Several weeks ago, I
stood up after the general confession (at the 10 o’clock service)to pronounce
God’s absolution and I noticed something I had never noticed before --
At the end of the
absolution I noticed the phrase “keep you in eternal life- the priest closes
the pronouncement by saying-- by the power of the Holy Spirit- Keep you in
eternal life. And I thought those
words “keep you” imply that we are already there- eternal life is already out
there for us to experience and for us draw from.
Those words seem to
imply that eternal life isn’t necessarily a destination that we head off to
when our hearts stop beating. “Keep you
in eternal life” implies that we are already somehow in the midst of God’s
eternal life-that somehow it breaks into life, into our world here and now and
every now and then we glimpse, we taste it.
As you may know we
have now moved into the church season called Advent. For
those who don’t know the church has another name for this season leading up to
Christmas-in the church we don’t call it Christmastime, but rather it is the
season of advent.
Technically the
church doesn't celebrate Christmas until December 25th and then we continue
that celebration for 12 days.I keep trying to
offer to my kids the opportunity to open gifts for 12 days, but they haven’t
taken me up on it just yet.
I guess it’s
particularly appropriate that we have a twelve day party considering that we
believe Christmas was that moment God himself stepped out of the heavens and
came to dwell among us. During this
advent we pull out the advent candle – and each week we light another candle as
a visual reminder that we are moving toward that great and holy celebration.
Now in Advent we
always open the advent season with one of these 2nd coming reading. This year it’s from the Gospel Matthew- he begins
–“But about that day no one knows.”
We read these readings because Advent is a
season where we prepare our lives for either-- that day when Christ comes back
riding on the clouds or--- that day when our lives ends.
In Today’s reading we
hear Jesus reminding his followers there will be a day in the future when
things change dramatically- two of you will be in the field and one will be
taken away- two women will be at the grind stone grinding meal and one will be taken and one
will be left. Jesus uses these images to
urge his follower to be ready, to stay alert to wake up because no one knows
what the future holds.
You know what? Doesn't it always seems like the bible is always telling us what to do or how
to act? Jesus constantly seems to be
telling his followers what do- love your neighbor, pray for you enemies,
forgive seventy times seven- this week
it’s Keep awake, be ready- stay alert.
St. Paul is his New
Testament seems to be an even worse offender- this week in Roman’s he’s droning
on about debauchery and drunkenness and licentiousness- why can’t we have some fun- debauchery sounds
like fun, doesn’t it?
Even preachers and
the church seem to fall into this trap of telling people how they ought to live
their lives. But what if we saw this
not as being told what to do or how to live- but what if we saw Jesus and Paul
and the church inviting us to an alternative way of living. And what if this
alternative way of living lead us more fully into this eternal life the absolution
tells us we are already in the midst of.
Keep them in eternal life.
Advent is an
invitation to an alternative way of living during the holidays. When everything speeds up- when our culture
seems to go into overdrive- parties and shopping and baking and traveling,
advent invites us to slow down to take breath. When our culture
tells us it’s all about “Go big or go home advent invites us to make a small
place in our hearts for the divine to be born. When culture says it’s about things perish-
advent invites us to take stock in the eternal things
I can remember during
seminary when I did my hospital chaplaincy- during that first week of the
chaplaincy our supervisor had us set some goals about what we wanted to
accomplish. One of my goals was not to get caught up in the frenetic pace of
the hospital- people seem to always be moving at break neck speed in hospitals.
I guess if you are having a heart attack you want folks to move at break neck
speeds.
Over the course of
the 10 weeks I was there I had to be very intentional about not getting caught
up in the pace of the hospital. I had to be very deliberate about slowing down-
I had to plan moments in my day to take a few moments in the chapel to sit and
pray. I had to be deliberate about stopping at the doorways of patients’ room
to take a deep breath and offer a prayer before I rushed into a patient’s room
and got caught up in the midst of caring for their needs.
I like seasons like
advent because they invite us to be intentional about practices that open us to
become more fully aware of the eternal life that God has already given us,
eternal life that is already here. This
time of year I invite you to a more deliberate advent I invite you take moments
to open your hearts- to seek the gift of eternal life that is already here. And may the Lord God keep you in Eternal life.
AMEN
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