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What Are You Waiting For? November 27, 2016

First Sunday of Advent

Alan Claassen

Do you remember that old Curtis Mayfield song?

People get ready, there’s a train a comin’. Don’t need no ticket you just thank the Lord. You just get on board.

I remembered that old song while I was thinking about this first Sunday of Advent and what it means to be waiting with a sense of expectation, waiting in one place and expecting to be carried to some other place. What it means to be doing nothing, really, other than standing in a place of expectation and readiness. Like waiting on a train platform for your train to come. You hear the trains approaching and [one by one as trains arrive, you say]

No, not that. I am not going to Tucson. No, not that one, I am not going to despair. No, not that one. I am not going to tolerate fascism. Yes, that one! That’s my train. The one that’s bound for glory for all humankind.

What does it mean to be actively waiting, waiting with anticipation to move or be moved? This question reminded me of a line from Will Rogers, that rope-twirling trickster from Oklahoma who said:

Even if you are on the right track, if you are not moving, you are going to get run over.

It isn’t enough to be waiting in the right place but sitting still. And that reminded me of a story from former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. As Justice Holmes saw the train conductor approaching asking for passengers’ tickets, he began to search his pockets for his own train ticket. By the time the conductor got to his seat, Justice Holmes was quite flustered saying, “I am sorry, Mr. Conductor, but I can’t seem to find my ticket.” The conductor responded, “Oh, Justice Holmes, that’s quite alright. I can trust you.” Justice Holmes replied, “I appreciate your trust, Mr. Conductor, but you see the problem is that without that train ticket, I don’t know where I am going. My destination is printed on the ticket.” It isn’t enough to be moving; you need to know where you are going.

People get ready, there’s a train a’comin’. What are you waiting for? What train are you waiting for? Where do you want to go? Are you ready to be moved to someplace new, beyond your expectation but within your imagination and your need to hope?

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On this first Sunday in the beautiful season of Advent, we find in the Book of Isaiah a dream for a better way. The Gospel of Matthew also speaks to us of this future world. Both readings set the context for a world in need of a radical new beginning.

Isaiah 2:1-5 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say,“Come, let us go up to Yahweh’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob; that we may be instructed in God’s ways and walk in God’s path.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

God will judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.

O house of Leah and Rachel and Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of Yahweh! ________________________

Matthew 24:36-44 But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the son, but only the Creator. 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 then 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.

The Latin root of Advent is a word that means “coming.” Advent means “toward the coming.” Advent is preparation for the coming of Jesus to the world – then in the past, now in the present, and later, in the future.

(Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan The Last Christmas 231)

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Advent is remembering the past, so we can reframe the present, so that we can re-imagine the future. Advent is a reliving in the present of ancient Israel’s hope and yearning that is expressed in that favorite Advent hymn.

O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

We look at so many lives today and see humanity in a time of exile – captive, mourning, lonely, longing. And in our Scriptures, we remember that the great new insights into the nature of the divine-human connection were born out of that suffering, and we wonder what is being born now in this time of so much suffering that gives us hope. What are we looking for?

And so the first reading for the season of Advent is an open-eyed and honest look at how things are in our world, in the world today: violence in our cities, escalation of war, a loss of faith in governments’ ability to govern, and a justifiable fear that many corporations are running this world, and they are running it into the ground.

The Scripture readings that always begin the season of Advent name those things that are broken in our world. They were broken for the Jewish people living in exile in Babylon. They were broken at the time that Jesus came into his world as a subject of the Roman Empire. The Scriptures call for a radical shift that comes about from a desire for God to intervene in a world that has fallen apart. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, in their book The First Christmas refer to this desire for intervention as the “Great Divine Clean-up.” It is not that the world is coming to an end. It is time for the corrupt, greedy, and violent practices of merchants and governments to come to an end.

It is as if humanity has hit rock bottom and so has begun the first step of a twelve-step program like that of Alcoholics Anonymous. We are called to admit that we are powerless over the mess that we are in. And in that honesty the potential for a new force of energy and healing is released, anticipated, prayed for, received. In that honesty is our source of hope. That hope becomes our source of gratitude, helping us find the support of companions, a re-dedication to our calling, and alignment with our deepest values.

As we read the Bible we see that this yearning for God to come into our lives and help us begin again has always been a part of the human consciousness. It goes back a thousand years before the birth of Jesus and continues in the hearts of many today.

What are we waiting for? In that very question lies the challenge of Advent, namely that we find the patience to let the new song of hope and peace arise from within us, and that we stop waiting and start singing and working to build the beloved community. Maybe what we are waiting for is that most authentic heart within ourselves, the one that is willing to risk incarnating hope, peace, love, and joy. And for us Advent – this time of hopeful waiting – begins today, immediately following Thanksgiving, the Great Gratitude.

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As we enter into this time of waiting with expectation, I would like to ask you to think about these words written by a friend of a friend of mine, Esther Armstrong.

This year I am struggling. This year I am troubled. For I believe that this season of Advent is calling me into that which feels absurd, impossible, and even dangerous. This year... I am not waiting for the baby Jesus, though that would be a lot more comfortable and safer. But baby Jesus has already been born. He grew up, died, and is risen among us. I am not waiting for the Kin-dom of God to come, though it would be easier if waiting was all that is asked of me. But it isn’t. This year... the Kin-dom of God is waiting for me, and I suspect for you, to take on more fully the character of Jesus. This means I will:

voluntarily relinquish my need to control and my sense of entitlement; let go and be delivered of my insatiable appetite for more and my need for security; seek to shine a light in the darkness; put my life on the line for peace, for the heart of democracy.

This year...the kin-dom of God is waiting for me, and all God’s people, to be non-violent, forgiving, honest, humble, compassionate, and loving. God is waiting for us. And so this Advent I will pray for courage to “live” Jesus, while I hold onto the promises that God has come, God will come again, God will bring deliverance and justice, and the world will be born anew through God’s people.

And so we say to Will Rogers we are on the right track and we are moving. And we say to Oliver Wendell Holmes we found our ticket and we know the destination. And we sing along with Curtis Mayfield we are ready to get on board.

Let us take the risk of incarnation. Let us take the risk of being born again this year in a new understanding of who we are and where we are going. Let us wait with expectation and with patience ... and then get on board. A train platform is not a place to stop; it is a place to get going, toward the coming of the promised One.

Let us live “Adventually.” What do we do while we are waiting? Love one another. And ... oh yes, sing. Sing, a lot!