Welcome to our first ecumenical midweek Advent service of the year. This week, Pastor Daniel Flucke of St. Peter Lutheran Church shares an Advent message about anticipation, and Pastor Joan Thomas of the Greene, Clarksville, and Shell Rock UMC Yoke and First Presbyterian Church of Greene shares some special music.
On Sunday afternoon, I asked my online Bible study group what words come to mind when you think of Advent, and the word I got back was, “Waiting.”
Advent is a season of waiting. The symbol for this season is the advent wreath, and of course, we attach all sorts of meaning to it and we give each candle a name, like the hope candle and the joy candle, or maybe the shepherd’s candle and the prophecy candle. All that is fine, but at its core, the Advent wreath is just a clock, which makes it the perfect symbol for this season.
So what are we waiting for? To use our theme word for today’s service, what is it we’re anticipating?
Well, first of all, we’re waiting for Christmas. That’s what the four candles are counting down to. Christmas is 24 days away. We’re anticipating getting to celebrate the good news of Jesus’ birth, the good news of God entering into our world, coming to live among us.
The celebrations you’re anticipating this year will look a little different, with online church on Christmas Eve and staying safe by avoiding big holiday meals, but the story is still the same. Three and a half weeks from now, we’re going to celebrate Jesus’ birth.
But there’s another level of Advent waiting as well, a more cosmic sort of anticipation. We’re waiting for the Kingdom of God to be made real among us. We are anticipating the eternal reign of God. It’s harder to count down to the end of this world, because as Jesus tells us, we don’t get to know the day or the hour when it’s coming. We don’t know if it will happen in our life time or not, but we know it will happen, and we know it will be good, better than anything this broken, sinful world can offer.
Listen to the preview given to us by the prophet Isaiah. This is Isaiah 2, verses 1-4.
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
And again, from Revelation 21, from the vision of John:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’
Sisters and brothers in Christ, this is what we have to look forward to. This is what we are anticipating in the season of Advent, a time when God will dwell with God’s people, when there will be no more tears or suffering, no more cancer or covid, no more war or car crashes or famine or hurricanes, a time when all nations will come to God’s house to worship forever around the throne of Christ the King.
The challenge, of course, is that we’re not there yet. Isaiah and Revelation are giving us a preview of coming attractions.
One of my favorite theological words is “liminal” – do you know the word “liminal”? It’s a great theological word to know. Liminal means “in-between.”
A liminal space is a threshold, like standing in a doorway. It’s the word for the “crossing over space,” like the part of the airport before passport control, when you’ve landed in the country, but you’re still waiting to be let in. We’re reaching a liminal time of the pandemic, where there will be vaccines approved and available, but not everyone will get them and it will be a while before everything returns to normal, or forms a new normal.
Liminal space is where you can see your goal, you can anticipate what’s coming, but you can’t quite touch or taste it yet, a place where the borders are thin. The season of Advent is a liminal season, because we know what’s coming.
We can anticipate the Christmas celebration, but the countdown isn’t finished yet. We can imagine what it will be like when these promises of God’s reign are fulfilled, but we are not living in heaven yet. The rose is growing, but hasn’t yet bloomed.
We’re in this in-between, liminal time, where we know the end of the story, we know the tomb is empty and Jesus has defeated death, and yet death is still a reality around us. This is Advent, the time while the light is dawning.
Beloved of God, as you experience this season, as you live in the now-and-not-yet liminal space of Advent, lean in to the anticipation. Hold on to the promises.
While you anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ birth, look for ways God’s kingdom is being born among you in this world, here and now, even in this strange year of 2020. Look for the thin spaces where God’s kingdom is breaking in. And know that in this liminal season of waiting, God is with you.