Awaken, Christians

Awaken Christians 

“In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it . Many peoples shall come and say “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths”. 

And with these words from the prophet Isaiah, we begin this season of Advent. The prophet speaks of a mountain, and of nations streaming to it willing to hear holy instruction and be judged by it.  Willing also to make peace with each other. The Holy One will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. God will not only speak but will listen to the disputes, grievances, and concerns of the nations. The nations will accept God’s judgement. One result, the only one named is disarmament which will inevitably lead to new capacities for tending the land and feeding the people. Since the reasons for envy, greed, resentment, retribution, and fear will beabolished, weapons will irrelevant. Resources once diverted for battle will be available for the provision of health, life and communal growth.  

In our present world reality, this all seems like an impossible dream, doesn’t it?  but it is dream that we are invited to participate in.“Come let us go to the mountain, come let us walk in the light”. Whatever peaceful future there is to be, those who hear the promise are invited on this first Sunday of Advent to walk towards the light of God. 

Christianity with its Judaic roots is a deeply historical religion, which begi5191ns with God’s creation of the world and ends with God’s judgement and recreation of it. Christians look backward, remembering God’s mighty acts of salvation over the generations and forward participating in God’s creation of a new heaven and a new earth. We live in in-between times. 

Rev. Karen spoke last week of the twin dangers that face us on our Christian journey of faith: blind optimism and hopelessness, the feeling that nothing we do really makes a difference. Neither of these positions is helpful and both hinder our progress on our journeyof faith. Advent is a time for seeing the reality of the world and not being overcome by it. Advent is about letting the light in. God’s light which shines in the darkness, which shines in our own darkness. 

I have lived in my home for nineteen years and for all of that time my front facing windows have been covered by wooden shutterswhich were there when we moved in. They were dated and shabby, but we left them in place for two reasons: first because they kept the house cool on sunny days and secondly because it would be expensive to replace them. This week, on a rather gloomy day, I had had enough, and I took them down. I was stunned by the transformation as I let the light in and opened the rooms to the view of all the trees in my yard. I only wish I had done it sooner. It was transformative. 

It got me thinking about how Advent is a transformative time if we are open to letting the light in. Perhaps it is about taking down our personal shutters and opening our hearts and souls once again to what’s “out there” because in closing ourselves off from the painful realities, we also shut out beauty and truth. We shut out the light that God wants to shine in our lives. 

Scripture Scholar Amy Jill Levine says that “One of the amazing things about the Gospel is that it serves as a lens through which we can see the world differently”. We can however become very adept at shutting out the light or even recognising what is obscuring the light in our lives. 

We are in the presence of a mystery. God’s own justice and peace will occur among the nations “in days to come”. What days? How? Perhaps all we can say is that Isaiahs vision describes in fact what God is at work in the world to do. It is what Jesus apparently meantby “The Reign of God”. Which is already present and at work among us, though not yet in its fullness.  The text does not admonish but rather it presents a shining promise of what God is already doing and will continue to do in days to come. We begin our Advent journey today as people of deep human longing, and the prophet Isaiah points to the dreams ands promises of God for the world. What is it for you? How awake are you today?  

Isaiah offers us a vision of God’s dream for us, and Matthews Gospel reminds us that this is the season of waking up and paying attention. To that dream. It calls us to ready ourselves I for the coming of the Son of Man by participating in and giving existence to the future that Jesus offers and makes possible. I think that future both offers us something and asks something of us. 

The psalmist describes the future as a time when Jerusalem is at unity with itself. Peace is within its walls and quietness within its towers. There is prosperity and commitment to the common good. It’s a big future and a big dream. It’s the unexpected hour that shatters business as usual.  

That future doesn’t begin by changing the world. It begins by changing ourselves – the thoughts we think, the words we speak, the choices we make, the actions we take. That’s not only about how we relate to others. It’s also about how we relate to ourselves. Whatif the unexpected hour isn’t a one-time event? Maybe it’s every hour. It’s this hour, the next hour, and one after that. Maybe theunexpected hour is always before us waiting, hoping, and calling for us to wake up and pay attention. 

That hour is filled with light, hope, and possibilities. It’s the Advent hour. What would it mean and look like for you and me to wake up? What would it take? 

So, I invite you as you prepare for Christmas to look at ways to let the light into your lives, whatever challenges you are facing. I repeat the words of Isaiah “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord”. God’s future casts it’s light onto the present. We move towards Gods future by making our choices: personal, relational, political, communal, in that light and by holding that light for one another. 

 In the words of the monk, William Broderick: 

"We have to be candles 

Burning between hope and despair, faith and doubt,  lfe and death, all the opposites. 

That is the disquieting place where people must always find us. 

And if our lives mean anything, If what we are goes beyond the monastery walls and does some good, iIt is that somehow, 

by being here, at peace, we help the world cope with what it can’t understand. "

Amen