CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: Ultimate Collaboration
Advent 1 | December 1, 2019
By the Rev. Daniel D. Robayo
CAMINANDO WITH JESUS is a series of reflections on the Sunday Gospel by clergy and laity from across the Diocese.
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Jesus said to the disciples, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
- Matthew 24:36-44
The beginning is near! We are on the threshold of a new liturgical year; the season of Advent ushers in Year A (featuring St. Matthew’s Gospel). Advent has two foci: the First Advent of Christ as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger and the Final Advent of Christ as the King of kings and Lord of lords who ushers in God’s reign.
On the one hand, Advent prepares us with joy to celebrate the First Advent of Christ—Christmas, the Feast of the Incarnation. Notice that it is preparation for, but not the celebration itself. The readings and music of the liturgy look forward to Christmas but come just short of being Christmas. I hope we keep that countercultural distinction. We live in a culture that rushes into "the holidays" with carols both secular and sacred in its all-out effort to sell-ebrate Christmas. It is a good and rightful thing for us who claim Jesus as Savior and Lord to live into the longing for Christmas, to open our daily Advent calendars rather like children who count the days and cannot wait until they get to open presents. May we wait faithfully for God's Greatest Present during this season! On the other hand, Advent prepares us with longing and anticipation for the Final Advent of Christ—a.k.a. the Second Coming. This is the day when our yearnings for Beloved Community are fulfilled, when our hopes for a humanity in its full diversity united and reconciled to one another, to God and to all creation are realized, the day when justice and peace embrace each other because love has at last been shown to carry the day.
However, if we’re inattentive we may miss the opportunity to remember that we are on a journey toward the Final Advent. A one-sided Advent emphasis on preparing to receive the Babe of Bethlehem can keep us from preparing with solemn joy to receive the One who comes to judge the quick and the dead. Some of the readings and music of Advent have dark undertones that reveal we live in the tension of longing for the full appearance of the Beloved Community while much remains awry with the world. Veni, veni Emmanuel is not just a sweet hymn; it is an urgent, fervent and earnest prayer uttered by hearts that know full well, in St. Paul’s words, that “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19). Perhaps we avoid this crucial Advent theme because it has been reduced to TheEndoftheWorld!!—a time of great fear—when in fact Advent is longing with the deepest hope and laboring with all our strength, for the New Beginning that God in Christ will usher with a new heaven and new earth.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus calms our crippling anxiety that the story of humanity and creation will end badly, with the blessed assurance of his certain return. Jesus strengthens our hope so that we do not give up the work of becoming Beloved Community. He reminds us that we need to stay busy faithfully working toward it so that we are found seeking and doing his will when the Day of the Lord arrives. Jesus is not enjoining us to permanent busy-ness. Rather, he wants all of us to collaborate, that is, to co-labor as co-creators, in that New Creation that is paradoxically not achieved by us but ultimately received as gift and grace.
Therefore, Advent is more than a four-week liturgical season; it is a sign that points to our life’s work, and, as such, it is an invitation to renew our commitment to this life-long work. In the mystery of God, our call at all times and in all places is to collaborate with God and one another in co-creating the New Creation. We walk in love with one another in order to bear witness to God’s love. We share the story of Jesus so that more and more people may come to know that they are already held infinitely in God’s loving embrace. We invite others into our community of faith so that we may strengthen one another for service to God’s world. We work for justice and peace for the sake of Beloved Community.
We continue to pray, collaborate and sing: “O come, O come, Emmanuel!”
The Rev. Daniel D. Robayo is the missioner for Latino/Hispanic Ministry in the Diocese of North Carolina.
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