First Sunday of Advent - Year A

Welcome to the first week of Advent. It’s a season of waiting for the Christ who is always coming at an “unexpected hour.” As is our practice during Advent, we will sit in what we call the “waiting rooms of Christmas.” Together, we will wait for the always-coming Christ. Fair warning, these are difficult rooms to occupy: apocalypse, wilderness, prison and public disgrace.

As always, Advent begins in the Apocalypse. It is perhaps the most terrifying of the waiting rooms. Apocalyptic literature points to the cataclysmic end of the world as we know it. In this week’s text, Matthew uses metaphors of floods and thieves to evoke our apocalyptic imaginations. But the end of the world comes in all shapes and sizes, from personal catastrophe to national and global meltdowns.

In all cases, the apocalypse taps into our most primal fear: the fear of death. When unleashed, our fear of death terrorizes our entire being. It turns us into little death machines that project our fear on to everything we see. We quickly fall prey to the primal instincts of fight, flight, or freeze. There’s a reason the most frequently repeated command in all of Scripture is, “Do not fear.”

Learning how to occupy this waiting room with hope is not merely a sentimental prayer practice for the holidays; it’s essential for the survival of our species. In a world ruled and run by apocalyptic fear, we ask for the grace to see and celebrate Good News amidst the ruination of all we hold dear. Something like this is the meaning of Advent hope.