By Carol Bloom
Happy New Year! No, I’m not confused about the date – I’m just looking at a different calendar. A calendar is nothing more than a way to mark time. It allows us to count together and to be on the same page. It also allows us to divide our existence into segments that make sense to everyone. When we speak of something happening last week, last month, last year, or 2014, people know what we mean. The marking of time on a calendar gives everyone a common reference point.
The calendar I am looking at this morning as I plan out our worship services is the liturgical calendar. It differs from the secular calendar in that its purpose is to keep us in tune with the life cycle of Jesus. The last Sunday of the liturgical year is Christ the King Sunday, celebrating the reign of Christ. Then, the liturgical year begins again with the First Sunday of Advent. This repeats every year with the intent of repeatedly immersing us in the Christian experience until, as Joan Chittister tells us in The Liturgical Year, “Eventually, we become what we say we are – followers of Jesus all the way to the heart of God.”
So what is Advent? The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means “coming.” It is the four weeks preceding Christmas and, this year, begins on Dec. 2. It is a time when we begin to focus on the “coming” of Jesus into the world. Our churches are beautifully decorated, we light the first candle in our Advent wreaths, we begin rehearsing for Christmas pageants and Christmas music. What could be more wonderful and deserving of beautiful celebrations than the fact that God loved us enough to come into the world and live among us? Even secular society gets into the celebration with twinkling lights and evergreens.
The problem is that we get stuck there, preparing to celebrate an event that has already happened. The birth of the baby Jesus happened over 2,000 years ago. We remember it, we celebrate it, but that is not the “coming” that we, as Christians, are waiting for now. We are waiting for the return of Christ. Doomsday prophets to the contrary, we do not know when Christ will return (Matthew 24:36) but we believe that Christ will return. The question then becomes, how do we prepare for Christ’s arrival?
As much as we love our beautiful music, twinkling lights, and Advent wreaths, I don’t believe that this is how we prepare for Christ’s return. The preparation for Christ’s return requires more than decorating – it requires some real work on our parts. It is our work to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. What is a kingdom? In simplest terms, a kingdom is a place where the king’s will is done. We have the answer every time we pray The Lord’s Prayer – “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s will was expressed by Jesus when he answered the disciples’ question about the greatest commandment: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” (Matthew 22:37-40, CEB)
As we prepare for the second advent or “coming,” we have much work to do. And, we cannot do it alone. We have become a society of isolation and we cannot accomplish the work we need to do in isolation. Loving our neighbors as ourselves requires that we meet our neighbors, that we get to know our neighbors, and that we hear and respond to their needs and their joys. One of the best places to do that is in our churches. Chances are, somewhere in your family’s background is a faith tradition, even if you have never been active in it. I encourage you to find a church that feels like home to you and go there. If you are already active in a church, invite someone to go with you. What better time than Advent to begin to know your neighbors? From there, we build communities to be about the work of doing God’s will in the world. Advent is a time to start anew.
So I will say it again: Happy New Year! Now let’s get to the work of Advent.
Carol Bloom is the reverend at Diamond Hill United Methodist Church
