Advent 1, 2021

 I love that we don’t start the church year with the birth of Jesus, but with the waiting for the birth.  This is prime practice time for the waiting we already do as we wait for Jesus’ return, but it isn’t just waiting, it is preparing, because we need time to prepare for an event such as the birth of Christ.  This is a time of developing our faith, because it isn’t just us that is preparing, but it is God who is setting in motion a whole cascade of events that are leading to our salvation.

We know we are waiting and that our waiting will come to fulfillment, because of the signs.  God doesn’t just make us wait with no hints of what is coming, but is giving us abundant signs to direct and help us get ready.  We’ve got the signs here at church, the blue decorations and paraments symbolizing hope, the Advent Calendar, our candle countdown or count up through the 4 Sundays in Advent. 

We set aside Wednesday evenings to bring additional focus to our preparations.  This year we gather with Holy Cross/Santa Cruz congregation and stretching ourselves to learn new songs and new traditions for us.  We will be solidifying a relationship with friends who share the space so that we can begin to share our friendship and faith and learn from one another.  This is a sign of Advent that we are smoothing the relationships and looking for Christ where we hadn’t before.

There are also signs in our world.  In this hemisphere, the days are getting steadily darker.  Does that not make room for the brightness of the stars and especially the star that leads the wise ones to the Christ Child?  Does not the darkness make the Christmas lights shine brighter and make us come inside sooner to spend time with family?  Doesn’t the darkness send us curling up in our chair to write a letter to someone who has no one, or to pick up the phone and call someone in need?  Doesn’t the darkness bring a chill that reminds us of those who sleep outside and need a warm coat or some gloves or a friend and inspire us to grab a few extra groceries at the store to restock pantries and bring delight to a foster child? 

There are the signs mentioned in the scriptures today.  One is the righteous branch.  Did you ever see a sprig coming up where a tree had been chopped down.  That is a sign of God’s persistence in getting through to us when all seems lost.  My irises are coming up in my yard.  It is a sign that even though it is cold and wet, spring will come and it won’t even be that long when everything is in bloom and I’m planting my garden.  For the Israelites, who had so many bad kings, they longed for a king like David who kept that communication with God open.  David wasn’t perfect but he kept returning to God for comfort and advice and listened to God’s priests and prophets.  It seemed there would be no other King who could lead like David, but the hope and the promise persisted, and people watched for the Messiah.  The fig tree is similar in the Gospel.  In the winter it looks dead, but if you examine the branches closely,  you’ll see the leaf buds area already there, getting ready, preparing for the spring that is promised.  In the same way in our coldest, weariest, bleakest days, we know that God is at work preparing the way to lead us to abundant life.

Both the Psalm and the reading from 1 Thessalonians are about love.  Whatever else is going on, God is love, we are enfolded in God’s love, and we are called to love one another in concrete ways, self-sacrificing ways, unselfish ways.  Love is feeding and clothing people.  Love is offering compassion, a drink of water, our time.  Love is praying for someone.  Love is visiting someone in the hospital or prison.  Love is allowing others to help when we are in need.  Whenever we see or do these things, it is a sign that God is drawing near.  It is a sign of God’s reign breaking into this world already, a sign of the completion of all things that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel.

Other signs are rather ominous—wars and earthquakes and distress among the nations.  This tells us that our path will not be without challenges, but we know those situations are temporary.  Our God is bigger than any of that and so we put our trust in him and do not fear times of turmoil in our world.  Even if we die, we belong to God.  We are in God’s hands and God will never leave us or forsake us.  So we don’t despair, but we raise our heads in expectation of what is coming, a gathering of all things in heaven and on earth and a joyful reunion with God.

The word here “signs” is the same word for “miracles.”  Every time a sign points to God or we receive a message from God about the coming Kingdom, that is truly a miracle, a glimpse of heaven, a taste of what will be.  And that is how Jesus can say that these things will take place before the generation passes away that he is speaking to.  God’s Kingdom is breaking in even as we are waiting for it with expectation, hope, and eager longing. 

What signs of the Kingdom have you seen?  What signs did you see but not recognize until later?  Do the signs of the Kingdom calm you or make you more eager for God’s reign to fully come to earth?