During this Advent season, the New Testament gospel text that we often hear in the Christian church is Jesus admonishing his disciples, and thus us, to eagerly anticipate his coming again. He calls on them to pay attention and to “keep awake” because they do not know when he will come again.
In short, what I hear Jesus saying is that we must live on our tiptoes, trusting that at any hour of the day or night if our eyes are open, we might see Jesus coming among us. The question is, “Will we even notice when he comes?”
With regard to Christ’s coming again, Barbara Brown Taylor, the Episcopal priest and college professor, says: "I have often thought that the second coming would be wasted on me, because I have such a set notion about how it is supposed to be: the Son of Man, riding a white horse with wings right out of the clouds — touching down on the White House lawn, maybe, or the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. Only what if he comes as a Guatemalan Indian on a burro, or a Tibetan exile on a yak? What if he comes out of the housing projects of Richmond on a broken-down bicycle with dreadlocks down his back? Stranger things have happened after all. 'Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?'"
No one expected Christ to come 2,000 years ago as a baby, born in poverty and worshipped by shepherds. So what if his coming this year is not in the clouds in power and great glory like we have imagined?
How and when will Christ come in spirit to you this 2021 Advent and Christmas? We really do not know, but perhaps he will come to you:
- In the homeless child in the dinner line at Allied Churches;
- In the baby that smiles at you in church;
- In an Afghanistan refugee family you supported in resettlement in your community;
- In the woman in the nursing home that sheds a tear as you come to visit her;
- In the co-worker that suddenly opens her life to you so you see her hurt and need;
- In the stranger in the long checkout line at Target that smiles through it all and wishes you a happy holiday;
- Perhaps in the hug of your child who normally talks back and refuses to do what you ask.
And so Jesus says to his people "stay awake". For if you don't, you may miss the best thing that has ever happened to you in your life.
But we tend to fall asleep. You know the feeling. Maybe it's 2:30 in the afternoon, and the meeting is lumbering on. Lunch was heavy, and the sun has made the conference room warm.
Or it might come on you at an evening concert. The music is wonderful, but you were up at 5:30 that morning. Why, it even happens in church! Suddenly, your eyelids seem to have lead weights pulling them down. You muster your will. "Stay awake, you fool," you mutter to yourself. "Can't fall asleep during the partner's report, for goodness sake." "These tickets were $75 a pop, and you really wanted to hear this piece." But you know how it is, that warm wave of sleep at the wrong time in the wrong place.
We need a double shot espresso. We need a caffeinated Christianity that will keep us awake and make us be ready even in these depressing days of the COVID pandemic.
One of my favorite things to do wherever I am is to discover the local coffee shop. I always find it fun to see what the local special brew tastes like. One of my favorite national chains is Caribou Coffee. There are four in the Chapel Hill and Durham areas. Walking into a Caribou Coffee is a sensual experience — the aroma of the beans, the fireplace aglow, the architecture with lots of wood and stone. They also sell T-shirts. Their signature T-shirt has the company logo on the front, a caribou, and on the back is the motto of Caribou Coffee which reads: "Life is short, stay awake for it!"
During this Advent season, those are good words for us: "Life is short, stay awake for it!" The living presence of Christ may come to you if you are awake, open, generous, kind, compassionate and caring. Is that not the yearning of our hearts?
Ron Shive is the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church, which worships on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 508 W. Davis St., Burlington. Info: www.fpcburlington.org.
