Advent: Mystery, Time out of Time, Take a Deep Breath

In our fast paced lives most of us need a reason or an excuse to slow down; to stop, look and listen; to put down our phone, turn off our computer and hide our iPad. For many of us that reason, excuse, opportunity, is the season of Advent. At this time of year, the world is preparing for Santa Clause, parties and dinners, and shopping. Did I mention shopping? At the same time, Christians, when at our best, are taking a deep breath, opening our hearts and souls to mystery and preparing for the coming of Christ. Yes, we do prepare for the coming of a baby, the Christ Child, but it is more than that. In our slowing down we prepare for the mystery of the coming of the Cosmic Christ at the end of time, and for the coming Christ into our hearts to change how we live and move and have our being.

As we breathe deeply and delve into the Advent Scriptures, the mystery of life, love and God envelopes us. Bible Scholars call these readings Apocalyptic; readings filled with mystery, hope and symbolism which say much more to us than mere words can ever say.

Isaiah (64:1-9) prays that “God would rend (tear open) the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at his presence. . . For you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.”

Isaiah envisions a Cosmic God, a God shrouded in mystery, whose power over creation will catch out attention, whose love will overcome God’s own anger. In powerful, symbolic language, Isaiah reminds us, and God, that we are the created and God is the Creator, and that no matter what, no matter what, we are all God’s people, and thus one with each other.

The Gospel of Mark 13:24-37, in what scholars call the “Little Apocalypse” adds to Isaiah’s proclamation with the mystery and the power of Christ’s coming: “In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. . . But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert for you do not know when the time will come.

Thus the New Year, the Christian New Year, begins! Advent is the epilogue and the prologue, moving from the end toward the beginning: Cosmic Christ, to John the Baptist preparing the way, to Mary agreeing to God’s call to be the mother of the Messiah, the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Mighty God the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

So slow down, treasure the mystery, live into the ambiguity, and keep awake!