For Sunday
Advent 1A
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
Reflection
I’ll admit, I don’t like when Jesus gets pushy and cryptic, like he’s rushing us out the door and isn’t quite ready to tell us where we’re really going. It’s an odd feeling: part “trust me” and part “you should already know this.” But this is what we get for the first week of Advent each year.
The name of the game this week is urgency. Jesus wants us to take these things seriously and urgently. Like, don’t sleep on this — make the change you need to make now. Don’t wait.
Historical critical scholars will tell you that there was a kind of historical urgency in the writing, and a big part of it had to do with revolts against Rome and Rome’s devastating retaliation that destroyed the Temple. They will speak of the belief of early followers that took this talk most literally, so they metaphorically packed their bags so they could be ready to head out with Jesus any minute now. But, over the ensuing centuries, we’ve had to temper that urgency a bit. Contextualize it and discern from it what we might need to receive from it.
I tend to see this from the context of what it means for us: which is about our posture toward God, our neighbors, and our world. A posture built on the urgency of good means we don’t hesitate to love, be generous, and prepare with gratitude. It also serves as a reminder of what not to do: put off generosity, scheduling for a more convenient time, or seeking goodness when it is easier, more comfortable, or strategically useful.
Much of this sounds like preparation, right? It is, sort of. But let us not undersell the specific character of urgency, which involves the actions in the moment, of being in the right place at the right time. It isn’t throwing together a survival kit and calling it good — it is making one’s life so characterized by the love of God that love is the response to the moment, any moment, when it comes.