First Sunday of Advent, cycle A

MATTHEW 24:37-44
WHEN I WAS IN MEDICAL SCHOOL I WAS PROBABLY A BIT SLEEP DEPRIVED MOST OF THE TIME. WHEN I STARTED, THE COURSE WORK WAS MORE COMPRESSED, CERTAINLY MORE COMPLICATED, AND I HAD TO STUDY MORE THAN I EVER DID IN COLLEGE. AFTER I GOT USED TO THE PACE, I GOT MARRIED, AND SOON WE WERE EXPECTING A BABY, AND I WAS TRYING TO WORK A LITTLE ON THE SIDE. IT IS NO WONDER THAT I HAD SOME DISTURBING DREAMS. ONE OF THE RECURRENT DREAMS WAS THAT I WOULD GO TO A CLASS AND DISCOVER THAT I HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN TO STUDY FOR THE TEST ABOUT TO BE GIVEN. OR, I WOULD COME TO THE END OF THE SEMESTER AND DISCOVER THAT I HAD NEVER ACTUALLY ATTENDED ONE OF THE CLASSES I HAD SIGNED UP FOR. I WOULD HAVE ONE OF THESE DREAMS AND WAKE UP IN A PANIC, AND USUALLY WOULD ALSO WAKE UP MY SOUNDLY SLEEPING WIFE, WHO FOR JUST A MOMENT REGRETTED THAT SHE HAD NOT BECOME A CARMELITE.
THAT FEELING THAT YOU HAVE COMPLETELY MISSED OUT, THAT SOMETHING IS GOING TO END IN TRAGEDY WHEN IT COULD HAVE ENDED IN JOY AND A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT – THAT, IN MY EXPERIENCE WITH MY DREAMS, IS A TERRIBLE FEELING.
THE GOSPEL READING REFERS TO THE PEOPLE OF NOAH'S TIME. THE BOOK OF GENESIS DOESN'T PUT THAT MUCH TIME BETWEEN ADAM AND EVE AND NOAH. IN THE IMAGINATION OF THE HEBREWS AND BY THE RECKONING OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS, NOAH WAS ONLY ABOUT 9 GENERATIONS FROM ADAM. SO THE PEOPLE OF THAT TIME WERE MUCH CLOSER TO THE CATASTROPHIC EXPULSION FROM PARADISE THAN WE ARE. BUT YET, THEY HAD BECOME COMPLACENT; THEY WENT ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS AS THOUGH THERE WERE INFINITE TOMORROWS. AND ONE DAY WHEN NO ONE EXPECTED IT, THERE WERE SUDDENLY NO TOMORROWS.
WE HAVEN'T CHANGED MUCH. AFTER 9/11, WE AMERICANS ALL PUT PARTISAN POLITICS ASIDE; WE ALL RESOLVED TO QUIT QUARRELING AND WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE A BETTER WORLD. WE DUTIFULLY PAID ATTENTION TO THE TERRORISM ALERTS THAT WERE ISSUED BY THE GOVERNMENT – DO YOU REMEMBER THE “COLOR CODE” THAT SEEMED TO BE ON THE NEWS EVERY NIGHT? GUESS WHAT – THE GOVERNMENT STILL ISSUES A DAILY ESTIMATE OF THE LIKELIHOOD OF A TERRORIST ATTACK – BUT WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT OR WONDERED WHETHER TODAY WAS YELLOW, PINK, OR RED?
ONE WILL BE TAKEN, AND ONE WILL BE LEFT. WE HAD A PROFESSOR OF BIBLE STUDIES IN COLLEGE WHO SAID THAT MAYBE THIS IS ALREADY HAPPENING – MAYBE GOD TAKES THOSE WHO ARE PREPARED FOR HIS COMING AND LEAVES THE REST OF US BEHIND. AFTER ALL, HE COULD CERTAINLY ERASE THE MEMORY OF SOMEONE FROM THE MINDS OF ALL WHO KNEW HER.
JESUS SAYS “YOU CANNOT KNOW THE DAY YOUR LORD IS COMING.” THEREFORE, HE TELLS US, WE MUST BE PREPARED.
WE MUST BE PREPARED BY SAYING “I LOVE YOU” TO THOSE WE LOVE. WE MUST BE PREPARED BY PUTTING DOWN THE NEWSPAPER OR TURNING OFF THE TELEVISION SO THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH A CHILD, A PARENT, A SPOUSE, A FRIEND. WE MUST BE PREPARED BY GIVING A LITTLE OF WHAT WE HAVE SAVED TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NOTHING WITH WHICH TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. WE MUST BE PREPARED BY FORGIVING SOMEONE WHO OFFENDED US PERHAPS A LONG TIME AGO. SOME OF US, AND I AM PREACHING TO MYSELF, MUST BE PREPARED BY SETTING ASIDE SOME TIME FOR RECREATION, FOR GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL, FOR RECHARGING BATTERIES.
AND IN ADDITION TO MAKING THINGS RIGHT FOR OURSELVES AND WITH THOSE AROUND US, WE NEED TO BE PREPARED BY DEVELOPING A SERIOUS PRAYER LIFE. BECAUSE THE ONLY WAY WE WILL BECOME CLOSE TO GOD IS THROUGH CONVERSATION WITH HIM. AND WE MUST BE PREPARED BY PARTICIPATING IN THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE – BECAUSE IF WE ARE TO DRAW CLOSE TO GOD, WE NEED TO GET RID OF THE SPIRITUAL BARRIERS BETWEEN US, AND NOTHING DOES THAT AS WELL AS THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE.
JESUS IS COMING. HE PROMISED, OUR CHURCH TEACHES THIS. AND HE IS COMING TOMORROW. IF WE MAKE IT A POINT, WHEN WE GO TO SLEEP EACH NIGHT, TO SAY TO OURSELVES, HE IS COMING TOMORROW, WE WILL NOT BE WRONG. HE COMES IN SOME WAY EVERY TOMORROW, AND IF WE LIVE OUR LIVES PREPARED FOR HIS ENTERING INTO OUR LIFE, AT THAT TIME WE LEAST EXPECT, WHEN THE SON OF MAN PUTS AN END TO ALL THE TOMORROWS, WE WILL BE READY.
BUT IF WE ARE NOT READY, IF WE HAVE LIVED LIKE THE PEOPLE OF NOAH'S TIME, IF WE HAVE FALLEN BACK INTO THE COMPLACENCY THAT BELIEVES THAT THERE ARE ENDLESS TOMORROWS, AND WE HAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO BECOME CONVERTED, TO REFORM OUR LIVES, TO MAKE PROGRESS IN OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH, THEN WE RUN THE RISK OF WAKING UP FROM OUR DREAM REALIZING THAT WE HAVE NOT PREPARED FOR THE TEST, WE HAVE NOT EVEN GONE TO CLASS, AND THERE IS NO WAY TO MAKE IT UP. AND THAT AWFUL FEELING OF LOSS AND FAILURE THAT I EXPERIENCED WHEN I WOKE OUT OF MY NIGHTMARES IN MEDICAL SCHOOL WILL NO LONGER LAST A MOMENT, BUT FOREVER.
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE ADVENT? HOW WILL YOU PREPARE FOR THE COMING OF OUR LORD? WOULDN'T IT BE WONDERFUL IF WE MADE A RESOLUTION TODAY TO TAKE SOME CONCRETE STEP DURING THIS SEASON SO THAT WHEN WE CELEBRATE THE LORD'S BIRTH, WE WILL HAVE SOMETHING TO BRING TO THE MANGER, TO LAY AT HIS FEET. IT MAY BE THE LAST CHANCE WE WILL HAVE. BE READY, BE AWAKE.