C Advent 1. 2009                                                        Christ Church , York

Even as we enter into these darkening days of winter; even as we are drawn into the dreariness of these days when chill and damp envelope us; even as we hunker down for the weeks and months ahead of us, there is a sense of excitement and anticipation in the air. The holidays are upon us! Decorations are going up in the stores and perhaps even in our own homes. Gifts, which we hope will please, are being purchased and children are watching and waiting, trying to guess whether that particular parcel under the tree contains exactly the thing for which they had hoped and perhaps even prayed. And above all we anticipate the time we will be able to spend with family and friends. Preparation! Expectation! Anticipation! Watching and Waiting! And yes even excitement! These are the words of the world in these days but they are also our words in faith as we begin this new Church year, as we enter once again into this Advent season, as we prepare and watch and wait in expectation, anticipation and excitement for the coming of the One who was and who is and who is to come. Advent is preparation! Advent is excitement! Advent is anticipation! Advent is watching and waiting! Advent is that time when we are called to keep awake and alert, ponder and prepare, watch and wait for the coming of the Lord. 

The coming of the Lord! It is a phrase used down through the centuries as the prophets spoke of the hope found in the promise of God that He would come and save His people. The coming of the Lord! The excitement and anticipation surrounding that promise had sustained the people of God through many ups and downs, trials and sorrows. And it was the promised coming of the Lord which constantly drove the people to look forward and not backwards, always hoping, always anticipating that all those things which ailed them or troubled would be ended and that at some point in the future they would be restored as God’s people. So the prophet Jeremiah announces “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promises I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah . In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up from David; and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” Such a righteous Branch did come and His name was Jesus and His glory was as of the Father’s only Son full of grace and truth. The prophecy had been fulfilled. God had restored His people. End of story!

Well not quite. For we proclaim One who was and who is and who is to come! But He has already come, so what is this coming again? It is Jesus Himself who gives us the answer when He speaks of this Second Coming telling His disciples that “There will be signs in the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among the nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming into the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the “Son of Man” coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” And the apostle Paul confirms this coming when he writes, “May He strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus with all his saints.” The One who has come then will come again – that is there will be a “Second Coming.” We all know this term from hearing about in our Sunday school lessons, from watching the television or just from general reading including that best selling set of books from a few years ago called the Left Behind series. This second coming refers to that time when Jesus will come again at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. But there is much confusion about this second coming, especially since the Bible never uses the term at all, and so we are often left with the impression that Christ is somehow sitting idly backstage waiting for His final curtain call. Nothing could be further from the truth, for Christ is very much with us here and now. Whenever we gather together as His people, our Risen Savior is present. Whenever we celebrate the Holy Communion we believe that Christ is here for us in the bread and in the wine, for Christ is here and active among us through the means of grace which He has given us, His Word and Sacraments. But it is also true that our faith teaches and we believe that at the end of history, Christ will come again in triumph and every knee in heaven and on earth will bend before Him and confess Him as Lord.

So while the phrase “Second Coming” is not used in Scripture directly, we hold and believe that it will happen and that this coming cannot be denied. But still this whole idea of a Second Coming tends to confuse us, partly because so many writers and preachers simply do not agree about what it means or what will happen. The more literal readers of the Bible tend to see in the pages of Scripture, some sort of timetable of the coming events, so that each rumor of war in the Middle East , each change of leadership in Russia , each crisis of currency in the stock market, is yet one more indicator that the end is near. And all this in the face of the words of Christ Himself who said, “About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

But just because there is no timetable, that does not mean that Christ will not come again. Our readings for today all point us toward this Second Coming, making it clear that, despite all appearances to the contrary, the world is not just stumbling blindly along or spinning wildly out of control. Instead there is a heavenly purpose that God is working out here on earth. Just as the universe had a definite beginning, therefore, so it will be that it will have a definite and intentional end. There will come a time when the last pages of history will be written and everything will be revealed beneath a light that casts no shadows. And when that happens, we will find ourselves standing before a court beyond which there is no further appeal. Simply put, there will eventually arrive a judgment day in which all of our days, and all of the judgments upon us, and all of our judgments upon each other, will themselves be judged. So it will be that the creator of all things will become the One who completes all things.

The problem with this waiting in eager anticipation for the Second Coming is that the Church has already been waiting for more than 2,000 years already. Jesus is right to remind us that we do not know the day or hour and that the coming will be like a thief in the night. But that implies that we must be in a state of watchful anticipation at all times because we can never be sure when Christ will break into the world and therein lies the difficulty. For no one can remain on such a heightened state of alert 24/7. Even the Department of Homeland Security knows that if they leave the level of alert at too high a level for a long period of time, it will loose its effectiveness and the people will become complacent. You can only stand on tiptoe watching the horizon for so long before you grow weary of watching for a future that seems to be taking its own sweet time getting here. Holding to the belief then that Christ will come again although we know not when, that still leaves us with the question of what to do in the meantime.

And that’s where the ending to today’s second lesson comes in. For when Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he doesn’t say that since Christ is coming again that they can shut down their food pantries and stop collecting special offerings for those in need. Waiting for the Second Coming is not like sitting in a concert hall waiting for the lights to go down and the conductor to come to the stage. Rather it is like waiting for an honored guest to arrive at our home. While we wait there is much that needs to be done, for everything must be in order. So Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians is that their love for each other and for everybody else, will increase and abound. Keep watching for Christ’s arrival, says Paul, but don’t stop working. Be prepared but don’t be passive.

The Second Coming of Christ is not meant to remove us from the world, but rather to drive us back into it with renewed confidence and conviction. To live in hopeful expectation of the future appearing of Christ does not mean that we give up on the present world, filled as it is with sickness and starvation, pollution and poverty, warfare and waywardness. On the contrary, the reason Christians work so hard to rid the world of such things is because we know that the One who will finally vanquish the powers of darkness at the end of time is already moving in mighty strength against them even now. So while we do not know exactly when the Second Coming will occur, we keep on moving, we keep on working, we keep on praying and serving and loving one another so that through us God’s way and work is done in the world.  

On this First Sunday of Advent then, we find ourselves staying awake, waiting and watching, not passively but actively. For when a person says “Watch this” he or she means “If you think that was good, just watch this!” Paul is telling the Thessalonians then: open your eyes; pay attention; watch what God is able to do if you keep working and praying and serving and loving one another. Is Jesus Christ returning again in power and great glory? Absolutely! But if you think that that baby in a manger was something, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just you watch….just you wait! Amen.