h-33Sunday-a

December 7, 2008

Second Sunday of Advent (B)

Rev. Del Staigers

Is 40:1-5, 9-11 X Ps 85:9-14 X Pt 3:8-14 X Mk 1:1-8

Hearing the voice of John the Baptist in the desert is confirmation that God’s plan is still at work. Isaiah had done the same, centuries earlier. God’s plan is still at work:

“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;

he will prepare your way.

A voice of one crying out in the desert:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight his paths.’”

God’s plan of salvation, it seems, has prophetic voices who get people ready for what is coming. They open hearts, minds and lives to the possibilities which are yet to be announced and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. These prophets are not merely like sending canaries underground, ahead of miners. No, God’s plan will unfold despite our readiness or lack of readiness. The conditions are always right for God’s plan of salvation to take in hold in deserts, in rugged land, rough country and broad valley. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed!

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read, “When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Saviour's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor's birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’" (524)

So, then, what is this season of Advent all about. Why even bother if God’s plan is being fulfilled in the prophecies of Isaiah and John the Baptist? The answer is one we may not want to hear: because God’s plan is being fulfilled in the prophecies of Isaiah and John the Baptist.

The commitment we make to follow Christ, the fulfillment of all the prophets is the answer to an invitation. Do we want it, or not? That may well be what Advent is all about. We take these weeks to ponder the invitation with the Prophets of old, the Baptist and the Virgin who all, in dramatic ways, believed that God’s plan is still at work. They were convinced and convicted that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. They believed that in their own, unique cooperation that they were heralds of glad tidings.

Because they believed that God’s plan was still at work, they did not just sit back in an unresponsive waiting game. They believed, as we believe, that we are always living in the “last times”, “that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.” There has been a temptation in every age for believers to think that if God’s plan is at work, we can just sit back on our spiritual haunches and passively wait for it all to take “happen.”

The truth of the matter is that it will happen, and you and I are invited to be participants. Advent is about active waiting, not passive. We believe that all that we do in this season is a response to God’s plan, not the initiative of that plan, as though it begins with us. We respond to God’s grace.

Quakers, or Friends, are not typically known for their sense of humor or ability to tell jokes. However, one of the jokes that is told by them involves a man who was invited to a Quaker service. His guest had not told him a lot about how they would pray together and grew uneasy at the long lengths of silence. Finally, at the height of his uneasiness, he leaned over to his host and whispered, “When is the service going to begin?” The main who invited him leaned over and whispered back, “When the worship ends.”

The humor may be subtle, the urgent message of the prophets is not. God’s plan is still at work in every age of the last days. The prophets knew with every fiber of their being that service is always rooted in one’s deep, deep relationship with God. One’s life of worship of God ought to lead us to a life of service.

It is no secret that we are living in difficult times. The blessing of financial difficulty may well be that we are less concerned with the quantity that we have in life and, out of necessity, we are more focused on the quality of life. “May the lure of greed not impede us from the joy which moves the hearts of those who seek him.” (Alternative Opening Prayer). And, because God’s plan for us is always an invitation, we still use this time of preparation to be concerned about the needs of others and we sacrifice from our own need to help others. We use this time of Advent to use less words and ponder the words and actions of our ancestors who believed that God’s plan is still at work. We use this time to ready our hearts through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we sit with the words of Scripture, we cherish family and friends in simple and profound ways, our worship leads to service.

The annual celebration of Christ’s birth inches toward us to remind us that God’s plan is still at work – not again, but still. The invitation always stands before us as we conduct ourselves with holiness and devotion.