Mark 13:33-37
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"
........................
Watch.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. We lit the first candle, the candle of hope. Hope in God. Hope for the joy of the incarnation. Hope for resurrection and new life.
It's the first day of the new year. Clean slate? (If not, get yourself to the confession box.) The whole year is ahead.
Catholics do a lot of really screwy things and Advent is one of them. We are simultaneously preparing for a great holiday celebrating the birth of our King and preparing for death. Well, the second coming. The Bible is pretty clear that no one knows when he'll come again so we're just supposed to always be ready. It's pretty weird to have a season of preparation for the second coming.
But we're people. We're going to screw up. Forget. Sin. We're not going to live with the eternal judgement hanging over us. We're not designed to live under a shadow of fear. We can choose it, but it isn't healthy and it certainly isn't commanded.
This season is a gift. The church embraces the anticipation of hope in the incarnation at the same time as she reminds us to get ready.
Watch, he says. The master will come. This isn't a fire and brimstone warning from an exuberant preacher. It's not actually a warning at all. It's a promise.
The King is coming. The master. The Lord and Savior who loves us. He's coming to bring us home.
What joy!
Maybe Advent isn't so screwy after all. Anticipation of the joy of the birth of Christ shares time with anticipation of joy of coming home forever. An eternal, unwearying, unbreakable joy is coming. Watch!
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"
........................
Watch.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. We lit the first candle, the candle of hope. Hope in God. Hope for the joy of the incarnation. Hope for resurrection and new life.
It's the first day of the new year. Clean slate? (If not, get yourself to the confession box.) The whole year is ahead.
Catholics do a lot of really screwy things and Advent is one of them. We are simultaneously preparing for a great holiday celebrating the birth of our King and preparing for death. Well, the second coming. The Bible is pretty clear that no one knows when he'll come again so we're just supposed to always be ready. It's pretty weird to have a season of preparation for the second coming.
But we're people. We're going to screw up. Forget. Sin. We're not going to live with the eternal judgement hanging over us. We're not designed to live under a shadow of fear. We can choose it, but it isn't healthy and it certainly isn't commanded.
This season is a gift. The church embraces the anticipation of hope in the incarnation at the same time as she reminds us to get ready.
Watch, he says. The master will come. This isn't a fire and brimstone warning from an exuberant preacher. It's not actually a warning at all. It's a promise.
The King is coming. The master. The Lord and Savior who loves us. He's coming to bring us home.
What joy!
Maybe Advent isn't so screwy after all. Anticipation of the joy of the birth of Christ shares time with anticipation of joy of coming home forever. An eternal, unwearying, unbreakable joy is coming. Watch!
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