Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Over a decade ago now, I was serving through AmeriCorps as a City Year member in the schools of Washington, D.C. At the time, I was also going through the discernment process for ordained ministry. Being young, I had been told to wait on this journey before. Now, at this time of the year, I was told by my Diocese to wait just one more year again before starting seminary.
As the new year dawned, I realized I would need to find something else to do in the meantime as my term with City Year would end with the school year. I started researching programs that would provide me with useful experiences for ministry.
As I was doing this, I reached out to my long-time mentor The Rev. Heidi Kinner for guidance and recommendations. Then at the end of one of our service days for City Year, I received a call from Heidi, which I thought was to talk about these programs I was looking into.
Now just as I started my time with City Year, Heidi began a new chapter in her own ministry. She had transitioned from serving at my sending parish to becoming Dean of St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Diocese of Montana. Her work was actually why she was calling me. She wanted to offer me an internship serving under her at St. Peter’s.
I still remember that day well because of that conversation. Fortunately, our Project Manager was at our school that day, and she offered those of us still there a ride to Union Station in D.C., a straight shot on the Metro to my way home. I was grateful for this ride as I really needed it this day. All this way I was on the phone, and then I spent a little extra time in Union Station before taking the train home so that I could hear all Heidi had to say about the many opportunities I would have working for her and then some. Besides my duties at the Cathedral, I would get to take part in Native American services and be involved with yoked parish ministry. This was exactly what I wanted and what I needed to prepare me for the next step in my own ministry. After taking some time to think about it, I said yes.
This was not the conversation I was anticipating from Heidi, though it was the one I received. It was not what I was expecting, but my life is the better for it.
Now our readings today may not be what you were expecting. Here we are in Advent, the start of the liturgical year, with a new rector, and the first thing we hear about is the end of the world. For those paying close attention, you may remember that we had similar readings the previous week for the Last Sunday after Pentecost, and that would have made sense then. After all, it was the end of a season, and the end of Year A in the lectionary, our set of readings for each Sunday. So, you may ask, why are we still getting these kind of readings now?
To understand this, we have to first know what Advent actually is. We often think of Advent as simply a time of preparation for Christmas when in fact the Season of Advent is much older. Back in the day, birthdays weren’t that big a deal for people, so it took a while before the church even thought to celebrate Christ’s birth. Advent didn’t get its start as a season of preparation for the Nativity. Instead, it got its start as a season of preparation for our Lord’s Second Coming into this world. Only later, as Christmas developed as a celebration in the church, did Advent become a season looking to Jesus’ Second Coming through the lens of the preparation of His First Coming, His birth, which we see in the weeks that follow.
Keeping that sense of preparation for Jesus’ Return likely isn’t what we were looking for. It’s probably not what we were expecting. Yet it is what we receive, and we are, in fact, better for it.
Looking ahead to the time to come actually helps us to better understand our Faith. This is what we see in our readings today. They help us encounter the Truth. When we look around at the world, things are pretty bad. When we look at ourselves, we can only see the signs that we are unworthy. When we dig deep, we see that the anger of God we witness today in Isaiah is well justified for our sins, our actions.
Yet there is hope. In 1 Corinthians, we see Paul reminding us to look ahead. In Paul’s words, we see that even as bad as it is out there, even as bad as we are, Jesus is still there, reworking and reforming us. Though we are unworthy, Jesus is making us worthy through the power of His Resurrection. The heart of our Faith is living into the Resurrection. The core of our belief is that everything in the end will be okay because Jesus has our backs.
We are reminded in our readings to live into our Faith as well. Jesus calls on His listeners in Matthew to be ready and prepared for His Return. That’s important for us too. If we are ready for Jesus, then we have our eyes open and are paying attention. We are listening to what God has to say. We are open to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our hearts right now. If we are doing that, then the transformative work God has given us through the Resurrection is taking effect. God is working in us always, even when we don’t perceive it or get impatient with God’s time going slower than we might want.
You may not have expected to hear about the End Times today, yet I hope what you gained was better than what you anticipated. In looking ahead to the end, we actually find new ways to understand our Faith. We find new ways to live into our Faith too. I hope these reflections will stay with you this Advent Season. I hope you will take this time to truly prepare so that you might not only let the Christ Child into your hearts when Christmas comes, but that you might also be ready to bear our Lord Jesus with you from this time forth and forever more.