The First Sunday of Advent (Year C)
“Be aware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life and that day catch you by surprise like a trap… Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
—Luke 21:34, 36
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” or so says the cheery holiday song by Meredith Wilson. And yet, when we enter our parish churches on Sunday, we won’t be greeted by Christmas trees and poinsettias or lift our voices in joyful hymns singing “glory to the Newborn King.” Instead, we will hear a “crisis mode” Gospel that calls us to vigilance, watchfulness, and prayer. It is certainly a jarring disconnect.
Sadly, in the minds of too many Christians, Advent is a sort of pre-Christmas season that only thinly veils the all-out joy of Christmas. But with this Sunday’s readings and prayers, the Church is reminding us that there is much more to Advent than just anticipating the birthday of Jesus. And so, for the next three weeks, we will focus on the Lord’s return at the end of time and also reflect on how we find him coming among us today. This makes Advent a season of hope and joyful expectation. We see these themes at work in this Sunday’s Gospel: while Jesus declares that those who resist him will experience “dismay” and be “perplexed,” he also invites those who believe in him to “stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”
All of this makes Advent a season of tension. A time of “already, but not yet.” While we look forward to celebrating the Incarnation at Christmas (the truth that in Jesus of Nazareth, God became a human being), we also spend these days looking toward the future, to the second Advent of Christ, when he will return in glory and the promises made to the prophets will be fulfilled (cf. the First Reading).
Truly, we live in a time between the comings—the advents—of Christ. As the Protestant writer William Stringfellow reflected, “In the first Advent, Christ came into the world, bringing the good news of salvation; in the next Advent, Christ the Lord comes as Judge of the world, to establish the reign of the Word of God. This is the truth, which the world hates, which we bear in our minds and hearts and by which we live in the world in the time between the two Advents.”
Living in the tension of the “time between” is about learning to wait, about not knowing exactly what will come tomorrow and recognizing that, whatever it is, it is part of the mystery of our salvation. Advent is ultimately a season that is oriented towards the future, not the past. These are days to remember and celebrate the gift of the Child of Bethlehem, but this is also a time to take a step back from the frolicking and busy-ness of the holidays to reflect on the future and the fundamental question of Advent: What are you waiting for?
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.
For he assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh,
and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago,
and opened for us the way to eternal salvation,
that, when he comes again in glory and majesty
and all is at last made manifest,
we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise
in which now we dare to hope.
And so, with Angels and Archangels,
with Thrones and Dominions,
and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven,
we sing the hymn of your glory,
as without end we acclaim:
Holy, Holy, Holy...
-Preface I for the Season of Advent
