The words of one of my favorite hymns are taken from a poem by James Russell Lowell and the first stanza beings “once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.” The hymn text was deleted from our present hymnal partly, I suspect, because we are faced with many decisions and there is never just one moment with no possibility of repentance or forgiveness or reconciliation.
Nevertheless, there are critical moments that suddenly come upon us and at once we are tested. While Jesus never gave any credence to us predicting the certain end of the world, Jesus is warning us to be prepared for those times that necessitate being fit, being able to discover and being able to withstand challenges that seem to ambush us.
The comedian Bill Crosby did a classic comedy routine on God talking to Noah about building the ark. When we think about what Noah was asked to do, it does seem like the stuff of comedy. A giant ark in the middle of the desert, no rivers or seas for miles around? Incredible! Yet completely unimaginable things occur that require incredible faith. Noah was likely not the smartest philosopher in the area or best carpenter around, but he was the one who listened and trusted in God. He was not so full of himself to brush the word of God off and not so full of himself to ignore God’s advice and warnings. For Noah and his family, these warnings did not turn out to be bad news, but very good news indeed.
Jesus gives us an image of people busy doing what they always have done, outside working in the field or inside the house, grinding corn. Because they are so preoccupied with their own routine, the appearance of a sudden change takes them by surprise and some are utterly confounded. Advent does not use this lesson to warn us of something necessarily bad or to scare us into arming ourselves in case an enemy pulls a sneak attack on Pierre, South Dakota. Indeed, Advent also wants us to be prepared for something good. In this dark season, when the days are short, the advent wreath is a symbol of waiting for the signs that the days will soon be getting longer rather than despairing that the sun will inevitably disappear. Be prepared not for disappointment, but for a manifestation of grace.
Advent, in effect, is an optimistic season. It sees the future as an opportunity for human redemption and a break in the dull, discouraging routine. It leads us away from simply burying and mourning the past into preparing a foundation.
There is an old story about an ancient monastery when it looked like the community would be forced to close its doors. It was hard economic times and the political situation was unsettled. Everyone in the country was anxious about the future. The brothers were getting on each other’s nerves and constantly bickering. They were all getting old and no new novices wished to join the order. Finally the abbot consulted the local rabbi. “Ah,” replied the wise rabbi after hearing the abbot’s troubles, “I think you and the brothers should know that the redeemer you seek and hope for, lives among you.” Whisper it to your brothers but request that they tell no one else. The abbot returned to the monastery and repeated the strange advice to the brothers. “The one we seek and hope for is among us.” The brothers began questioning within themselves, “our redeemer, and our savior? But which one of us could it be?” Gradually they began to treat each other with uncommon gentleness and respect. Visitors to the monastery noticed this spirit, and gradually novices once again sought entrance into the community and the monastery regained its confidence in its future.1
Thinking back over the many gifts I have received at Christmas, I wonder if I did not gain more enjoyment from those gifts, which were a total surprise, those I never knew existed, than from those I expected to get and did. I wonder if advent doesn’t prepare us to be open for those unexpected gifts of great joy. I wonder if advent is not suggesting that sometime in the next two to four weeks, before Christmas, we may be given a sign of the new birth Christ brings and it will seem as if the Holy Spirit is stirring and moving very close to our side. Pay attention, for even though two of us may be working next to each other, it is so easy for one of us to be too preoccupied to notice the unassuming kiss of a divine visitation.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
1 There are several versions circulating and conflicting credits of authorship. One version has the controversy occurring within the shul of a synagogue, and one wonders if this was once an old Hasidic story.
