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Surprise Visit Mark 13:24 – 37; Psalm 80:1 7, 17 – 19 As one of 11 children in a good Catholic family, Father Andrew Carl Wisdom remembers his mother’s command each Sunday morning for her children to be downstairs and ready for church at 9 o’clock. “Why do we always have to be so early? Church starts at 9:30 and it takes 10 minutes to get there,” he would complain. “We have to be there in time for you to dispose yourself,” she explained. The term, “dispose yourself,” was one that he continued to use through his own ministry as he taught young priests in his work with the Dominicans, mindless to the fact that others had no idea what he was talking about. Week before last I had the privilege of hearing Father Carl talk about preaching and the responsibility of listeners in the dialogue of preachers to congregants. Disposing oneself – his mother taught him – was the act of getting one’s disposition in order and ready to receive and be involved in an encounter with God in worship. Leaving the ‘position’ one usually has and allowing something new to happen; to come in; to replace what has always been there. It does not happen immediately. It is something that takes at least a few minutes, clearing out whatever is consuming one’s mind and heart and allowing space for the entering of something that could and should change one’s life. Is there another way that we ought to be approaching the time of worship? And yet, do we? I confess there are mornings I get in here, having not taken those moments to ‘dispose myself,’ and later wonder how in the world I thought anyone else would be brought into the presence of God if the leader wasn’t prepared. Thankfully, God has other means and other people with whom and through whom to work. Advent is four weeks of ‘disposing of our selves.’ We have some time here, friends, but we have some work to do. Our Gospel passage is a pretty gruesome warning about time. It almost sounds like what we have lived through in the past year. The sun has not darkened, nor has the moon refused its light, and only a few stars — or meteors have fallen in Kansas — but tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes have consumed and sent our world teetering this year. I can imagine there are plenty of folks who are speculating that the END TIMES are near. People in the days of the gospel writer were making those predictions. The political and social turmoil was such that signs were prevalent that the end must be near. People love to predict (second-guess), claiming to know God’s schedule. This behavior didn’t start with the Left Behind series it has been going on for centuries. It is just as useless and ridiculous now as it was centuries ago. However, that does not mean our waiting is without work, our living without purpose, our time without disposing. God has — does — and will break into our lives, making a surprise visit and we need to be as ready as possible for that occurrence. This season is about that readiness — pregnant readiness. Not even half of the people in this sanctuary have been pregnant, and because I want to use this illustration without being exclusive, let me tell you some of the things I know. The best result of a pregnancy is the delivery of a healthy child. That does not occur just because we would wish for it. Thankfully, most women have about 40 weeks after conceiving to do everything possible for the desired result, and still it doesn’t happen all the time. In those weeks, most women get sick, get bloated, get fat, get back and leg aches, can’t sleep, can’t eat certain foods, shouldn’t drink, should take mega vitamins, should get indelicately examined over and over and over — all with the hope of delivering a healthy baby. The pregnant woman and her partner are also trying to figure out what a new child will do to alter their present lifestyle. How much money will be needed: to pay the obstetrical process; the care of this child; the bigger home, larger grocery bill, the educational bills of the future?! How will their time be altered and perhaps consumed by this new life? She is also clearly concerned about the ordeal of the delivery itself — one of the most excruciating and amazing feats of the created universe. Pregnancy is such an apt pattern for Advent even without the obvious connection to Mary’s own mother-to-be condition. This time of Advent should be just as full, as exciting, as painful, as tension-filled, as hopeful, as confusing, as effort-filled as a good pregnancy. Advent is work. Waiting, watching, preparing is work! No matter how good the preparation, no matter how great the pregnancy, no matter the care and planning and dreaming the first moment of receiving the baby in one’s arms or on one’s breast is always a surprise, a fuller, more amazing, more abundant gift than was ever imagined. And that is how it is with God. That is how it will be when this gift of presence, of overwhelming love, of assurance that we are not alone, of forgiveness from all our mistakes and unkind behavior, of being able to bask in the face and heart of God is bestowed upon us. That is what it will be like, and that is what we are taking a season to prepare for, and that is why we are being called to prepare, to watch, to dispose of our old ways, our old patterns, our old behaviors. The season of Advent calls us into a longing for something new, and expectation that God will break through existence as we now know. But God needs us to help prepare the way. It will be a surprise. It will still be a heart opening time and a mind-blowing moment when God breaks through. But if we are prepared and if we have our eyes open, our heart softened, our ears cleared, our lives disposed enough, God will find the moment, the room, the occasion to implant God’s very self. May we get ready for the surprise visit. May we dispose ourselves enough to prepare the room. May we long for the presence of God to break through and transform the life we now know. SW |
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