1 Advent/Year B
Pledge In-Gathering Sunday
Dec 3, 2023
Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37
Opening Prayer: (Church of Scotland)
O Advent God, come to us we pray.
Enter our hearts this day, as we worship, bring our prayers and our praise to You.
As we light the candle of hope in our hearts, may we hold the small flickering flame throughout this week.
May the flame of Jesus Christ's love stay within us, and be close by us. Amen.
Today, on this 1st Sunday of Advent…we light a candle of Hope on the Advent Wreath…and as we begin the season of Advent, a time of preparation and expectation for the coming celebration of our Lord's nativity, and for the final coming of Christ “in power and glory”, I can’t think of a better way to begin this new season and new church year than with this prayer I just opened with…a prayer asking God to enter our hearts, anew this day, lighting a candle of hope in our hearts, and praying for the love of Jesus Christ to abide in our hearts…
I wonder how our hearts and minds and daily lives would be transformed, if we set aside a few moments in the morning, every day, to pray this simple prayer…before we even got out of bed…before we turned on the daily news…before we jumped right in to the work of the day…before our own thoughts of worry and fear about all that is going wrong in the world had a chance to grab hold of our hearts for the day…
Imagine...one simple prayer intention …to begin our day…that lights a way for hope and love to grab hold of our hearts….to grab hold our lives…to grab hold of our minds…to grab hold of all that we say and do…
Imagine…one simple prayer intention…at the noon of the day, at the eve of the day, at the end of our day… that lights a way for hope and love to grab hold of our hearts….to grab hold our lives…to grab hold of our minds…to grab hold of all that we say and do…
I wonder if a prayer practice such as this...would help us “keep awake” in this season of Advent…as we wait and watch with an expectant hope for the coming celebration of our Lord's nativity, and for the final coming of Christ “in power and glory.”
Those words, “keep awake” in today’s gospel jumped out at me…Jesus didn’t just say it once, but a few times, in today’s parable about the landowner going away on a journey and commanding the doorkeeper to keep watch, to keep awake…
At the conclusion of the parable, Jesus instructs the disciples, “Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”
Michael Toy, a Ph.D. candidate in Religious Studies at a University in New Zealand…says “this is an impossible task. One cannot keep constant vigilance without fatigue. And yet, three times in this passage, Jesus instructs his disciples: Keep watch.
He goes on to shed more insight and context to this parable in the words of New Testament Scholar Leroy Huizenga:
Leroy points out that this injunction in Mark 13 to keep watch is literarily connected to the events that unfold in the Garden of Gethsemane one chapter later.
The temporal pattern of the owner’s return is not of a twenty-four-hour system but of evening, midnight, cockcrow, or dawn. This four-part division of time mirrors the events of Jesus’ final night: the last supper in the evening, the arrest in the night, denial by Peter at cockcrow, and delivery to Pilate in the morning. Furthermore, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus (three times) tells his close disciples to keep watch with him. And (three times) they fail. They fail to stay awake with him in his final hours.
Keeping watch does not mean paying attention so one can be “in the know” about what is happening or what will happen next. The call to be watchful, alert, and aware is an invitation into the unfolding divine mystery. This mystery is somehow personal yet universal, offering glimpses of a boundless God amongst a groaning creation.
So, as we embark on the journey through the season of Advent…the call to be watchful, alert and aware is an invitation into the unfolding divine mystery…
We are invited to wait and watch with an expectant hope for the coming celebration of our Lord's nativity, and for the final coming of Christ “in power and glory.”
We are encouraged to take on a new or renewed spiritual practice by rooting our lives in prayer, at the break of the day, at the noon of the day, at the eve of the day, at the end of the day…
Prayer asking God to enter our hearts anew, to light a candle of hope in our hearts, and to pray for the love of Jesus Christ to abide in our hearts…Prayer that lights a way for hope and love to grab hold of our hearts….to grab hold our lives…to grab hold of our minds…to grab hold of all that we say and do…
Prayer that will renew and strengthen our call as the church to be an “Outpost of Hope” in our communities…
Closing Prayer/Hymn: (H) 482
1 Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,
whose trust, ever child-like, no cares could destroy,
be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,
your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.
2 Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,
whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,
be there at our labors, and give us, we pray,
your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.
3 Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,
your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace,
be there at our homing, and give us, we pray,
your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve of the day.
4 Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,
whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm,
be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,
your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, Alaska