\u201cBe on your guard,\u201d our Lord advises us in no uncertain terms in today\u2019s reading from near the end of the Gospel of Luke. Odd advice, we might be tempted to think, at the beginning of yet another Advent season \u2013 a time when we are more inclined to anticipate the joy of the coming Christmas season than to be on guard against unspecified perils. Still, mindfulness is indeed Jesus\u2019 admonishment to us this day. Pay attention to the details \u2013 to the signs about you. \u201cBe alert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, it is perhaps good advice after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world is still full of surprises and not all of them are pleasant. Just catch the latest news on the internet or television if you have any doubts on that score. The \u201cdistress among the nations\u201d of which our Lord also speaks in our Gospel account is with us still, though the names and boundaries of the nations in question may have changed a bit over the years. Conflicts and wars remain with us today as in centuries past. The \u201cfear and foreboding\u201d of which Jesus warns are as real and deep as ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, they are palpable even in the midst of our sacred Advent season, as airliners are threatened by terrorist bombs in lands faraway and gunmen massacre innocents on the streets of Paris and on campuses and street corners in our own cities. The machinery of evil may have changed over the centuries but the technology of the human heart remains the same as it ever was. And, in times such as these, it is easy to become \u2014 if you will excuse the infelicitous expression \u2014 gun-shy; to hunker down and love only those we already love; and trust only what we know for sure \u2014 even when it is manifestly not so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet it is just at times such as these that God so often insists upon challenging our deepest anxieties and prejudices and surprising us yet again with divine mercy and redemption. That is also the message of today\u2019s Gospel narrative. Even in the midst of the world\u2019s confusion and chaos, Jesus reassures us, \u201cThe kingdom of God is near,\u201d as difficult as it may sometimes be to discern its presence. Rather than hunker down, \u201cStand up,\u201d commands our Lord, \u201cand raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our Lord too lived in turbulent times not so different from our own \u2013 born of destitute and near-homeless parents forced to seek shelter for the night in a backyard village lean-to of all places \u2013 not exactly the palace of a prince or king. Yet, the surprise of Christ\u2019s incarnation forces us to look again in our own age at the \u201csigns in the sun, the moon, and the stars;\u201d and to consider anew the signs of God\u2019s intimate involvement in the world about us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advent is the season when we learn to overcome our \u201cfear and foreboding\u201d and once more open our hearts to others just as God has disclosed and demonstrated his love for us in Christ. Advent requires a certain element of mindfulness \u2013 of keeping awake and alert to the universe around us \u2013 and to the cosmos within us. It requires as well, a certain sense of recognition and acceptance of others with all their spiritual baggage and insecurities \u2013 no small order in an age of polarization and mistrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, being on the spiritual welcoming committee has never been an easy task. Who or what are we waiting for, we might well ask. Who or what are we welcoming? Refugees perhaps, from lands far different than our own? Homeless beggars at freeway on-ramps? Christ after all came in a manner completely new and unexpected. Would we have recognized him at rest in that feed-trough outside Bethlehem so long ago? Would we have known to welcome him? His coming is still hotly debated and even denied, his very existence a sign of contradiction for many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He brought joy, but we still know sadness. He brought life, but we still know death. So, putting out the welcome mat and hanging the \u201cOpen for Business\u201d sign in the window of our hearts can seem a scary proposition this Advent season or anytime. As we secure our airports, screen our visitors, and look over our shoulder it can become all too easy to forget about welcome and human commerce altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The near-apocalyptic scene painted in our Gospel account of confusion and distress has become an unfortunate reality in too many parts of our world today. Sometimes even our neighbor can seem the enemy. Come to think of it, perhaps we need to install a metal detector here at the entrance to our church building. One cannot be too careful these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good thing God did not \u2013 and does not \u2014 see things that way. Good thing God thought we and our world were worth yet another chance. Otherwise, we ourselves might still be left out in the cold and dark; left alone with our \u201cfear and foreboding\u201d; left alone perhaps in a smelly old barn bereft of angels, shepherds, and virgin mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Advent is also a season of hope. It is a time that reminds us, in God\u2019s scheme of things, the laws of entropy do not necessarily apply and the universe will not continue to get darker and colder forever. Our spiritual winter will come to an end. The fig tree \u2013 and dogwood as well \u2013 will again blossom and bloom. \u201cSummer is near,\u201d our Lord reassures us \u2013 even at the beginning of Advent. \u201cOur redemption is drawing near.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps only a genuine follower of Christ can remain vigilant and on guard for the coming of God\u2019s kingdom in a world such as ours. Perhaps only a genuine follower of Christ, mindful of the incarnation, can hear of a spiritual summer of redemption and understand that \u2013 no matter the human or earthly season \u2013 Christ\u2019s word and promise to his people \u201cwill not pass away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by Frank Heged\u00fcs<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cBe on your guard,\u201d our Lord advises us in no uncertain terms in today\u2019s reading from near the end of the Gospel of Luke. Odd advice, we might be tempted to think, at the beginning of yet another Advent season \u2013 a time when we are more inclined to anticipate the joy of the coming…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10,43,52,1953],"tags":[184],"class_list":["post-512249","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-advent-1c"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":10,"label":"Advent"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":184,"label":"Advent 1C"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3475818,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512249\/revisions\/3475818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}