THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

[cappie]

The Season of Advent is perhaps both confusing and inspiring. In it, we anticipate both the coming of the Christ child at the first Christmas and the second coming of Jesus at the end of the world. It is a season in which the readings focus on the sometimes-harsh reality of the world and the hopeful dreams of the kingdom to come. In Isaiah, the image of the wilderness as transformed by God’s hand is described quite vividly:

Dreams: that is what Advent is about; that is what being a Christian is about. The Isaiah and Matthew passages today called the people of those times to dream of escaping the wilderness. They challenged those people and us today to be messengers, to be prophets, to be dreamers of a better world. The question that is timeless and universal is, how do we keep our faith, our hope and our dreams when we fall into a wilderness?

We live in a world which worships success, power, wealth and beauty. We live in a world of expectations that are sometimes difficult, if not impossible to meet. As Christians, we realize that many of these standards and expectations are not consistent with Jesus’ life and ministry; they do not promote love, justice, and compassion, but rather lead us into the wilderness of greed, deception, and selfishness.

How do we keep our faith, our hope, and our dreams in the midst of a secular world that is a wilderness of greed, injustice, and hate?

The answer is prayer, study, worship, community and service.

If a parish church is at its best, if it is faithful to Christ's call, it will provide the environment to bring its members out from the wilderness.  It will nourish members by the Sacrament, the liturgy, and the preaching of the Word.   This is why regular attendance at worship and participation in the programs of the Church are so important. This is how Christ's people are fed and strengthened for the journey through the wilderness.

What are your dreams this Advent season? What is your image of the realm of God? What are you doing to make those dreams become reality?
As members of a parish community, of a diocese,  as followers of Christ, all are called to work and pray to bring about a world that fulfills the ministry of Jesus Christ. What does this world look like?

It is a world described by three words: love, justice, and compassion. In the context of today’s society, this is a big dream. But those who share this dream are in good company. 

Throughout the ages, there are prophets and messengers who have held onto this dream and have given their lives to bring love, justice, and compassion to a world that rejected those values. From St Francis to the heroes of the Social Gospel movement such as Mary MacKillop, to those who struggled for civil rights such as Dr King there have been people in the Church who have devoted their work and lives to proclaiming love, justice, and compassion in the name of Jesus.

Advent is the time to renew our dreams and to resolve to work to make those dreams become real. If we are to accept the challenge of being followers of Christ, we must be dreamers, and we must be doers as well. Being a Christian means that we are vitally engaged in bringing the love, justice, and compassion of Jesus to the wilderness of this world. We must be prophets, messengers and ministers of the Good News of Jesus.

Our dreams are precious. In good times and bad, our vision of a better world, a world in which we experience God’s justice and mercy, is what gives us hope and confirms our faith. Advent is the time that calls us to dream of the future coming of Christ, because we know that Jesus came to us once before. We know that the God incarnate came into a world that was sitting in darkness, a world lost in the wilderness, in the form of a vulnerable child; a child so poor that, like so many of today’s children, he had no place to lay his head.

Let us be messengers and ministers of God’s love, justice, and compassion in all that we say and do.