[Our guest preacher was Natalie Marionneaux, our seminarian from Drew University, who is currently discerning ordination to the diaconate in the United Methodist Church.  Natalie is from Baton Rouge, LA] November 27, 2016: In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This is our first Sunday of Advent. What is Advent? It is our time of waiting and preparing for Jesus’s coming but in 2 ways. First – it is our anticipation of the coming of the birth of Jesus, the incarnation, God becoming one of us, the coming of our Messiah, Christmas. AND secondly, it is also about being ready for Christ’s second coming, the return of our Messiah. It is about hope. Expectant hearts. Us waiting for that promise from God to be fulfilled.

In the gospel today, Jesus is talking to his disciples. He is telling them the time is near. They want to know when He will come again, when will this new age begin. This actually comes towards the end of Matthew’s gospel telling them to ready themselves. He gives them clues; but the disciples never really caught on to a lot of what Jesus told them. But Jesus also tells them no one can know the time, not even Himself, not even the angels, only God. Therefore, be ready. Be prepared.

It is the time of the year with the encroaching mark of darkness when the days become shorter… there is less light and more and more dark. We can also see and feel the edging darkness over last couple of months in particularly… Around Standing Rock as indigenous peoples take a stand for their land, their SACRED land and their SACRED life-giving water – and we watch the dark side of the world that is driven by power and greed for oil. Secondly, within the last few weeks since the presidential election, the veil has been pulled back – and we see the depth of darkness in this country around racism, misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia with 300% rise in hate crimes.

Indeed we have entered a period of darkness. Have we not? Then we look at the world and the chaos that exists around us, in our own lives, in our own country, around the world….

The gospel tells us to take care of things, to take care of our business and get things in order. In our own lives, in our houses, but most importantly, we need to get our hearts in order, right with God. To what do we give our time? So much that we waste and are just unfocused. It is easy to be distracted. Think of how distracted we get just from our phones alone and how much time we waste not getting anything done, not taking care of any thing or any one.

Yet, thankfully, the Lord continuously knocks at our door, via the refugee, the homeless, the mentally ill, the outcast. If we are ready, if we are prepared, we notice, we reach out. Are we ready? Or should we first ask ourselves are we even looking and seeing what is happening around us? Are we focused on the correct things? Then we can ask ourselves if we are ready? Individually and Collectively – as a church, as a community, especially now as a country, and as a member of the human race.

The text tells us that God is coming. And it’s Jesus talking so the son of God is here. The son tells us so. Those who are ready will be rewarded – they will be left behind. Yes – those who are ready will be left behind. Those who are lost – will be taken. The 2 men in the field, 1 will remain; the 2 women grinding mill, 1 will remain. Why is it that the ones left are the righteous ones? Wouldn’t it be the other way around?

With Noah, life was going on with eating and drinking. Noah and his family were ready. They were saved. With us, life is happening. We are faithful. We are ready.

I ask, who is coming to be with us in the midst of everything that is going on? It’s really about those who are left – who stay behind – we will see Christ. The earth is to be Jesus’ home – those of us here get to be with Jesus. He is coming to be Lord of the Earth. He is already Lord of Heaven. The kingdom is coming HERE for us.

The whole story of revelation is about Jesus coming down to live with us on earth. “He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples; God himself will be with them.” Why would you want to be anywhere else other than where Jesus is and will be?

It is Advent – the Kingdom is coming to be with us. God made man born out of a promise from God to bring us back – a living God opened the door and invited us in by paying our price through his death. Then resurrecting – death and sin had no more power – we are reunited with God.

Sometimes it’s easy to give Easter all the importance. I mean Christmas is important and we have a lot of great songs about it. And it’s a good time. But yeah, Jesus was born, right…        Here’s why (w/ a quote from one of those theology books I get to read): “Yet this is one historical event, the radically relational way of the living God broke into existence and continues to illuminate God’s message that out of the separation and division within which the universe now exists, a relationality has irrupted that will enable the whole of creation to flourish.”

Now just what does that mean… This new creation, this baby, infant born of peasant parents, Mary and Joseph, stranded far away from home w/out means, in the bleakness and brokenness of this world, when the evidences of life seems most hidden, to a father who knows this child is not his own, to a mother who was little more than a piece of property w/in a patriarchal society in 1st century Palestine…THE GLORY AND WONDER OF THE LIVING GOD CAME FORTH… those w/ minimal voice and rights – a woman and child – take center stage.

The good news begins not with the claim that Christ died for us, but the incredible message is that God LIVED FOR US, God becomes flesh and ENTERS RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMANITY – WITH US. Not through some claim to power or privilege. But humbly, gently and lovingly – Asking only to be loved and cared for.

This is why we prepare, why we wait in Advent. Paraphrasing Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby…What has God done w/ this one life and how does it impact every person on this earth ever since? Jesus Christ comes to us – the light in the darkness and we didn’t even know we needed it. Jesus Christ reaches out to each of us. It is nothing we have done – IT IS NOTHING WE HAVE DONE. And the pendulum of fear shifts to hope. God’s work begins w/ God (not us). And we are the witnesses.

Now as witnesses, what are you going to do with it? Why does this matters? Right now, today, in this moment? Because we are of God, we are part divine, we were born with part of God alive in us. And through our Baptism, we have been marked, we have been called – we have been claimed as God’s own. That light lives in us. In each and everyone one of us. Prepare the way for Christ’s coming, make straight the path – Be ready.

Is our heart right with God? We get a chance everyday to make it right. If there was no promise, there would be no hope, then there’d be no need for faith but it is indeed the promise that is to come, that gives us hope. We are lights in the darkness preparing a path for the one who is to come.

Be your light, “live ready” in your faith and grace of our once come and second coming Savior. Because we meet Jesus everyday in the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, sick and imprisoned… WE ARE CO-CREATORS of the new kingdom, the new earth that Christ brings. Let us walk and talk in this faith everyday; let that be our daily duty. Let us be kingdom builders.

We give hope to the future coming when we are steadfast and ready. Because Christ is coming. It is the certainty of the coming, not the timing that moves us. It is that certainty that motivates us, that has us ready to greet and celebrate Jesus’ arrival. Are you ready to meet the coming Christ? The longing for Christ’s return that calls us forth, gives us hope. The time is always now… to be ready, to be faithful, to be prepared. We need not worry, if our focus is on the Lord, we need not fear.

So in advent – we wait, we pay attention, we lean into the season with anticipation of the incarnation of the birth of our Messiah but also because we await Christ’s return. The Christ who is to come already lives among us now, today even as we expectantly await Jesus’ birth into our world. Because Jesus is A LIVING HOPE, a hope of a future coming and a reign where all will be made right. This Advent, let us lean into that promise, into that future, into the coming of our Lord, into the hope of that new kingdom, that calls us to live differently, to live for justice, to have mercy, as we seek to bring that kingdom forth daily in everything we do and say.

Maybe the surprise when Christ returns is that he was here among us all along…. Maybe it is how we walk in world, are we humble, do we look people in the eye, are we authentic in what we stand for, are we good stewards of the earth and what we have been given, are we generous in spirit, compassionate and forgiving, are we just and loving?

Maybe the surprise will be that he’s been calling and preparing us, gathering us together, guiding and blessing us all along, in the humble, meek places of our lives and of the world, where mercy and empathy live, where love conquers hate and grace pushing fear away – all of us who call upon the name of Jesus the Christ, our Messiah. We wait with great expectation in His hope, in His coming. Amen.

For the audio from the 10:30am service, click here:

(References/Ideas from: Mary Hoinkle, Arland Hultgren, Andrew Prior, Elaine Robinson, Danielle Shroyer, Ben Witherington, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby)