#Advent beside being the season of preparation, is also a season that shakes us. John calls the Pharisees a brood of vipers and wonder if he could be talking to us. Both Isaiah and Jesus proclaim good news and we wonder why we can’t do that. And looking ahead we hear the story of the flight to Egypt and the slaughter of the innocents and wonder why.
Advent can shake us up. Are we listening?
When John’s disciples came to Jesus asking if he was the one, Jesus replied, “Go and tell John what you hear and see.”
Evangelism isn’t about hitting people over the head with big floppy bibles and screaming, “Repent!!!” Evangelism is simply telling people what you hear and see God doing in the world around you.
“Go and tell John what you hear and see”
Jesus then lists off things foretold by Isaiah and things he is doing. #Advent3 is the Sunday of Joy. What Jesus told those disciples of John applies to us today—Go and tell.
What are stories of joy you can tell?
Part of my job as a priest is to instruct people in the faith. Unfortunately the primary time that occurs is during the sermon. I say unfortunately because I would love it if people attended other educational opportunities.
For now though, we have six kids in the Confirmation program, a lightly attended Zoom class, and the sermons. Am I doing enough? Are people learning about the faith? Am I doing the right things?
These are the questions I worry about. That’s not very Advent-y, but there you go.
#Advent is the season of preparation. Liturgically speaking, we are preparing both for the already and not yet — the already of Christmas and the not yet of Christ’s return.
But I’ll be honest, with all of the day-to-day tasks I’m faced with, it seems my ability to prepare gets pushed aside. The house may not get decorated, am I really prepared for Christmas? Cards may not get sent out, leaving me feeling unprepared for the holidays.
Being prepared is hard work, and sometimes I’m not all that good at it.
Sunday’s gospel for #Advent2 has John the Baptist saying the wheat will be gathered up but the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. This isn’t a case of good people vs. bad people, but a case of God burning away our outer shells which have no value for the kingdom.
Looking at it this way, we all have some good seed that God can use.
When we think of wilderness we probably think of deserts or the back woods or places far from home. Which isn’t necessarily wrong, but wilderness can also be any place we feel lonely and/or abandoned. In this #AdventSeason, especially in the run up to Christmas, there are plenty of people who are lonely and feeling like they are wandering through a wilderness. So be gentle with people.
Sometimes in this dark part of the year it can be hard to find things which make you glad.
The Psalmist wrote, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
In the busyness of the season, I’m glad when I can go to the house of the Lord and simply “be” in the presence of God. What little thing makes you glad?
In the pre-Christmas season it’s easy to get caught up in the busyness of it all …. Shopping, shipping, decorating, planning, attending, etc.
In the Advent season, make sure to find time to spend in quietness listening to the silence, listening for God to remind you, “I am with you always.”
Here in the northern hemisphere the hours of daylight dwindle such that some of us go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. Depending on where you are, days are also gray and drab as snow clouds hang overhead.
This might be why I enjoy seeing Christmas lights or the warm light from inside of houses blazing out into the night.
In a dark world, these man made lights represent the light God can shine through us. May that light give us hope.
ReverendRef