Last week Fr. Brandt talked about both
the linear and cyclical natures of time. We live in a linear nature.
We are here and we are going there. Countdowns to Christmas and the
New Year are well underway, underscoring the feeling (maybe) that the
race has begun – a sprint from now to the 25th (or maybe
the 1st if you're lucky) in which we are pressed to
accomplish as much as we can. Setting up decorations, buying gifts,
baking goodies, visiting friends and family – these are all part of
that linear race we call the holiday season.
But this time of year, while
traditionally called “the most wonderful time of year,” is also
one of the most difficult times of the year. First, as I mentioned,
there's the linear sprint to Christmas day trying to ensure that our
lives live up to Hallmark expectations. This is hard enough to do in
normal circumstances. Personally I find it much harder to do now
that that kid has grown and we really have no reason to run that
race. The pressure we put on ourselves to live up to holiday
expectations can sometimes be too much.
Another reason this most wonderful time
of year is also the most difficult time of year is because this is
the time of year when we focus particularly on our families. For
some of you, this will be your first Christmas without a beloved
family member. For many of you, this will have been your second,
third, fourth, whatever, but the emptiness still remains. For you, I
offer my prayers and condolences, and I hope you find comfort among
those family and friends who are still with you.
This linear nature of time, the
movement from here to there, is where we most often live. It is, I
think, where the world tends to live. But Advent reminds us of that
other nature of time. Advent draws us back into the cyclical. In
the cyclical, we are once again at the beginning of the Church year.
Once again we reset the calendar to the beginning where we focus on
preparing for the incarnation of our Lord, his arrival,
manifestation, and, eventually, his crucifixion and resurrection.
This is the cycle of the Church year: prepare, live, prepare, die,
prepare, live.
Here we are, once again, at the
beginning of the cycle. Once again hangings are changed from green
to purple or blue, just like we have done for hundreds of years
before now, and just like it will be done hundreds of years from now.
Prepare. Live. Prepare. Die. Prepare. Live. This is the cycle
of the Church year. And notice that this cycle always includes a
time of preparation before a major event.
You may not see this in today's gospel,
but if you look carefully, it's there.
John the Baptist appeared in the
wilderness, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has
come near.” Everyone was coming out to see him, including
Pharisees and Sadducees. They came because he was the next big
thing. They came because they were thinking linearly: “This is
where we are – he's next in line.”
But this particular ministry of John
wasn't linear, it was cyclical. Notice that Matthew says, “This
was he of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of
one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare.”
John preached a message of repentance.
Prepare.
When we make
confession and repentance an intentional act, we spend (or we should
spend) time preparing. For what are you repenting? Whom have you
harmed? How have you strayed from God? We must prepare ourselves to
answer these questions.
We must also be prepared to live a new
life. Are you prepared to make amends? Are you prepared to make
restitution? Are you prepared to change your behavior? John
probably knew that the Pharisees and Sadducees were not prepared to
do so.
That preparation leads us to new life.
But life, being what it is, will find a way to distract us. It will
find a way to turn us from God. It will find a way to cover us with
stuff which we need to get rid of. This is the purpose of confession
and repentance – to prepare again and again to put the old self to
death and to prepare again and again to live a life worthy of God.
So that “gathering the wheat but
burning the chaff with unquenchable fire” thing Mark records John
saying to the crowds? Know this: that isn't a linear event where we
can look forward to one of two outcomes. Chaff is the outer shell,
or husk. The inner wheat is what is gathered in to God. As we move
through life we collect stuff, we create outer shells to protect our
inner selves. Every once in awhile we need to have that chaff
separated from us and burned away. This is a cyclical event.
Prepare. Live. Prepare. Die. Prepare. Live.
Once again we are at the beginning of
the Church year. Once again we are at the beginning of the cycle.
We have stepped into Advent, the time of year when we once again
prepare for the coming of our Lord.
Advent reminds us that we are living in
the both/and, the already and not yet, the linear and the cyclical.
We are preparing for the coming of our Lord who has already arrived
but not yet come. We are living in a linear world that is intent on
rushing us from here to there, while we also remain tied to a
cyclical cycle in which we prepare, live, prepare, die, prepare, and
live.
This Advent, may you remember that the
burning of the chaff isn't a condemnation but a cleansing. And maybe
more importantly, may you remember that if the pressures of this
linear world become too much, you can come and be wrapped in the
cyclical nature of the Church, where what we do year in and year out,
over and over again, provides a sense of stability, comfort, and
love.
May you have a blessed Advent where you
prepare once again to hear the message of the Angels and experience
the Incarnation of God in this world.
Amen.
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