1st Sunday of Advent, Year C
Jeremiah 33:14-16, Psalm 25, 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2, Luke 21:25-28 and 34-36
I am a little sad to leave behind the beautiful readings in the liturgies of the end of the year, of these last weeks, especially. They paint the most beautiful, live pictures of heaven. So many people, too many to be counted exactly, some dressed in white, some dressed as priests, around the throne where the Ancient of Days is seated, with the throne of the Lamb next to him, all singing new hymns and prostrating themselves before them, with incense and prayers before and after every great act of victory over evil, all its former attractions gone. And the angel kindly explaining to John and to us who and what exactly.
So full of motion and ceremony, wonderfully alive. It makes me want to say to John: “Tell the angel it is wonderful to be here, and we shall build a tent.” Surely the angel will tell him to tell me, “Tent? No, this is home, no need for tents anymore. You have arrived.” I imagine me offering my forehead to be written on, like the others, with the Lord’s name. For here, in the new Jerusalem where there is no need for the light of the sun or the light of a lamp, for the Lord is the lamp of that city, built on the foundations of the apostles and the prophets, with streets of gold and walls of precious stones, all tears are wiped away and here is peace and happiness to the full.
I am sad to leave it all behind. For I am still here, not there.
But I am comforted, because a whole new batch of beautiful is waiting on us. Especially from the great prophets, repeating to us the promises of the Lord. As if to say to me, to you, “Yes, you have not arrived yet, your Jerusalem is full of destruction and violence and there is no peace to behold.” But the Lord promises that “the days are coming.” He promises more than what I could ask, for one day he will come and he will bring a peace that the world cannot give. And when he is lifted up from the earth, he will draw all people to him.
“Comfort, comfort my people,” is what we will hear from in the coming days of preparation, for the prince of peace is coming, wonderful counsellor, the mighty God. He will come.
So, I can take my tent down and travel alongside you, brother and sister, alongside them and the others on the pilgrim’s road. For the promises of the Lord and the visions of John and the examples of the holy men and women of all tongues and peoples and nations will carry us, carry me forward to the land of our Father, the land for which we long. For here we are all but foreigners, migrants, homeless, people on the margins, poor.
Come, walk with me. We are going home. And we will make turns at night to watch while others sleep, so they can watch when we sleep, so that we can be ready together, for the Lord comes, he comes to rule the world. Let us stand tall, hold our heads high, because our liberation is near at hand.