If No Sound

Anticipation©

November 29, 2009

First Sunday of Advent

Jeremiah 33:14-16

Psalm 25:1-10 (UMH 756)

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Luke 21:25-36

Amy DeWitte

            As a kid one of my favorite things was getting ready for someone to come visit at our home.  I got so excited when we would have a visitor, whether it was for a holiday or a birthday!  I even had a kind of ritual that I would go through -

first, I would get myself all ready.  And as I did that, I would try to calculate when they would arrive at our house based on the time they were supposed to leave and how long I thought it would take them to get here.  As their arrival time drew near, I would start to pace in front of the door, looking out the windows for any sign that they were almost to my house.  I would plan what I was going to do with them and how we’d spend our time together.  And I couldn’t concentrate on anything else, I was just so excited!

            I expected to find myself doing that when I knew my grandparents were coming for Thanksgiving, but that’s not what happened. I was just too busy. I was so preoccupied - not really with other things - I was busying myself, telling myself that I was doing it all trying to get ready for their arrival. I wanted to spiffy up the guest rooms and pre-prepare some of the food that we were going to have the next day. And I got so caught up in doing all that that I didn’t give myself time to pay attention to waiting for them.  There was no sitting on the couch and looking out the window every 30 seconds for their car.  I even had to run a last minute errand thinking that I wanted to get everything done before they arrived, and when I got back, they were there in the driveway.

            All I could think of was the vacuum cleaner still sitting out in the middle of the bedroom floor instead of neatly away in the closet and the food that wasn’t made in advance and the bathroom sink I hadn’t wiped down one last time, so I couldn’t let myself be excited that they were there. Before I let my grandmother inside, I had to warn her: “I’m glad you’re here, but everything’s not quite perfect yet!”  And then she looked in in the eyes and said, “Oh honey, I didn’t come to inspect your house - I came to be with you.”  And she handed me the centerpiece she had made for our Thanksgiving table.  I let myself calm down a little after that and recognized the folly of my thinking and of my actions.

            In a certain sense Jesus doesn’t even want to let us get to that point, so he warned his disciples, and I think he warns us early on.  Today, as you know, is the first Sunday of Advent.  We begin the season of preparing for Christmas day, the day when we look back on and remember the first coming of Christ. But it is on this day that we traditionally look ahead to the second coming of Christ, as well. What should we expect?  How should we prepare?  And what do we do in the mean time?

            That’s what Jesus was talking to his disciples about.  He knew his days were numbered, and he had to prepare his disciples for his death.  But he was also preparing them for the day when he would return.

            "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon 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.”

            Some incredible things will happen when Jesus comes back, and these would be the signs of the times.  These are the things that you want to be looking forward to.  It wasn’t a threat to them anymore than I meant it as a threat when I told Joe that my grandparents were coming for Thanksgiving.  It was a promise.  “I’m coming back.”  And it was a way for Jesus to tell them how to get ready. He must have known that we humans get distracted easily, because then he warned them ahead of time not to get too preoccupied, to pay attention to what was going on around them, to look for the signs that he told them about: “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

            I’m not coming for all of those things you are distracted with, Jesus said..  I’m coming to be with you.  This is what I need you to do - to pay attention and to pray and  not get worried about things that don’t matter all that much, and one day we will stand together again.

            This message is as appropo for us as it was for the disciples 2000 years ago. Like them, we are people who wait for the coming of the Messiah.  As we prepare for the celebration of his first coming, we should also live in hope as people who look for him to come again, not only in flesh descending on the clouds, but filling each of our hearts anew

            Have we lost that hope?  Have we forgotten that promise?  Do we look forward to the coming of our Messiah? Or have we gotten distracted?

            I look back on those times when I would quiver with anticipation of someone coming to visit, getting ready and anxiously awaiting, looking out the door and down the street for some sign that they were almost hear, literally getting a flutter in my heart, my whole self full of excitement. Oh to be waiting with baited breath for the coming of Jesus like that again! Oh to be full of that longing and yearning and excitement about the ways Jesus might come into our lives in a fresh, real way!

            All too often this season is one of business and distractions. Our calendars are full of activities, from this concert to that party, from this grandchild’s recital to that special service at church.  For many it can be a time of worry, too. What gift will I get for this person, and can I afford to buy something for everyone on my list?  How will I have time to shop and to decorate? 

            Jesus was so right about us. He knew these kinds of things would preoccupy his disciples from the apostles on down the line to us.  He knew they would become disappointed and disillusioned when he didn’t come back right away, and I think he knew that we would find all kinds of things that would get us off track.  He was right about us.

            But, we have a chance to start anew.  As people who live in hope that Jesus will come back, live and in the flesh, as people who live in faith that Jesus can  become ever more a part of us, this can be a new beginning. This new Christian year that we begin today can be a chance for us to focus, to calm ourselves, to re-prioritize, to remember what this season was supposed to be be about all along, to look for signs that Jesus is not only coming, but that Jesus is here, in and among us, and to be ready not to be distracted, but to be fully present with him when he says to us, “I didn’t come for all of those things that you’re worrying yourself with.  I came to be with you.” 

Copyright © 2009 Amy DeWitte. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this writing may be reproduced in any form without specific, written permission of the author.

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