Advent II: Before and After

We spend a lot of our time waiting, don't we?   In today's Jewish scripture reading [Baruch 5: 1-9] we are reminded of the Babylonian Exile.  In 587, the forces of Babylonia decimated Jerusalem and took captives to be deported to Babylonia.  Some Jews fled north to become part of what we call Samaria.  Others fled to Egypt, and some remained behind; the Babylonians prioritized the well-educated and most skilled people. Fortunately that included priests and others who could give encouragement and instruction to the people.   Upon arrival, the Jews not only had to deal with the theological issues surrounding  loss of nation under a God with whom they were in covenant.  They also had to deal with inability to travel to the Temple for required worship and sacrifice.  So they invented the synagogue and became "people of the Book," as their worship quickly began to focus on reading.

At the same time they wrote the seven books sometimes called "Apocrypha," always accepted by Catholic Christians but later rejected by protestants.   The Jews thus adapted until 539 when the Persian king Cyrus defeated the troops of Babylon and released the exiles to go home.   Baruch, who has first admonished his readers to remain faithful to their religion and avoid assimilation, now presents this beautiful image of Mother Jerusalem standing on the heights and watching her beloved children marching home again!    What a beautiful image of looking back and also forward.

Another, later example was the daughter of Constantine who called for a large piece of Jesus' cross to be delivered to her and she built a church in Jerusalem, Basilica of the Holy Cross, around it.  She said that relic made possible a church that could truly look backward to its roots and forward to its future.

Advent is like that.  We quietly prepare to celebrate again the Gift of God at Christmas, but also looking forward to our future, as individuals and community.  Congregational elections come up next month and this is a perfect time for us to reflect on our gifts and skills and prayerfully ponder where the Spirit may be leading each of us.