Homily for 2 Advent B, December 4, 2011

So, where do we start making ready for the coming of the Lord? We start on the inside....

Isaiah announces the deliverance of Yahweh for the people. They have suffered much but “comfort” is coming from God. Literally, the text says to speak "tenderly,” to the heart (the core) of the person).

In our reading from 2nd Peter, the author is Aware that he will soon die, so he leaves his fellow Christians with a testimony of what being Christian demands: how to live up to The Way, so that they may be among the godly when Christ comes again. It was tempting to deny that Christ would come again because early Christians expected the world to end within their lifetimes.

The delay, he argues is only in human terms, for God does not measure time as we do. God wishes all people to be found worthy at the Last Day. Any delay in that event should be taken as more time to get ready.

Mark begins his telling of the “good news” with quotations from the Old Testament. God had promised the Israelites a “messenger” to lead them. The prophet Malachi understood this promise as pointing to the end-times, to one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. To him, the “messenger” would be Elijah. While the echoing of Isaiah’s message was originally spoken of as a return from exile, by Jesus’ time it was seen as an expression of God’s comfort and salvation. To us, John the Baptist comes to fulfill this expectation and lead the people to the Messiah - Jesus.

My sisters & brothers, is being ready for Christ’s return, being ready to celebrate his birth, the same as seeking personal holiness? I believe, on the most fundamental level of our human existence, it is the same thing.

In advent, we reach for a transformation that is focused on becoming more Christ like in our thoughts, affections and our spiritual core. We do this trough prayer, reading the bible in a way that lets the stories move us, spiritual direction and spiritual exercises like “the presence of God."

This practice is about using some mundane task or event that happens many times a day and using it to remind you that God is present with you. maybe each time to you pick up your pen, or reach of the keyboard of your computer, or stop your truck at an intersection.

In this way we open ourselves to the affections of God and having affection for God. Being in love with God is not about being a fanatic. It about growing in that deeper holiness or godliness that some of the older prayers refer to. It’s about a deeper virtue, which changes the very way we feel about life.

My brothers and sisters, this week, I ask you to join me in this practice of "the presences of God." Using some mundane task to remind you that you are with God who loves you enough to be with you at all times and in all places.