Advent – ‘the day will be sprung upon you suddenly like a trap.’ (Luke 21:34)
One of the more unusual daily occurrences in my own house of late has been ‘checking in’ with the volcanic activity of La Palma. Each evening my six year old finds the live stream of the volcano erupting to see if it is still blasting lava upon the Island. He is amazed at the destructive power of the volcano, and marvels at the multiple camera angles that capture the striking balance between darkness and bright molten lava. Thankfully he, like so many others, is equally concerned at the devastation it continues to cause for the residents.
But it is this image of devastation, of the destructive forces of the world we live in and the world we’ve created that opens the season of Advent. It is rather unsettling in this Sunday’s Gospel to hear Jesus opening with the words ‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.’ (Luke 21:25-26). He warns us that such a day ‘will be sprung on us suddenly like a trap’ (21:34).
At the start of a season of waiting for something truly incredible and magnificent, the Gospel brings us warnings about awaking ourselves to the world and dangles hope. In Jesus’ words later on in the same passage he says ‘stay awake, praying for strength and to stand with confidence’ (21: 35-36). The scholar Denis McBride says that Jesus is painting a glimpse of the future to influence what is happening now. That since the future is determined by those who share responsibility for shaping it, we must be awake to what is happening and allow it to start with us today.
Advent is a journey for us to prepare for Christ’s coming at Christmas. We can begin that by preparing who we are. One of the most intense reads of my life was trying to get to grips with ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’ – an anonymously written classic of spiritual mysticism from the 14th century, it is in no way a cover to cover in a night kind of read. However, it is great for gems when looking at prayer and spirituality. For example, “Lord God, in your mercy do not look at what I am now, nor on what I have been, but on what I desire to be.”. At the heart of this season of Advent is our desire to prepare ourselves, to be the best of me, for the ultimate gift at Christmas.
We only need to flick back to the 2nd reading of this Sunday to see St Paul showing us exactly how important this is: “we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it.” (1 Thes 4:1).
So, at the start of this season of preparation, what is your desire for yourself? Does a great cosmic disaster have to occur to shake you from slumber and be the person you want to be? Can we be realistic about the state of things, whilst concurrently being hopeful?
Mr M Robinson
Lay Chaplain
