attachment to belongings.

3)   Be in fellowship with others of the faith.                                

    In being with those others you can have mutual support             

    for carrying out the first and the second. 

 

1)   Repent.

2)   Give up attachment.

3)   Be in fellowship. 

 

This is a good prescription for Advent and for everyday:

 

But I have to say 

            that Christ showing up in our lives, as a spiritually potent Presence, 

                        can be personally cataclysmic, apocalyptic. 

 

To see him as he fully is 

would shake our perception of the reality we have relied upon.

It would be like the stars falling out of the sky.

 

But when we realize that Jesus has shown up, 

the Kingdom of God is at hand, 

that realm of reality where power is topsy-turvy 

and peace reigns, not war, 

and where the greatest is one who serves.

 

In the Gospel reading Jesus speaks of the heavens being shaken,

            but then gives a very encouraging image

                        of the fig tree putting forth its leaves

            letting us know that summer days are coming.

 

And then he says,

            “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away

            until all these things have taken place.”

And thus it has been for every generation.

 

Always in every generation there are faithful souls

            who have been awake, alert, watching,

                        who have seen the coming of Christ.