Word to the Wise
Sunday, November 27, 2022 - 1st Sunday of Advent - A
[Isa 2:1-5; Rom 13:11-14; Matt 24:37-44]Come, let us climb the Lord's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths." [Isaiah] Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day... "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come."
All of creation lives in the "meantime." We can only try to calculate how long the planet earth has been in existence, let alone the entire universe. Whether we look scientifically to some kind of "Big Bang," or, in faith, to the creating power of a loving God, we are aware of our finite character. We are each born to a mother and we will eventually die. But those days and years of our existence can be marked by a faith that gives meaning to them because those days and years are really only the beginning of our relationship with God. Time is something we use to help us understand our place in God's creation. In Advent, we face the mystery of why God chose a particular moment to become human and offer us an understanding of our place in the universe.
In "time," Jesus was born and lived and preached and died and rose again. And in "time," Jesus will return. The scriptures of Advent speak to our situation between the time he is "born" in us in baptism and the "time" he will return as the culmination of all creation!
These are high and lofty and mysterious thoughts to have in the midst of the efforts we make to celebrate Christmas with all its commercial and personal demands. Hope seems to extend only as far as December 25th, and not toward a final end! For some, it is a matter of "just getting through it" and for others, excitement and joy. To look beyond "Baby Jesus" is asking too much! But we miss the significance of Jesus' birth if all we do is confined to this year in "time." Advent reminds us that it was a long "time" before God entered human "time" and it will be a long "time" before God comes again. We can celebrate God's moment of human birth as we do at the birth of our own children, but we are also invited to transcend that moment and try to see it through God's eyes - the act of an infinite love! AMEN