A few days before Christmas, two young brothers were spending the night at their grandparents house. When it was time to go to bed, and anxious to do the right thing, they both knelt down to say their prayers. Suddenly, the younger one began to do so in a very loud voice. "Dear Lord, please ask Santa Claus to bring me a play-station, a mountain-bike and a telescope." His older brother leaned over and nudged his brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf." "I know" he replied, "But Grandma is!"
The word "Advent" comes from the Latin "Adventus," meaning "coming.“ It's a season the Church has used to focus not only on the forthcoming Birth of Christ, but also a time, when ‘warnings’ are ushered through Scripture that give us a chance to prepare.
The Gospel of Mark is about the return of Jesus. It is about that ‘final coming’ of Christ to bring final judgment on humanity and to usher in the final revelation of the Kingdom of God. Much has been made over the ‘end times.’ Just pass a Christadelphian Hall and they usually proclaim the end is next week sometime...of course we are still here.
What are we to make of these kinds of predictions? The Coming of Christ is a central theme that runs throughout our story. The Old Testament prophets, the Gospels, the Epistles and certainly the Books of Daniel and Revelation have all pointed to a kind of cataclysmic day when the world as we know it will pass away and the perfect and completed Kingdom of God will be ushered in. But the lesson is clear, "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
So, what then is the purpose of Jesus telling His followers about this "last day?" He goes on; "Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a joumey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake!" The primary duty of the servant is to care for the house in a way that if the Master were to return today - or a thousand years from now - he would be pleased to find the good stewardship of the servants lived out.
What are we called to do? Our lives, are gifts from God, entrusted to us, we take seriously the call to follow Jesus - because that was at the core of His teaching. It matters how we treat this world of ours, because God calls us to care for His creation. And it matters - matters deeply, how we treat one another - how we live with our families, spouses, children, friends; how we care for our colleagues and work mates; and how we treat strangers, the hungry, the homeless - the lonely.
Imagine traveling in a foreign city where English is not the official language. All the street signs, menus, billboards, bus schedules, everything needed to navigate the streets are in a different language. You stop people on the street for assistance, but it seems no one speaks English.
For novice travellers, this could be a scary and intimidating situation, whereas more seasoned and experienced travellers seem to relish such a challenge. Fortunately, today there are electronic devices that can translate foreign text into English. All a person has to do is point the device at the written text you want translated, and — voila! — it gives the English translation.
Sometimes Christians may feel as if their spiritual joumeys have taken them to an unknown place where all the signs are in a strange language, and they just can’t seem to figure out where they are or where they are supposed to go. As much as they attempt to discem the signs in their lives, they find themselves feeling more and more confused while trying to navigate in a strange land.
Until Christ’s retum, the church is reminded to remain awake as she diligently carries on the ministry of the Lord. She learns from the past while maintaining a confident faith in the future, all the time tending to the work of the Kingdom of God today. Now is not the time to be caught sleeping while the master is away, but to be busy about managing his affairs. The people of the world may be driven by fear and anxiety, but believers can be confident that God will strengthen them to the end, so that they may be blameless on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In light of all that troubles the world today, this Advent presents a unique opportunity for the church to stand in the gap and proclaim the Good News of Christ Jesus through word and deed. Now is the time to be diligent in proclaiming the Kingdom of God in word and deed. Some fail to listen to Christ's words spoken to his disciples in our gospel reading today. The church proclaims that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again in the Eucharist.
In the meantime, the church has a job to do until the master returns.
Whether Christ returns today, tomorrow or in a hundred years, today is the day of salvation. If one looks closely at the signs of the times, they point to the One who holds all the answers to all that ails the world. Christ’s mission to the church remains as clear today as when he first sent his disciples into the world.
C.S. Lewis once said, "Aim at heaven, and you get earth thrown in, aim at earth and in the end, you get nothing." When we aim only "at earth," when all I am is wrapped up in myself, my world, my issues and my needs, I've lost the meaning of Christ's call.
This implies being alert and aware of what is happening in our surroundings, living in a constant state of readiness and anticipation. It does not, however, suggest believers should be pouring over scripture in a vain attempt to find a prophetic interpretation for every single event in history or in the news. Much time and energy has been wasted on End Time books, movies and prophecies. Now is the time to focus on proclaiming the Good News in Christ by being his hands reaching out to those in need.
But when we aim at heaven, life here takes on an entirely different meaning. We begin to see ourselves as servants of God - preparing for His retum - we live in an awareness, perhaps even a constant awareness, that each minute is an opportunity, a gift, to receive, to give, to live in a way that says I believe in more than what I see on earth - I believe there is something bigger, someone better, more powerful than any darkness we humans can devise. It says, I believe that someone is Jesus and He has come, He is here, and He is coming again!
Jesus' teaching has much more to do with how we live than ‘when’ this will happen.
Mother Teresa often reminded her sisters that Christians were not called to be successful, but they were called to be faithful. The call of Jesus - is not to be perfect. . .it is not even to have success as the world may measure it; it is, instead to be faithful - to live in a ‘heavenly way,‘ in all times - whether they be the ‘end times‘ or not. All Christ asks of us is that we let Him come - let "Advent" happen - in our hearts - and in doing so, we are empowered to live with our God, our world and our fellow humans in a way that will not cause us to be afraid or worried or even surprised at the Master's return - but overjoyed.
As the dawn of Advent breaks once again this day, and as we turn our hearts toward the coming of Jesus, may we pause, take a deep breath, and "aim at heaven." Can we perhaps commit ourselves, again, to the hope that in Christ, life makes sense - even in the darkest of times?