By the Rev. Barbara Mraz
A strange title for a post from a church, right?
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I’m rooted in much of the popular culture, especially movies, and when I was thinking about the sermon for Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent, 2021, this reference came to mind. Explanation in a minute.
Advent sacramentalizes waiting, and we all have our own list of what we are waiting for: for our heath to improve, for grief to abate, for a great love to enter our life, for anxiety about our family to be manageable. We are waiting for Christmas.
However, Advent is also about preparation, because we do not know what is coming, or when. “Stay awake,” Jesus says, “because you do not know the day or the hour. ”
Usually, this admonition has a dark, ominous tone, and can sound like a warning. However, we also do not know the day or the hour when something good will come into our lives and our job then is to notice it. Or something that is blessing AND tribulation (and both are present in the life of Jesus).
Such times are steeped in irony, like being reunited with an old flame, as in Rick’s Bar in Casablanca, December, 1941.
See you in church — and Happy New Year in church time.
Barbara
