In A Word: Watch

Advent is here! This is the season in the Christian calendar where we wait with hopeful expectation for the birth of Christ, and it is my favorite one of them all. Christians observe the seasons of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and the Sundays after Pentecost, also called "Kingdomtide" or "Ordinary Time."

We begin with Matthew 25: 36-44, which encourages us to "watch out" for Christ's coming. Take a moment to read that as we begin the season of Advent together.

Until I became a pastor, I had no clue that this season was my favorite one. Now, I am reflecting on why that is the case for me. Why is Advent so meaningful to me? I love to be excited, and waiting builds the anticipation and energy for me. Advent is a time of waiting, and it is a hopeful, expectant waiting. For me, Advent is a metaphor for life with Christ. All my life, I want to hopefully wait for Christ to burst onto the scene, bringing about peace, joy, and love. I want to pursue Christ, to find Christ in the world.

Where this metaphor falls short, is that Christ is already here. We are no longer waiting for Christ, but expecting Christ to be here with us...and he is. We are no longer unsure if the prophecies are true, that God would send a savior to the world. It has happened. And it keeps happening, over and over again.

This season, Advent comes at a tenuous time for Americans. Coming off the heels of a divisive presidential election, we could use some hope, love, joy, and peace. We need this reminder that God breaks through this world, and all of the things that divide it, and gives us a Savior.

This Thanksgiving, we have so much to be thankful for...our freedom in this country and through Christ, our friends, family, health, and the gift of life.

At the same time, this is not a perfect world full of perfect people. We need Christ. Many people seek hope, joy, peace, and love in the form of justice. Right now, thousands of people are standing with the Sioux Tribe of Standing Rock in North Dakota to seek justice. Many Christians have gone to preservation to stand with the tribe, who face the depletion of their water supply through the proposed Dakota State Pipeline. So, on this Thanksgiving, as we have much to be thankful for, do not forget that these Native Americans, and their friends, are fighting for their life. We need Christ in this world.

And the good news is that Christ has come. Not to make everything perfect, but to stand with us. Even as many stand with the Sioux tribe. Christ has come to show us this sort of love...a love that seeks hope, joy, and peace. As God has loved us by providing us with Christ, offering us salvation through relationship, we, too, may share in love with others.

So, we watch out for Christ...we follow Christ, letting God lead us into those places that need hope, joy, peace, and love.

Prayer*:

O God, whose will is justice for the poor and peace for the afflicted, let your urgent voice pierce our hardened hearts and announce the dawn of your kingdom. Before the advent of the One who baptizes with the fire of the Holy Spirit, let our complacency give way to conversion, may oppression give way to justice, and from conflict may there be acceptance of one another in Christ. We ask this through the One whose coming is certain, whose day draws near: your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


*Adapted from the United Methodist Book of Worship, 252.


In Christ,

Jack