Happy Advent - reflections on today's readings

Reflections on the Lectionary                         Advent 1    November 27, 2011

Isaiah 64:1-9, Psalm 80:1-7,  1 Corinthians 1: 3-9,  Mark  13: 24-37.

The readings this first Sunday of Advent are all about the in-breaking of the presence of God.  The prophet cries out for a dramatic shredding of the heavens.  The bard of the psalms sings directly to God to stop hiding and light up the darkness with the divine face.  The apostle gives thanks for a community being strengthened and empowered as they wait for the revealing of their Lord Jesus Christ.  And in the Gospel of Mark we hear Jesus as a prophet echoing and confirming an earlier prophet’s vision of a world way out of balance, followed by God’ arrival at an unknown hour.  And then the teacher’s instruction to keep awake. 

It is easy to dismiss these cries and prophesies by saying they are merely within the well-worn apocryphal literary tradition. But what are the underlying truths there for us?  These prophetic voices seem to be shouting a wake-up call to a people on autopilot, thinking that their way of life would just keep on going indefinitely. One critical truth is than when a society takes much more than it gives, from the poor, from neighboring peoples, from the earth, when it is self-absorbed and ignores God, then it is poised for a downfall, which can actually be quite dramatic and sudden.¹   The powerful yearning for God’s presence is the other underlying truth expressed in today’s readings.

The Celtic monastics spoke of the “thin places” and experiences of the divine breaking into the common life.  Birds and deer, mice and even flies could bring God’s message of love, caring, and companionship. Midnight and early morning prayers and all-night vigils were common.  Occasionally, an extreme inner urging to find more of Christ drove them to solitude or to leave their homeland entirely to spend the rest of their lives traveling through foreign lands “for the love of Christ”. ²

In this age, it seems that the popular culture and the prevailing economic system has re-directed this inner urging to create a compulsion for literally “something more” to fill the void.  It is no accident that its extreme form comes precisely in the season that was previously focused on the yearning for God’s revealing and filling.  This year the season started with a midnight vigil.  The Associated Press reports that “A shopper in L.A. pepper sprayed her competition for an Xbox and scuffles broke out elsewhere around the U.S. as bargain hunters crowded malls and big-box stores in an earlier-than-usual start to the madness…”  Indeed.

But, as a modern-day bard sings,

“Voice of the nova, Smile of the dew, All of our yearnings, Only come home to you”.³

 I think the current secular monastic movement is an alternative that stands in stark contrast to consumerism.  Jesus calls us to stay awake.  Stirred by urging of the Spirit, we hunger and thirst to find Christ and to give of ourselves like Christ in a more fully integrated life. 

With Advent Blessings,

John+

¹ For a reasoned analysis of our current predicament (sadly minus any mention of the spiritual dimensions) see ChrisMartensen.com.  The book Collapse by Jered Diamond also comes to mind.

² There are many popular and scholarly books describing the early CeItic monastics. I am reading Celtic Christianity by Timothy Joyce.

³Bruce Cockburn “Lord of the Starfields” from his album "In the Falling Dark" (True North/Island, 1977).