The first Sunday of Advent is a threshold moment, beginning of a new season and a new liturgical year. It’s a time to embrace the hope and promise that Christ brings in the midst of the many darknesses and challenges of life.
The gospel for the day acknowledges the challenges and the effect they can have on us:
“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; people dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.”
It’s a bleak picture that has much resonance with what we see going on around us today. In the face of it it’s tempting to give into hopelessness and despair. But Jesus calls us in a different direction:
“When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.”
Instead of despair he calls us to hope, to hang on through the challenges, knowing that they are a sign that the freedom he promises is on it’s way. If I’m honest that feels like a very tall order in today’s troubled world. Yet the gospel offers a way make that a reality. Jesus says:
“Stay awake, praying at all times…”
At the darkest and busiest time of the year Advent invites us to pause. Jesus invites us to stand firm, to keep focussed on him and to allow our anxieties to be stilled as we wait in hope for his coming.
As we start our Advent journey how are you being called to wait in hope?