Homily
1st Sunday of Advent A
Christ the King Topeka
1 December 2013
Daily Readings
The countdown on New Year's Eve. Mario's 2008 miracle falling out of the air. A first kiss. The birth of a baby. All these human moments, and many more, are filled with anticipation, and excitement. Such is the spiritual attitude of Advent. My friends, the countdown for us is now over. We said goodbye to the old liturgical year yesterday. The new year is here in the Catholic Church! Happy New Year!
A new year is always exciting, because of the feeling that the past no longer determines the future. But of course, things are only really new if something is fundamentally changing. A new year is only a party that like everything in life, quickly fades, if we are only superficially wishing things might change.
We are challenged as Christians to turn this first Sunday of Advent into much more than a make-believe New Year's Eve. The challenge comes in the form of an apocalyptic Gospel, which reminds us that we Christians are not really prepared for what we deeply want. We are scared out of our minds. We are not ready. We are not prepared for the coming of the Lord into our lives. We are prepared instead for doing what we do . . for holding on to old controls and securities. So what we should most welcome, the coming of Jesus who brings us the newness of life that alone can fundamentally change our reality, is what we most fear. Advent challenges us to stop working against ourselves. We are to look forward to the Lord's coming with great anticipation, not fear.
If you plotted our liturgical year on the face of a clock, our first Sunday of Advent would happen not when most New Year's celebrations happen, not at midnight, but at about 9 o'clock. We have held onto the light of last year's Easter celebration as long as we could, and that light was not in vain and has not passed away. Yet the order of our redemption mirrors the order of nature - light gives way to darkness and life to death. Advent is the time for us to stop holding on, to stop looking backwards at the light and life of yesterday, and to start looking for the light of tomorrow. Advent means not being scared of tomorrow. In Advent we are to start looking forward to the new Easter light of 2014.
You heard me right. No, I haven't gone insane. At least I don't think I have. Advent anticipates more than Christmas. Advent anticipates Easter. I'm here today to say much more than to tell you not to celebrate Christmas early. Sure, I could yell at your for shopping and putting up your Christmas tree to early, but we have bigger fish to fry people. We've got to think much bigger! No, Advent begins a long night of vigil that continues through next Lent to Easter morning. Christmas is a stop on the long night's journey, a celebration of a critical moment that happens at midnight of our liturgical year. At Christmas we notice that small light that is powerful enough to scatter every darkness begin to glimmer at the darkest hour of the darkest night. But from where we are today, where we start our Advent journey, we are to anticipate and imagine already the high point of our liturgical year, the dawn of Easter morning, and the ultimate victory over sin and death. Incarnation is nothing without the Resurrection! Easter is bigger than Christmas! We are to consider today not only how we want to celebrate Christmas this year, but also how we want to celebrate Easter. Will these celebrations find us vigilant and awake, ready for fundamental change, or will they pass by with little or nothing new happening? That is our Advent question.
St. Paul says now is the hour for us to wake from sleep. Just at the time of day, 9 o'clock, when the world is falling asleep, thinking that the most important part of the day is over, it is then, it is now, that Christians are called to become more vigilant. Christians delight in the God who can overwhelm us anytime, and surely someday will, but a God who delights for now in small surprises that come when people are least expecting them. Just as scientists look to smaller and smaller particles to help unlock the mysteries of the universe, so Christians are vigilant, anticipating the small beginnings that change the world in radical ways. We begin Advent by remembering well that only a few people made it to the manger, while the rest of the world was fast asleep. We remember that even fewer made it to the empty tomb. Yet no matter how small these two events seemed at the time, they have changed the meaning of our lives, and made all things new, more than any other world events ever could.
Now, then is the hour for us to wake from sleep, and to dare to watch and to pray for that which we must no longer fear, but that which we must most anticipate and welcome - the mysterious and surprising yet powerful and life-changing coming of the Lord Jesus into our lives. Come, Lord Jesus! Come!
1st Sunday of Advent A
Christ the King Topeka
1 December 2013
Daily Readings
The countdown on New Year's Eve. Mario's 2008 miracle falling out of the air. A first kiss. The birth of a baby. All these human moments, and many more, are filled with anticipation, and excitement. Such is the spiritual attitude of Advent. My friends, the countdown for us is now over. We said goodbye to the old liturgical year yesterday. The new year is here in the Catholic Church! Happy New Year!A new year is always exciting, because of the feeling that the past no longer determines the future. But of course, things are only really new if something is fundamentally changing. A new year is only a party that like everything in life, quickly fades, if we are only superficially wishing things might change.
We are challenged as Christians to turn this first Sunday of Advent into much more than a make-believe New Year's Eve. The challenge comes in the form of an apocalyptic Gospel, which reminds us that we Christians are not really prepared for what we deeply want. We are scared out of our minds. We are not ready. We are not prepared for the coming of the Lord into our lives. We are prepared instead for doing what we do . . for holding on to old controls and securities. So what we should most welcome, the coming of Jesus who brings us the newness of life that alone can fundamentally change our reality, is what we most fear. Advent challenges us to stop working against ourselves. We are to look forward to the Lord's coming with great anticipation, not fear.
If you plotted our liturgical year on the face of a clock, our first Sunday of Advent would happen not when most New Year's celebrations happen, not at midnight, but at about 9 o'clock. We have held onto the light of last year's Easter celebration as long as we could, and that light was not in vain and has not passed away. Yet the order of our redemption mirrors the order of nature - light gives way to darkness and life to death. Advent is the time for us to stop holding on, to stop looking backwards at the light and life of yesterday, and to start looking for the light of tomorrow. Advent means not being scared of tomorrow. In Advent we are to start looking forward to the new Easter light of 2014.
You heard me right. No, I haven't gone insane. At least I don't think I have. Advent anticipates more than Christmas. Advent anticipates Easter. I'm here today to say much more than to tell you not to celebrate Christmas early. Sure, I could yell at your for shopping and putting up your Christmas tree to early, but we have bigger fish to fry people. We've got to think much bigger! No, Advent begins a long night of vigil that continues through next Lent to Easter morning. Christmas is a stop on the long night's journey, a celebration of a critical moment that happens at midnight of our liturgical year. At Christmas we notice that small light that is powerful enough to scatter every darkness begin to glimmer at the darkest hour of the darkest night. But from where we are today, where we start our Advent journey, we are to anticipate and imagine already the high point of our liturgical year, the dawn of Easter morning, and the ultimate victory over sin and death. Incarnation is nothing without the Resurrection! Easter is bigger than Christmas! We are to consider today not only how we want to celebrate Christmas this year, but also how we want to celebrate Easter. Will these celebrations find us vigilant and awake, ready for fundamental change, or will they pass by with little or nothing new happening? That is our Advent question.
St. Paul says now is the hour for us to wake from sleep. Just at the time of day, 9 o'clock, when the world is falling asleep, thinking that the most important part of the day is over, it is then, it is now, that Christians are called to become more vigilant. Christians delight in the God who can overwhelm us anytime, and surely someday will, but a God who delights for now in small surprises that come when people are least expecting them. Just as scientists look to smaller and smaller particles to help unlock the mysteries of the universe, so Christians are vigilant, anticipating the small beginnings that change the world in radical ways. We begin Advent by remembering well that only a few people made it to the manger, while the rest of the world was fast asleep. We remember that even fewer made it to the empty tomb. Yet no matter how small these two events seemed at the time, they have changed the meaning of our lives, and made all things new, more than any other world events ever could.
Now, then is the hour for us to wake from sleep, and to dare to watch and to pray for that which we must no longer fear, but that which we must most anticipate and welcome - the mysterious and surprising yet powerful and life-changing coming of the Lord Jesus into our lives. Come, Lord Jesus! Come!
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