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SERMONS

The First Sunday of Advent
December 2, 2001

By David Christian

Happy New Year.

As we once again enter the season of Advent, we once again begin a new church year. As we begin the new year we are again called to consider last things. We are called to consider judgment and the close of the ages. We are called to consider the coming of the Son of Man. We are called to be awake, to be aware, to watch.

This is an important message for us to hear at any time. But it is a particularly important one for us to hear at this time of the year; a time when our naturally full and busy lives become even fuller and busier as we enter the consumer feeding frenzy that our culture calls the Christmas season.

Hear the words of Jesus: 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.

It is so easy to live from day to day, our time and our minds filled with the practical stuff of everyday life. I have my list of things to do. I have my grocery list. I have appointments to keep, people to call, bills to pay, chores to be done, children to chauffeur from school to soccer practice to dance lessons, to scouts.

There are meals to prepare, homework to be done, clothes to wash. And then there is thinking and planning that must be done. Concern about parents or spouse; concern about children or work. Then its off to bed and up the next day to do it all over again. Day after day after day after day...

Hear the words of Jesus: For as in those days ... they were,... 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.... Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.... Therefore you ... must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Be awake, be aware.

Recently I was driving along on my way to the Chapel. It was a blustery day, with clouds moving through the skies and occasional rain. As I drove I became interested in the sky and the fields and the forests I was passing.

Suddenly due to some particular conjunction of sun and cloud and rain the trees began to glow. The reds and yellows and golds of the autumn foliage seemed filled with an interior light. The landscape was transfigured; transformed into a blaze of color and brilliance.

I drive down Mannsdale Road daily, frequently several times a day. On most trips I drive absentmindedly, my thoughts filled with plans and schemes, with the concerns of the day. But on that one day I was aware. And because I was aware I saw; I saw the moment of transfiguration when it occurred.

Be awake. Be aware. For you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

Through almost two thousand years now, Christians have heard that call. It is so easy to ignore it; so easy to become complacent. But for the apostle Paul, the situation was much more urgent. Paul lived with an acute sense of the imminence of the Lord's return. The night was far gone, and the day of the Lord's return was near. For him it was important that he, and the people he led, be ready. So he gave them a simple plan to keep them aware: Love one another.

It is impossible to love without being aware. It is possible to be condescending without being aware. it is possible to despise or to reject or to ignore absentmindedly. But it is not possible to love without being aware.

Love requires an awareness of who I am. And it requires an awareness of who I am loving. And it requires an awareness of the relationship between us. And, most importantly for us as Christians, it requires an awareness of the source of that love. It requires an awareness of being loved and of the presence of the power of love: God's Holy Spirit.

To love is to recognize that even now, in the midst of things that are passing away, the kingdom of God is breaking in. To love is to be aware of the first fruits of that kingdom.

Even now, even now, beloved, the night is far gone. The day is near. Be awake. Be aware. Keep watch. Be ready. For the Son of Man is coming. Even now he is at the door.

David Christian
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi

Isaiah 2.1-5
Romans 13.8-19
Matthew 24.37-44