"Looking For What God Is Bringing Into Being" Advent 1 December 2, 2007

(First, read the texts for this sermon: Matthew 24:36-44 ; Isaiah 2:1-5)

“Are you ready for Christmas?” That’s a question you’ll hear and you’ll ask, with increasing frequency during the coming pressure-packed weeks!

Have you written your Christmas cards? Me neither! We did receive our first card – from a friend who always gets her cards into the mail the day after Thanksgiving. (The word “compulsive” comes to mind …) I have bought our Christmas tree – to get it in water so it will stay fresh. And I have bought a gift or two, and I’m thinking of how to work in alternative gifts, as I’ve done the past couple of years. (Pick up a booklet in the narthex for ideas of these!) Our children have told us when they’ll be here to visit with us.

So, we are getting ready for Christmas. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” (so the song goes) – and it comes every year. Christmas came last year, and Christmas will come again next year. It’s a holy day in the repeating, annual cycle of time.

But in the church, the themes and prayers and readings for Advent do not point us towards that annual, recurring celebration. Instead, the theme of this four-week season is to be alert for something new – for the advent of our God; as God is entering into our lives. We’re vigilant for the advent of God’s kingdom, the coming of God’s reign on earth. Instead of getting ready for something that’s happening (in my case) for the 55th time, the Scripture readings and prayers and liturgy during the season of Advent remind us to be we’re watching for what God is doing, what God is creating, as we move towards God’s final purposes for history!

“Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come,” we prayed a few minutes ago in the Prayer of the Day for the First Sunday in Advent. In the Holy Communion Prayer of Thanksgiving during Advent we pray, “Holy God, we long for your Spirit. Come among us. Bless this meal. May your Word take flesh in us. Awaken your people. Fill us with your light. Bring the gift of peace on earth.”

Look at how this theme of watchfulness is all through the verses we read from the gospel of Matthew this morning. This passage is taken from chapters 24 and 25 in Matthew, which are full of teachings and parables about the end of time, when God will bring fulfillment to God’s creation. When will that be? We read, "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” In these words, Jesus is saying that even he does not know when the end will come! So don’t obsess over particular dates, or signs of the end. But what’s still important is to be alert, to be ready, to be watchful.

The sayings in this passage not only direct us to be prepared for a final end to history, a general resurrection; but for the end whenever it will come for each of us. The end to our personal histories might be as sudden as two people who are at work, and one of them suddenly dies; or two women preparing food, and one of them suddenly dies. Some of you have suffered such a sudden death of a loved one. So be watchful. Be prepared for the end.

I don’t think this passage warns of judgment on “bad people.” We read this illustration, taken from the story in Genesis: For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Is it bad to eat and drink and marry and give away in marriage? Of course not! The point is that the people were not watchful in the midst of their everyday lives. They had lost their alertness for God in their everyday activities.

You see, watchfulness is to be our constant stance – because we’re “in-between.” Pay attention to the verb tenses as we proclaim the mystery of faith: “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” We watch for that final coming. We even ask for it – whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven,” we pray over and over.

Meanwhile, we are looking for what God is bringing into being, now! We watch for the risen Christ, as he enters into our lives. As we work for the kingdom, you and I are called to active engagement in our assigned ministries, with expectation and hope, alert for the advent of that kingdom.

“Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Where do we see what God is bringing into being?

Where is there compassion among human beings? There is the presence of the risen Christ! There is the advent of the kingdom of God, a glimpse of what will be when God brings history to fulfillment. When you are watchful, you see what God is bringing into being!

Where is there enacted the words of the prophet Isaiah from this morning?

He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.

In our sinfulness, our first reaction is nearly always to strike back when we have been struck, physically or emotionally. That is because peacemaking and conflict resolution is extremely difficult and it takes much more courage than violent retaliation. But whenever conflict resolution is happening, that is work of the Spirit. There is the presence of the risen Christ. There is the advent of the kingdom of God, a glimpse of what will be when God brings history to fulfillment. When you are watchful, you see what God is bringing into being!

Where is there love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? These are the fruit of the Spirit that Paul identifies in Galatians (5:22-23). Whenever you encounter these in your day-to-day lives, there is the advent of the kingdom of God, a glimpse of what will be when God brings history to fulfillment. When you are watchful, you see what God is bringing into being!

We are promised that the risen Christ comes to us in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion. (Luke 24:30-31) During our Sunday morning worship, we enact the kingdom that God is bringing into being!

We are promised that the risen Christ comes to us in those who are poor; that when we care for the poor or neglect the poor, we are caring for or neglecting the risen Jesus! (Matthew 25:31-46) In our care for the poor, there is the advent of the kingdom of God

And so, when do you and I act with compassion, in the day-to-day work that God gives us to do? When do we act as peacemakers, resolving conflict rather than reactively striking back? When do others see, in you and me, the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? There is the advent of the kingdom of God in you and me, a glimpse for others to see of what will be when God brings history to fulfillment.

“Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come,” we pray. Watch – to see what God is bringing into being! Act – with hope and expectancy!

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia