Advent 1, Year B
The Rev. Rob Fisher
St. Dunstan’s, Carmel Valley

 Texts: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Today is the first day of the new year in the church—the first day of Advent.

• change in season

Looking back on the year its been, one remarkable thing is that we have had not one but two predictions of the end of the world.

Apparently, neither of them came true.

 This was embarrassing news for the small branch of Christianity that was hoping for the end to come, and who had quit their jobs to prepare.

(Some die-hard Giants fans noted that if it had happened the Giants would have been World Series champs for the rest of all time, which now is unlikely.)

This is not the first time the end of the world has been predicted.

Discussions of the end times are naturally a sore topic for many because my end times—when I get saved and go to eternal glory—might conflict with yours!

• Mormon tent in heaven joke

But we cannot know the day or the hour.  Really, we are not even able to know what to expect exactly.

And in the meantime, we are left to wait in the now.

***

• Tidepools!

• Time and season.
• What was a good time for little kids and for naturalists was not a very good time for crabs and star fish and sea anemones, which were being stepped on over and over, etc.
  • Sometimes a season that is good for one person is exactly the opposite for another person.

The Psalmist calls out “Show us the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved!”

The Psalmist is calling for the light that shines on darkness, and dispels it.

Isaiah 64 comes from a time and place when the people were suffering, like starfish out of their comfort zone, waiting and praying for the tide to come back in, and to do so quickly!

Hear again the words of the prophet, speaking to God on behalf of the people, saying: “O, that you would tear open the heavens and come down!”

He goes on to say:

“…We all fade like a leaf.

“And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

Our lives are fleeting.

***

We long for permanence.  We wish we could stop ourselves and the world around us from changing.  But we are more like leaves than like rocks.  We change year to year, moment to moment.  Like the tide, we rise in the morning, and we go down to rest in the evening every single day.  We are never static.

Why do we long for permanence

…when we are built for the opposite?

Perhaps it’s part of our longing for God.

Because God is permanence.

So, think about it!  If we are like Grass, and God’s Word is permanent—what does it mean that God took the form of man?  The permanent took the form of withering impermanence

***

The lesson from Mark is called “Mark’s mini-apocalypse.”  And it is a description of the end of this era.

An anticipation of what’s coming.

Advent means anticipation—adventure—waiting for what is coming.  Soon and very soon we are going to see the king.

It is a pregnant time.

Specifically the adventure and the waiting is in waiting for Jesus to arrive—Mary’s pregnancy is about to bring great things for all humanity, not just that one family.

It is a great period of expectation.

A reminder, too, that you can’t make the future the present.

All you can do is make yourself ready.

Sometimes it is very hard to be in the moment while in expectant times.  It can sometimes be hard to wait.

Often, during these times, the best kind of prayer is the “prayer of the three deep breaths.”

It takes no words.

By simply breathing, you can recall that you are loved in every moment by God, who understands the ups and the downs of every change in tide.

It goes against the immediacy that the world worships.  It’s countercultural to savor the waiting

…to enjoy the expectation.

…to enjoy the not-yet time.

Because good things are coming.

The king is coming, who will be God in man,

…the eternal coming into the now,

 God with us, Emmanuel.  —Amen.