First Sunday of Advent

Lectionary: 2


You, LORD, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever. Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?



Advent and the Christmas Season arrive in our churches today. They seem delayed this year.  Americans observed Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday last week, a long time ago by our standard reckoning. But Americans always rush to get the good things over with and get back to work. We make work of our leisure.
On this special day, Catholics will recognize many familiar signals of Advent's arrival: the four-candled wreath; the wonderful songs, (many still unfamiliar); the collect, "Grant your faithful...."; and the reading from the Prophet Isaiah, "You, Lord, are our father..."
Perhaps the frenetic pace of the world's Christmas has prepared us to enter the church this Sunday morning, sit down, take a deep breath, notice the altered environment, and relax. This will be beautiful.
Even Isaiah's anxious demand sounds familiar, "Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?"
For those who expect the Christian message to be a harangue, this is certainly familiar. But it might be like the habitual reaction of some people upon receiving guests, "What took you so long to get here?" It might not be the nicest, most polite way to greet guests but it's familiar, and there's no harm intended.
Certainly we live in a "Christian" nation that lost its Christian roots a long time ago. I recently listened to a "Christian" podcast that purports to address liturgy in America. In two of its shows there was little mention of Jesus and no reference to the Holy Trinity. They were more interested in the "image of god" as father or mother or genderless benevolence. To the Catholic, these images without reference to the scriptures or the doctrine of the Trinity are just idols. They mean nothing to us.  
Nor did these representatives of different Protestant traditions disagree with one another about anything! They were so agreeable! That seems like intellectual dishonesty; Christians always quarrel about something! But their cool, oh-so-friendly presentation sells their brand of deracinated (rootless) religion to an apparent audience that wants everything nice.
Catholic may be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief upon arriving in the parish church as Advent begins. How refreshing it is to be reminded of our guilt! 
We have wandered from God's ways and hardened our hearts. Because it's true, that's not hard to recognize or admit. Saint Paul stands up on this First Sunday of Advent to remind us,

"you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift...

The secret of Advent, revealed only in some Christian churches, reminds us that these spiritual gifts are not given to everyone, nor should they be taken for granted. We have been sent to our respective nations to pray for our family, nation and world. 

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!