In the 4-week Advent observance, things move along so
quickly. Or, maybe a more accurate reflection
is that a lot of the season feels crowded.
It begins on the heels of the Thanksgiving weekend and St. Andrew’s
Day. By the end of the season, in spite
of everything we might try to do, Christmas begins to come on hard and fast and
it muscles Advent aside.
But I am finding that in this Extended Advent time that the
season has its opportunity to do its work on me. We have had several weeks of readings from
the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) that have pushed worshipers to consider the
return of Christ from a number of perspectives.
This past Sunday the Gospel Lesson was Matthew 3:1-12. It is the appearance and preaching of John
the Baptist prior to the baptism of Jesus.
In fact, Jesus is nowhere to be found in this reading, except by implication. It is true that John’s proclamation, “Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” from this
lesson is echoed precisely by Jesus in chapter 4 after John is imprisoned and
Jesus begins his public ministry. But
the lesson for the day is a foreshadowing of Jesus, nothing more.
But the reading, when coming in the middle of a seven-week stretch
of time, gets an opportunity to present the intersection of the abstract idea
of the advent of the Kingdom of Heaven with the practicality of the call to
repentance in preparation for the appearance of Christ. It is an appropriate time. It is enough time. I can still hear the echoes of the distant
first days of the season, yet the end, the conclusion, is over two weeks
away. It is settling in a way that I
have not experienced from Advent before.
Oh, I know that time still flies by. And, I heard some Scrooge in a checkout line today
reply to the question, “Are you ready for the holidays?” with the retort, “I’m
ready for them to be over!” Well,
Bah! Humbug! To him and his ilk.
I am savoring every moment.
The peace of the Lord be with you.
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