By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
v25″There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. v26People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. v27Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. v28When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.”- Luke 21:25-28
This Sunday is the beginning of the Advent Season. The Advent season in the Church calendar is composed of four Sundays before Christmas. As usual, Christmas season has started in the Philippines upon the beginning of the ber months. Christmas season in the church calendar only starts on Christmas day. Hence, the four-week prelude should be given its worth and meaning. “Be Ready!” this is the call and theme of Advent. Be ready for what? It is a call for every Christian to be ready to meet the Messiah – not only on Christmas day but also for his eventual coming again as King and Judge to both the living and the dead.
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The First Sunday of Advent service opens with a long Exhortation inviting the faithful to prepare themselves by self-examination of life and conduct by the rule of God’s commandments. This includes acknowledgement of sins before God Almighty with the full purpose of amendment of life, being ready to make restitution for all injuries and wrongs done to others.
These spiritual preparations should include preparation of ourselves to be immersed and involved in the struggles that will not only bring transformation or salvation to individuals but also of the whole community of God’s people.
The Scriptures also tell us that before the coming of the Messiah as Judge and King, there shall be great tribulations and suffering. The advent or coming of Christ is to be preceded by trials – so that those who are true followers of Christ may be separated from the impostors or usurpers. It will be the separation of the sheep and the goats.
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The advent of political upheavals is at hand in our country. The “signs of the times” are very discernable. It is now the time for us to make a stand based on our prayerful examination of the signs of the times. There is no doubt that our country is in difficult and desperate times. Once again the Filipino people is confronted with a grave challenge to make a serious resolution to make a real change in our life as people through the national elections. There is a battle being waged by political colors in various fronts that if we are not vigilant we will fall on the side as collateral victims of a senseless political exercise. Why can t we just become the rainbow? If we do, we shall be the biblical rainbow that augurs hope and verdant future in our life as a nation.
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But there is a deeply personal side to all this as well. Each of us has a heart that longs for things to be better. We want peace, even though much of the world clamors for war. We want justice, even though many tell us to take advantage of every opportunity to get more, though often it means others will have less. Instead Advent calls us to an abundant life that is more spiritual and less material. It invites us to put our faith and trust in God’s mercy and divine intervention. It compels us to have a heart for truth, mercy, and justice, and to find ways and time to work for those things because they are the things God cares most about. We need this spirit of Advent amidst the anxieties perpetrated by this seemingly endless Corona Virus contagion bringing unimaginable misery to the whole human race.
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The Collect prayer for the First Sunday of Advent asks for God’s grace that we might “cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.” There is certainly a moral dimension to this. The secrets we keep, the lies we tell, the hatreds we cherish, the schemes we dream up to get what we want are all in need of being thrown out. But their replacement with light is not automatic. What begins to transform us is our turning from maintenance to mission, from self to others. In a culture filled with ways and web sites on how to do things better for us, we are called to proclaim a mission to others, especially those who do not know or have a relationship with their creator and redeemer. The armor of light should be a visible beacon to those who sit in darkness.
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This Advent season provides us an opportunity to look around at what needs to be put to right, to see how we have failed, and to assess the ways in which we can do better. If prayer has been neglected, now is the chance to begin anew. Whatever our past, God is too willing to look lovingly upon us. His arms are always stretched to welcome us home. There are so many ways in which all of us can improve. Its remarkable how easily we settle for idleness, carelessness and indifference. Our fallen nature is our depression factor, pulling us down and leading us to sin. Above all, this is the time to deepen our friendship with God by thinking of his great love for us in sending his Son as our Savior. It is only fitting that in return we should show our love for him. If we do so our vision of Christ will become clearer and a driving force in our lives.
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The church is not a diversion or a pastime. It is a vivid sign of God’s having entered the world to redeem it. Advent is a good time for us to live like people who are being redeemed. It is a good time to develop new relationships with people outside our walls. Advent is a time for a new beginning, a time to examine our structures and see what helps us to move out in mission and what keeps us from it.
Meeting basic needs is an essential Christian enterprise, but developing relationships is the ultimate one. Emmanuel means “God with us” in a relationship that will totally transform us. There are others seeking this transformation but they don’t know where the door is. We need to show them.
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Advent is not merely a season of preparedness, but a time to let go of everything that stands in our way of receiving God’s gift to us, the gift of Jesus. A lot of tidying up can occur when we reach out to others, perhaps meeting Jesus there for the first time.
To be ready is to be vigilant. The call of Advent Season is to be prepared. The call of the times is the same. Let us then be prepared to the trials and sufferings that the advent of political upheaval shall entail. This is the time then that we should seriously respond to the prayer of our Lord that “we be one.” Let us transcend our ideological and faith persuasions and differences and be one in charting the destiny of our patrimony. But then, our prayer is and should be: “Lord, not OUR WILL, but YOUR WILL be done.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (ECP-BCP First Sunday of Advent Collect)**
