The First Sunday of Advent

Christ’s command today “Do not let your hearts become drowsy through carousing or drunkenness” reminds me of what Dan Berrigan, a Jesuit priest, called “the wasting disease of normalcy.”

The wasting disease of normalcy can dull our senses that there truly is a spiritual reality. We live in a world that doesn’t have much use for the life of the spirit or belief in grace. The idea that a spirit outside of us can step into history and make a difference seems like a childish fairytale to our neighbors or a naive, medieval dream. God may be real, our coworkers will allow us that, but the idea that God is here, an actor in history, is fantasy. Let God stay in the church, in the sanctuary. Out here, in the real world, God cannot save you–only the American dollar. The dollar runs our lives: surely you cannot pay your rent in prayers or your grocery bill in grace. Work for your living and pray if you like, in the quiet of your room or your home or your church. Do not live a life that challenges us to believe in something greater than material comfort or financial security. In our 401Ks we trust.

But the Incarnation is God’s great eruption into history: God is not content to leave us orphan, to let us suffer in the darkness. Christmas is God’s theophany: Emmanuel—God with us, here, in the story of the world, in the story of our lives.

So as we prepare for Christmas this Advent season, let us call to mind whatever hopes we have for our Savior: and let us trust that Christ indeed, truly, really can save us. Let us place our trust in the God who fulfills his promises. And those promises are promises that a paycheck can never cash in on: the mighty cast down from their thrones, the hungry fed, the homeless housed around a hearth, peace: peace that the world cannot give.

December 2nd, 2024