Sister Janet M. Peterworth gave this reflection at St. William Church on Sunday, December 1, 2024:
“Piglet?” said Pooh. “Yes?” said Piglet. “I’m scared,” said Pooh.
For a moment, there was silence.
“Would you like to talk about it?” asked Piglet, when Pooh didn’t appear to be saying anything further.
“I’m just so scared,” blurted out Pooh, “because I don’t feel like things are getting any better. If anything, I feel like they might be getting worse.”
Well, if we’ve been following the scripture readings in recent days, we might feel like Pooh as well. And today’s readings don’t do much to assuage our fears. In today’s Gospel, it will seem like all hell has broken loose—sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, all in an uproar and everyone all over the planet with the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom.
So now what? Well, we wait. I am sure that some of you have read or seen “Waiting for Godot.” And in that work, as they wait, Vladimir says to Estragon, “Well, what do we do?” Estragon replies, “Don’t let’s do anything. It’s safer.”
Is it? Is it safer? Today’s Gospel says no, we must do something while we wait. It challenges us to stay awake! It challenges us not to let ourselves get caught up in parties and drinking and shopping. As we wait, it challenges us to pray! As we wait, we stay alert. We wait because when it finally comes, we want to be ready; we want to stand secure before the Promised One.
And will we be ready? Will we be ready to be the victim of an explosion on Payne Street? Will we be ready for that fatal gunshot at 13th and Oak, or 18th and Broadway, or someplace in Norton Commons? Will we be ready for that heart attack right after we have finished a tennis match or pickleball? Will we be ready when fourth-stage pancreatic cancer has taken hold or lung cancer?
The psalmist tells us that God will guide us and help us through these things. God will take us by the hand and lead us down the path of truth.
Will we be ready when God breaks into our world as a dark-skinned, dark-eyed Jewish baby? Will we be ready when our God comes not sitting on a heavenly throne, but on a lowly donkey? Will we be ready for all those things—all those things that can happen suddenly and without warning, giving us no time to prepare?
From the Message translation: “Don’t fall asleep at the switch. Pray constantly so that through everything that is coming, you will end up on your feet before the Son of Man.”
I think that is why the Church gives us the few weeks of Advent once a year to alert us to the active role of waiting—of preparing. Perhaps Advent is a time to step back, to wait, to prepare, to pray, and to reflect on what—or rather who—has broken into our world. Who has become one of us? In the letter to the Thessalonians, Paul challenges us to “overflow with love for one another and for all people.”
I ended with a story I heard some time ago, and perhaps you have heard it as well. I can’t remember it word for word, so I will give you, my version. It seems a mother was explaining to her young daughter as they put up the Christmas crib, “And see,” the mother said, “This little baby in our crib—well, that baby (a long time ago) was a real baby—and that baby is God.”
With that, the little girl’s eyes widened, and she jumped up, turned in circles three times, clapped her hands, and ran into the living room and put her head under the couch cushion. And the story ends with the author saying, “And that is the only proper response to such a wonderful event.”
So, after we have actively waited and deeply reflected this Advent, when we have tried to be ready; when we have tried to overflow with love for all people; and when we have found the Promised One out there somewhere in our world, then maybe, just maybe this Christmas morning, we, too, can jump up, turn in circles three times, clap our hands, and run into the living room and put our heads under the cushion. It is, after all, a proper response.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.”
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