Community Church Sermons

The First Sunday in Advent – December 1, 2002

“Watching The Advent Door”

Mark 13:24-37

 

(With A Chrismon Service)

 

Today is the First Sunday in Advent, and we join the disciples of Jesus in every time and place asking a most important question.

 

When?

 

In today’s reading from Mark, the question has to do with when the Kingdom of God will finally come. When will the world finally be made right? When will the unjust power of both Rome and the Temple be broken and the people set free?

 

When, Lord?

 

In our day, we’re asking the same question. In the wake of the senseless violence typified by the hotel bombing in Kenya this week, we ask the question. When, Lord? When will violence give way to peace? This is the question poor people ask as they struggle to live within the injustice of economic systems that are weighted against them. When, Lord? When will we have power to find a place at the table of life? This is the question you and I often ask as we face the challenges of raising families, and finding meaning, and working through marriages, and dealing with all the challenges of life. When, Lord?

 

When will the wrong be made right? When will our brokenness turn to healing? When will the Kingdom come?

 

This is the question we bring to Advent.

 

And yet, in our Gospel reading today, Jesus sort of shocks us by telling us that when may not be the right question to ask.

 

Jesus simply says, “No one knows when. Not the angels. Not even me. Only the Father knows.”

 

I personally find that one of the most challenging aspects of the Christian Faith is learning to trust that we can never really know the when of life. Coming to trust that the when of our healing, our reconciliation, our redemption as a people and as a world is completely in God’s hands is one of the hardest steps of faith.  We  are simply given the promise that God is indeed at work in the background of every broken thing – every bombing, every injustice, every sadness, every loss, every illness, every disappointment, every broken relationship – and in the careful way of Divine Love, God is transforming all these things into what they should be. But only God knows when the work will be done. Like the song says, “In His time, in His time, He makes all things beautiful...in His time.”

 

How long, Lord? When will the healing come? When will there be reconciliation? When will justice flow like a river? When will the world’s brokenness be made whole?

 

In God’s time. So Jesus tells us the question of Advent is not really “When?”

 

No. The real question of Advent is, “What?”

 

And in our reading from Mark, Jesus hones in on this question down in the 33^rd and 34^th verses when he leads us away from thinking about the when of Advent to the what shall we do in the meantime?

 

“Be on guard. Be alert….It’s like a man going away. He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.”

 

In other words, live as God calls you to live. In the face of everything life throws your way, no matter what happens in the world around you, live as the children of God. And as you go about your business doing what you’re called to do, one more thing.

 

Keep watch by the door!

 

Our family once had a girl dog named Walter. Don’t even ask. Every time we took that dog to a different Vet and we told them her name was Walter, the Vet would look her over and say, “You DO know this is a female, right?” Duh.

 

Well, Walter was a truly great dog in many ways, but one of the things she was really good at was watching the door.  I mean, long before the school bus ever rounded the corner to drop off our kids, Walter would be sitting by the door, wagging her tail. Whenever I even drove by the house on my way from the church to the hospital, Walter’s ears would perk up as I sped by the end of the driveway where she was laying in the sun.

 

Walter had a knack for watching the door and sensing the closeness of her family. In fact, when my time comes to go to heaven, I’m absolutely sure that, even before I see Jesus, I’ll probably hear Walter barking for joy!

 

Keep watch by the door, Jesus says. That’s the WHAT of Advent. But how can we do that?

 

Well, I think of the door mentioned in Revelation 3:20 where Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them.”

 

A couple of Sundays ago, I left the house while it was still very early and very dark. My last stop before driving away is at the mailbox to pick up the newspaper and bring it in for Sandy. Well, this particular morning as I walked down the driveway, there was just something special about the touch of the air, and the brilliance of the stars in the sky. I became so very aware of the presence of God all around me.

 

Knock, knock.

 

And I found myself needing to pause there by the mailbox for awhile, just to absorb it all. Just to be present to the presence of God.

 

I think one day we will all be very surprised to discover that, in the course of every day of our lives, there were many moments when God came knocking at our door. But we were too busy. Or paying attention to other things.

 

Advent is a wonderful opportunity for you and I to really pay attention to the moments when God draws near our lives every day. And to simply pause and let God in. That’s a part of what it means to keep watch by the door.

 

Another important door in the Bible is the door through which the father of the prodigal son watched for his boy to return home.

 

My childhood pastor George Seale was really good at watching that door. George had a special knack for identifying people who needed to be loved and embraced. Long before the ecumenical movement really began, there was George making friends with the Catholic priest down the street. Despite the threats of neighbors to lynch him, there was George welcoming black people to our white church. During the Vietnam era, there was George standing on City Hall plaza between the anti-war protesters on the one side, and the pro-war protesters on the other, trying to be the bridge that brought both sides together. There was George, giving a job at the church Christmas tree lot to a young family down on its luck. There was George, stopping his car on a cold winter night to let the old drunk down there in Brittain Square sit down for a while in the warm car and with a friend who was willing to listen.

 

Oh, people who keep watch by the door of prodigality – making it their business to look out for and running out to those who are stuck on the outskirts of life – are some of the best keepers of Advent.

 

And then, one more door. Jesus said that he is the door of the sheep.

 

Watching Jesus. Listening to his words. Studying his life. Embracing his Way. This is one of the most important tasks of Advent!

 

So here’s what Jesus promises. When you and I keep watch by the door – looking for God’s presence, reaching out to others, becoming Christ-like in all that we do – we will become aware of all sorts of signs of the coming Kingdom.

 

And one day, in God’s time, the Kingdom will come!

 

Today, on the First Sunday in Advent, we bring forward symbols of some of the signs we Christians have seen of God knocking at the door of our lives and our world. All season long, these symbols will be before us on the Chrismon Tree, assuring us that the Kingdom will indeed come.

 

And encouraged by these signs of Advent, you and I can go and renew our efforts to do what we are called to do. And to keep watch by the door!

 

The early Christians, who suffered incredible persecution and hardship, found great comfort and strength in such signs. Some, they called Chrismons ­- meaning Christ monograms. In many churches today, Advent begins with the decorating of a Chrismon Tree, a custom first developed in 1957 at the Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Danville, Virginia. Chrismon ornaments are made with only two colors. White stands for the purity and perfection of Christ. Gold represents the majesty and glory of Christ. Our Chrismons have been lovingly made by the Church Crafters, and are presented today as signs of God’s promise:

 

So friends, come and live as Christians in this day and time. And keep watch by the door! The Kingdom will come…in God’s time.