To stand up and raise our heads
Advent 1C: Jeremiah 33:14-16, Psalm 25:1-9, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, Luke 21:25-36
One weekend in Sarasota we had house guests: my sister-in-law Nora and her (and Katherine’s) longtime childhood friend, Patty, who has lived in Florida for many years. In the middle of the night my cell phone sounded a shrieking alarm. I couldn’t figure out the reason for the alarm, but I got it turned off. I told Katherine everything seemed to be ok and we started to go back to sleep. A moment later, Patty was wide-eyed and standing in our doorway. “That was a tornado alert. You can’t ignore that!” We all got up and with the dog huddled together in a hallway for about 40 minutes.
The next morning we learned that a tornado had touched down about 5 miles away doing extensive property damage. Farther away, a tornado had touched down in a mobile home park and killed two people.
There have been alarms and warnings going off all our lives. We would like to turn them off. It’s hard to believe we can do anything but huddle together, hide and worry.
Jesus’ words this Sunday are alarming. But I don’t think their purpose is to frighten us. He warns us to get our attention and encourage us. “When these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” As sure as leaves come back to the trees in the spring, the realm of God is near. So, be on guard, be sober, be alert.
As the collect says, “put on the armor of light.”
There are real dangers in the world, especially for the most vulnerable among us. We are not helpless in the face of them. So many people have stood up, raised their heads, put on the armor of light and made a difference.
To remind myself of the people I knew of who made a difference, just in my lifetime, I made a list. I thought about laws, cases and movements. But that’s only one list. What about science, medicine and the humanities? So many people and so much courage to be grateful for. They have brought us closer to a world in which peace, justice and righteousness is more real for more people.
There are setbacks. There are moments of darkness. Yea verily, sometimes there are long stretches of darkness. But Advent faith holds tightly to the belief that there is a light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. May that faith encourage us to stand up, raise our heads and put on the armor of light.
Peace.
Photo by Oussema Jbeli on Unsplash
Thanks so much Lily. So helpful to read this.
Thank you, Lily.