Advent: A time of the year, a state of mind, a way of being

This year Advent begins on Sunday, November 30, which also happens to be the feast of St. Andrew, the first Jesus called to be a disciple.

We have a beautiful icon of him in the back prayer corner of the church, commissioned by Fr. George Keith in memory of his beloved wife, Joan. She was from a tiny island in Scotland and St. Andrew is the patron of Scotland, also of several other countries.

Advent comes from a Latin word that means “coming.” It used to start earlier than it does now, on November 11, the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, a 4th century Roman soldier who became a bishop and great supporter of the poor, widows, orphans, homeless and ill.

He acted like a one-man resource center and food bank, giving away much of what his church in Tours, France had to those in great need. In a way, he is, along with St. Andrew, St. Nicholas, St. John the Baptist, the Blessed Virgin Mary great examples of what holy waiting for the coming of Christ looks like in action. Isaiah’s writings we use as a way of imagining how for centuries the people of God longed for God’s Anointed, a Messiah who would save them and bring in God’s Kingdom. John the Baptist’s preaching paved the way for this. He even baptized his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, Mary and Joseph’s son to show this was the long awaited one. John stood up for the truth and paid for it with his life, killed by King Herod. St. Nicholas, a contemporary of Martin and a bishop too in what is today Turkey, spent his like giving away the wealth passed over to the church. He is the patron saint of children who wait for him as Santa Klaus to receive gifts. He saved sailors threatened by a storm and also is patron of those who sail the seas. Mary, Jesus mother showed us how to listen carefully to God. She was astonished by the archangel Gabriel’s announcement that she was to have a son, though she was not even engaged, and that he would be the Messiah, the world’s savior.

Where is our place among these wonderful holy ones? We too, today, have to live in expectation but realization as well that the Lord came among us, became a person such as we are, and is still among us. We sometimes think we cannot see Jesus but in fact, he there-- at the food bank, there when clergy and laity accompany immigrants to court in San Diego. He is there when we patiently listen to stories of loss and grief. Jesus invites us to his table, to take the bread and cup and be his friends. Then Jesus sends us home to be his friends all week long. Do we get that?

So Advent is a little tricky, isn’t it? We’re not waiting for the Christmas decorations to be put up. Go to Home Dept, Walmart, Target, any of the shopping malls and stores over in Coachella valley. Santa is already there. Soon we’ll see lights and decorations here in town too. We all look forward to this time, whether for being with family and friends, the gifts, the carols, and some good eating at the dinner. But look around, as Isaiah and John the Baptist might say. The Long-Expected One has come and just never leaves. No worries, it’s not like the aunt who cannot stop telling you what to do or the neighbor who turns “Hi” into 20 minutes of everything’s she seen on TV or read or done in the last week.

Jesus is always welcoming us and wanting to be welcomed by us. Jesus tells you and me, not just at Christmas but all the year through, that we should be aware of who is in need, who could use a hug, of the one we really need to call and make up with.  Such is Advent, more than some days counting down to Christmas. Much more in the way of giving, bringing joy.

~Father Michael Plekon, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, president, BMA



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