The First Sunday of Advent
Dec. 2, 2001

Based on the RCL readings: Romans 13:11-14 & Matthew 24:36-44

I was sitting next to a parishioner when her beeper went off. "Is there a phone I can use?" she asked. I let her into my office and went back to where the women were gathered. Knowing that it possibly meant that a kidney was available, they were already deep in prayer. She came out a few minutes later. "Not this time! False alarm!" And we all went back to our meeting.

It was amazing to me that she could wait as weeks turned into months with such a deep sense of serenity when it meant so much to her. I knew that three mornings a week she went to the hospital for dialysis. I knew the restrictions on her diet. I knew that she carefully measured her intake of fluids. What a trial that is for someone who loves a good cup of tea! I knew that she lived daily with the knowledge that without a transplant she would not survive. Yet she lived each day in hope and expectation. Her deep faith accepted that God would answer her prayer, either with the needed surgery or she would meet face to face with the God she served.

Then came the day when the beeper went off for real. She hurried to the hospital. It was a good match. She had the surgery. Everything went well and day by day she grew stronger. Not that the watching and waiting were over. There were foul smelling anti-rejection drugs to take. (They really do smell like a skunk!) There were still the restrictions on her diet. But day by day the colour came back into her face.

There came the wonderful celebration when she was back at church. At the chancel steps she placed a bouquet of white roses. In the centre of the bouquet standing out from the rest was one beautiful red rose – "for the person who gave me new life," she explained – and one yellow, "for my new life."

Advent is a time of watching and waiting. Most of us are not very good at it. We lack the patience. Like the ad that runs on television right now, there are many things we will not wait for. We seem to live our lives in the fast lane, switching gears, running ourselves ragged, on an upwardly mobile course to who knows where or what.

Our Christian call is to watch and wait. It isn’t a call to idleness or inactivity, but rather a call to joyful and expectant living. Especially at the present time we have come to know a world where we recognize that we live with the possibility that it will all come crashing to an end. How contemporary Jesus' words are! "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, not the Son, but only the Father." Jesus speaks with an urgency that resonates with our contemporary situation. It is a dramatic way of reminding us that the main thing to know about the future is God. Some might argue that it is all we need to know. Knowing that the future is God we then trust and live in expectancy watching and waiting for God's time.

The gospel goes on to talk about the days of Noah. In the days before the flood it was life as usual. People ate and drank. They got married and had children. They worked and they played. Does it not surprise you just a little that it doesn't talk about the immorality of their lives? I mean, they weren't wife-swapping and hanging out at nude bars. They weren't doing drugs. What provoked God's anger in Noah's day was not the symptoms of sin but the self-centred behaviour of people who felt that they could do everything on their own. They had no need of God.

As Christians we cannot let ourselves get so wrapped up in our human activities, in our own importance, that we forget our duty to God and to our neighbour. Advent is a wake-up call to be attentive to what is going on in the world, to reach out to others with the good news of the gospel, and to seek peace within ourselves so that God's kingdom of shalom becomes a reality.

How do we live at peace within ourselves? How do we seek peace within our relationships? Only when we are at peace within ourselves will we find peace at wider and higher levels. It begins with an inner peace that comes from offering to God all of our love. It is the kind of peace that Paul was talking about in his letter to the Romans. He called on them to live their lives, not as consumers looking for self-gratification, but as people whose eyes are fixed on Christ. Christ is the one who can change our life's direction. Christ is the one to whom we look in expectation. Christ is the one in whom we seek balance in our lives.

How do we move on from the preoccupations that rule our lives? After all in relation to much of the world we live good lives. Yet it is the quality of our lives that makes it so difficult for us to keep our eyes on God. We become preoccupied with "making ends meet" so to speak. We reach a certain standard in our lives and realize that there is so much more that we want. It is not always for ourselves. We want more for our children.

And if you have any doubt that we have more than enough, simply walk through a supermarket. My parents lived for several years in Jamaica. For the most part they shopped as country Jamaicans do in the open market in their town. Staples were purchased at the Supermarket. Often they would go in and be unable to buy rice or oil. It simply wasn't available. Even sugar at one point became a commodity as Jamaica began to export everything it could simply to keep up with the economy.

Then my parents returned to Canada. I remember them going shopping with me one day. They just stood in the store in amazement at the choices. It was almost overwhelming to them. It made me stop and look.

There was an article in the Star recently that pointed out the marketing strategies that have changed the face of Supermarkets. They used to hide the produce at the back. Now it is right as you enter a store. You are assaulted with the aroma of fresh fruit and vegetables. It increases your appetite and your spending.

We are surrounded by a wealth of choices. We have to sift; we have to choose; we have to sort out. Most of all we have to determine our direction. Like the people of Noah's day we can opt for the way of the world. We can continue on a course of self-gratification in which we ignore God's direction. Or we can watch and wait. Watching is about coming into relationship with God. It is about staying connected to God. It is about making room for God in our busy lives. It is about taking time out for prayer. It is about seeing the issues of the day from our perspective as Christians and acting on behalf of God in the world. It is about reaching out to those in need. It is about waiting with joyful expectancy and letting it permeate every aspect of our lives. It is about being convinced of the seriousness of the present moment and of our individual responsibility to God and to neighbour.

Let us watch and wait in joyful readiness for the signs of the coming of God into our human experience.