Our Advent Moment

Dear Friend,

On the first Sunday of Advent, I’ll imagine the prophet Isaiah kneeling on the border ground of Israel and Palestine, on the site of recent massacres and kidnappings. Or kneeling in the middle of a bombed-out street in Gaza. His cries to God break the quiet of a ceasefire: “Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean people…We have all withered away like leaves…you have hidden your face from us…”

In fact, Isaiah was writing in the second half of the 8th century B.C.E. to a community recently returned from exile to their native land. Another kind of cease-fire? In any case, it was time to begin again.

In this week’s second reading, the community in Corinth is beginning again as well. Paul begins his letter by assuring them they have what they need: “[With] the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus…you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In the Gospel, Jesus himself points us to a new horizon: “You do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. Watch!”

As a parish community, we begin this Advent season at a harrowing time in our global history.  The words of the Canadian Theologian Douglas John Hall seem to fit: “The church exists so that God has a place to point people toward a purpose as big as their capabilities, and to help them identify all the ways they flee from that high call.” This is our Advent moment, our time to begin again.

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm, Pastor

*Quoted in “Speaking of Sin” by Barbara Brown Taylor, p. 85