Loving God, you call us to be ready to meet you at all times and to grow in love and in faith and in holiness.  Help us to remove from our lives those things that threaten to separate us from you, and strengthen us by your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

    It is the First Sunday of Advent - the beginning of a new church year - and the beginning always focuses on the end.  The word “Advent” actually means “coming,” and we particularly remember today the promise that Jesus will come again.  Various words and phrases get thrown around: things like the Second Coming, Judgment Day, the rapture, the end of the world, or the end times.  The basic idea is this: At some point in time (which only God knows), Jesus will reappear, and the world as we know it will come to an end, and all will stand before Jesus, who is both Saviour and Judge.  And so, today’s gospel in particular focuses on being ready to meet Jesus.

    Now, as you may have heard, the most recent date for this to occur is some time in 2012, confirmed, of course, last week by Oprah’s big announcement.  (And yes, that is a joke...)  I actually don’t know the details of the predictions, and to me they make no difference.  Anybody who claims to know the date is quite simply lying.  For those who may have missed it a couple of weeks ago, hear again these words from Matthew 24:36: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  We are not going to know ahead of time.  We are to be ready to meet Jesus at all times.

    Actually, for all those who have a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ, this is not a scary thing at all.  As we walk with Jesus in faith and in trust, our faith grows stronger through use, even as love grows in our hearts.  Yet, for those who do not trust in Jesus, all of this can indeed be scary to think about.  As the gospel says, “people will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world” (Lk. 21:26).  And so, we find in today’s readings a recipe for readiness and for strength.

    I invite you for a few moments to focus on our hearts, for this is what today’s readings invite us to do.  In today’s gospel, several things are mentioned that can weigh down or dull our hearts.  These are dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of this life.  We’ll think about drunkenness and the worries of this life in a moment, but first a little bit about dissipation.

    I discovered a number of things related to this word that just made me shake my head and go “wow!”  The Greek word, kraipale, is not used anywhere else in the New Testament, and is variously translated as feasting, eating, and dissipation.  The root words in Greek have the sense of “to toss about the head.”  However, the Latin equivalent, crapula, refers to the giddiness and headache caused by drinking wine to excess.  It seems that too much feasting and drinking will mess with your head and dull your mind and your heart.

    However, the English word, dissipation, suggests a few more things that might weigh down or dull our hearts.  One meaning is wasteful consumption or expenditure, an idea that goes way beyond eating and drinking to over-consumption and over-spending.  Surely this weighs down at least a few hearts!  Dissipation can also mean over-consumption of alcohol or reckless indulgence in pleasure, things that are sure to lead any person away from God.  Finally, dissipation can be an amusement or a diversion – something that is not bad in and of itself, but can become a pursuit in our lives that replaces the truth and the life that is to be found in Jesus Christ.

    What struck me as I looked at the meanings associated with this word is how prominent these things are in so many people’s lives these days.  Dissipation, it seems, is quite common, and is weighing down and dulling people’s hearts, making them oblivious to the presence and power of God and to the life-giving power of Jesus Christ.

    Drunkenness, of course, does the same thing, for fairly obvious reasons.  It dulls the senses and impairs people’s judgment.  When you do not have your wits about you and are not seeing or thinking clearly, you are unable to walk with God or to remain in relationship with God.  Those who are drunk will definitely not be ready to meet Jesus.

    As for the worries of this life, they will also weigh down and dull our hearts and our minds.  We can worry about things and fear the future, or we can focus on the goodness of God and the life that is ours through Jesus Christ.  We can focus all of our time and energy on material things, or we can nourish and strengthen our spirits in the presence of God.  When we are pre-occupied with worries and earthly things, there is no room left for the presence and power of God in our lives.

    And so, today’s gospel warns us to guard against these things that will weigh down and dull our hearts and our minds – things like dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.  Instead, we are advised to be alert at all times and to pray (Lk. 21:36).

    Ultimately, it is prayer that will centre us and strengthen us and solidify our relationship with God.  It is prayer that is given as an alternative to worry – prayer with thanksgiving that leads to the peace that passes understanding (Phil. 4:6-7).  It is prayer that will keep our hearts and our minds in the right place and keep us ready to meet Jesus at all times.

    Today we heard Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians in our second reading, which is also a prayer for us and a recipe for readiness and for strength.  Paul writes, “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all” (1 Thess. 3:12).  This is a prayer for each and every person who is here today.  Increasing and abounding in love and being ready to meet Jesus go hand in hand.  “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all.”  “And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (1 Thess. 3:13).

    Once again, we are invited to focus on our hearts, which need to be strengthened in holiness by God.  This absolutely has to do with allowing the Holy Spirit to be at work in our lives.  We cannot simply decide that we are going to be holy.  Rather, it is always God who makes us holy, beginning at our baptism when God pours out the Holy Spirit upon us.  From that time on, the Holy Spirit is there, ready to work within us and through us, ready to help us to grow in love and in holiness and in trust.

    Actually, we all have an opportunity today to recommit ourselves and to get our hearts in the right place and to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit as we participate in the Affirmation of Baptism.  As you probably have discovered, none of us are perfectly holy or blameless before God – at least I haven’t met anybody yet who fits that description.  Yet, through faith in Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God accepts us as if we are blameless and holy – all because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    Let us then rid ourselves of those things that will only weigh down our hearts, and focus instead on prayer and life in the Spirit.  We do not know the time when the end will come, but when we know the One who gave his life for ours, we have nothing to fear.  Amen.

First Sunday of Advent (C)                    Luke 21:25-36
November 29, 2009                        1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2009 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved