A devotional for the First Sunday of Advent
Collect
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Reading
From Luke 21:25-36
“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.”
Reflection
Two weeks ago, we talked about apocalyptic imagery. We get it again this week. We shouldn’t be surprised that our church’s liturgical calendar begins here, even if it doesn’t fit the more comfort-seeking attitude we normally indulge.
Apocalyptic thinking is about revelation – for us, that means what God is revealing about the world, our part in it, and even about God in God’s self. The irony is how much this scares us. Sometimes we really can’t get past the images or what they seem to reveal.
Unlike the apocalyptic imagery from two weeks ago, when Jesus was warning of wars and rumors of wars; division and devastation; this time, he’s offering something else. Or, more precisely, he is offering something more clearly: hope.
What we see in the first part of the story is a warning that the signs of God’s work in the world will confuse people. And in their confusion, they will fear what is happening. But what does he say his disciples are to do?
“stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Often we talk about belief as being about the things unseen. That we believe in spite of not seeing something. Jesus reminds us that belief can also involve seeing what we see. Not in spite of what we see, but seeing what it actually is.
Some are tempted to look for secret knowledge revealed to us, God’s special people. In other words, to fall for conspiratorial thinking. But Jesus isn’t saying they need to see what isn’t there, but to fear less what is.
He also says
“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.”
There is much to explore in this, but notice that Jesus hasn’t talked of any actually terrible things. He’s spoken only to how we face the challenge ahead. Don’t get drunk to escape the “worries of this life”. He’s talking about what we have lately dubbed “deaths of despair”. The need to escape the struggle of a world that feels stacked against you.
Rather than be weighed down and frustrated, Jesus keeps driving us toward hope. For ourselves and for all of our neighbors.