Advent I: Being Ready

This is the first Sunday of the new Church Year, and we are in the Matthew cycle.  That gospel was authored around the year 80 CE, perhaps a bit later.  As such, it falls between two rather important developments, the destruction of the Temple in 70 and the separation of church and synagogue in 90..  Loss of the Temple had caused much reflection, with Jews saying God is telling them to move beyond the concept of physical sacrifice and on to the Sacrifice of the human heart.  Christians said no, God exacted one final blood sacrifice from Jesus and was appeased.  That divide widened until Christians were finally unwelcome in synagogues.

Matthew's era was also a time of fascination with apocalyptic (concepts of the End Time) and timetables for the future.  There was no area in which the growing divide was more obvious.  The mysterious Human One ("Son of Man") from Daniel's prophecy never developed in Judaism but Christians attributed it to Jesus and his expected second coming.  Jews responded that Jesus had said his return would be in his generation, that generation had passed, and no second coming had happened.  Christians, in turn, replied that, yes, Jesus had that expectation but also had told his followers that even he did not know the timetable of the future, that was known only to God.   The second coming also was seen as sharply dividing via judgement, leading some to erroneously posit a rapture,  being vacuumed into outer space.  This is mrely symbolic material about being prepared. The point was, rather, to be on high alert, to be ready for the unknown time of return.  It was about a state of readiness.  In the Coast Guard our motto was, and is, "Semper Paratus" -- always ready.  That's how we roll!

The Episcopal author Frederick Buechner tells the true story of a New England legislature in the colonial period meeting during a solar eclipse.  Some members thought it must be the Second Coming and called for adjournment.  A clear-headed delegate spoke in response, saying that if they adjourned and were wrong they would look like fools, but if the fearful delegates were right, then the body should be found doing its duty.  (Perhaps you have seen the tongue-in-cheek bumper sticker that reads, "Jesus is coming.  Look busy.")

How do we live between the two Comings?  By being about God's business, building the Kingdom of God.  But I would not hesistate to add that, if we are to do that, we need to be spiritually fed.  The Sacraments of the Church are our principal nutrition.  But beyond that, let us cultivate spiritual contemplation, quiet time with God.  There is an aboriginal practice in Australia called :walkabout," in which one sets off without plan to a new place and there just lives into the moment, letting that experience speak.  That is worth a try this Advent.