Word to the Wise
Sunday, November 27, 2016 - 1st Sunday of Advent - A
[Isa 2:1-5; Rom 13:11-14; Matt 24:37-44]SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2016 FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT [Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44] "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come." [Matthew] "You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed..." [Romans] One could be excused for being confused at the way our lectionary shapes the story of Jesus this year. We have just spent a week of reflecting on the second coming of Jesus. Isn't Advent supposed to be a time of reflecting on the first coming? Yet the scriptures for this first Sunday of Advent clearly point to the second coming! Or maybe we need to apply the same diligence to anticipating the celebration of the first coming? The element of surprise that we are warned about is hard to get into about Advent and Christmas. Each year the decorations in the store seem to be a mix of paper pumpkins, paper turkeys and paper Santas that go up after Labor Day! I think there is a kind of "holiday fatigue" that begins to set in and all the secular celebration weighs on us so that we find it hard to summon excitement and alertness for the "first coming" of Jesus. It does take effort, and the season of Advent is meant to urge us to make that effort. Perhaps digging out that manger scene at the beginning of Advent and putting it where we can see it long before the tree claims too much attention might be a good step. An Advent wreath is another good reminder. Maybe this time, this season, Jesus' coming will outshine Santa's! AMEN