CEC News and Father Riley's homily for December 1, 2019

CEC News! 

… The Rt. Rev. Bishop Jacob “Jake” W.  Owensby will visit us on Sunday, December 8^th, 10am, to celebrate with us.  A luncheon is planned for all to attend.  Jim & Brenda Funderburg volunteered to organize our Luncheon with the Bishop.  A sign-up sheet for ‘what to bring’ is in the Parish House.  Or, you may contact Brenda or Jim directly at bfun@me.com.

… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist Sunday December 15 @ 10am and Christmas Eve, at 5pm. Please invite others to join us.

… Morning Prayer will be offered Sundays @ 10am December 22 and 29.

…The crèches are in place for Advent.  Watch each week as the scenes progress.  The outside crèche was planned and given by Mrs. Allein Watson.

… It’s time for our annual giving campaign.  Pledge letters and cards have been mailed.  If you did not receive a letter and pledge form and wish to donate for 2020, please contact Mrs. Brenda Funderburg at bfun@me.com   All donations help us continue our mission in Tensas Parish and are greatly appreciated. Thank You.

…The Shepherd Center will have its annual Christmas event Saturday, Dec 7, 8am-noon.  Come and see!

Father Riley's homily:

ADVENT I - A - 19                      MATTHEW 24. 36-44

St. Paul begins today’s Epistle by reminding us that “we know what time it is.” It is time for us to wake up, Paul says, for our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. That is a sobering thought.

Of course, Paul is referring to the day of the Lord when Christ will come again in power and great glory to judge the earth and all that is in it.  If we only knew when that day or that hour would come, then, perhaps, we would be more than ready. However, we do not.

Jesus tells his disciples who have already asked when that will be that even he does not know; only God knows. Today we begin a new church year with the season of Advent, a short season of preparation for our annual celebration of the coming of the Christ child, the first Advent.

Our gospel reading on this first Sunday of Advent always speaks of the expected second coming. We do not always think about the fact that we live between the two. Yet here we are. Moreover, we do not always think that this could be our last Advent celebration for none of us knows how many Advent seasons God has granted us.

Nor do we know how much time God has given us to prepare ourselves for the day when Christ will come again, or just as equally important, the day when our life will end. Again, a sobering thought. Who knows what will happen next week, next year?

It is up to each of us as individual Christians, to answer the question: are you ready? Are you awake?  As St. Paul aptly reminds us, salvation is nearer than when we first believed. That is true for all of us.

During this new liturgical year, we will hear from the gospel of Matthew. In our gospel reading for this first Sunday of the new church year, Jesus stresses our being prepared for the unexpected hour of the Son of Man’s return.

The Second Advent will entail a sudden revelation of judgment. In his words to his followers regarding this, Jesus paints a vivid scene.

“Two will be in the field, one taken, one left,” Jesus says. “Two women will be working side by side; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

But who likes to wait and watch when you do not know how long of a wait it will be. Most of us are impatient people. We do not like to wait for anything. We always seem to be in a hurry. We don’t like to wait for a red light to change green. We don’t like to wait in long lines.

I do not like to wait for example, for the plumber to show up when all the operator will tell me is he will be at my house sometime that day. I know he is coming, yet not the exact time. I have to live with the expectation and the hope that he will come soon without knowing when, while putting my life on hold.

The early church lived with that same expectation in terms of Christ’ second coming, but without putting their life on hold. They hoped it would be immediate and that they would soon be caught up in Christ’s glory. However, their waiting was not a period of inactivity, but one in which they sought to make Christ known.

We know that Jesus is coming again. He has told us and we say that we believe. We just do not know when, either the day or the hour. As time passes without his appearing, some 2000 years now, we, the church have, in many ways, become less expectant, less prepared. Christians as a whole have fallen spiritually asleep. We have lost our sense of time.

We rouse ourselves, as Church, long enough to sing Silent Night and fill the crèche, on an annual basis, as we celebrate his first coming. Then we return to business as usual without giving Christ’ second coming a second thought.

We live between the two Advents, taking the time to celebrate the first but with less than a heightened expectation of the second.

Jesus knew this would be the case, not only for his very first disciples to whom he was addressing his remarks in our gospel for today, but to all those who would in successive generations choose to follow him. Thus, he stresses the point that we as his followers must stay awake, like people who know that there will be surprised visitors coming sooner or later but don’t know exactly when.

That is hard to do isn’t it? It is far too easy to get caught up in our day-to-day routines, marking our calendars for future events as though we were assured of their taking place and preparing ourselves for them. Just think of all the preparation we are going through right now getting ourselves ready for Christmas, which is still some weeks away.

We can’t afford as Christians to allow ourselves to be lulled into believing that when Christ comes again all will be gathered to himself. His words in today’s gospel speak otherwise.

No doubt, we all want to be the one “taken” and not the one left behind.

Thus, it is imperative upon each of us as individual followers of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus to make certain we are ready for that day.  Where and what do you want the Lord to find you doing when that hour comes?

Ancient Israel longed for life on the heights of Zion. It ached to walk in the “light of the Lord.” The Christian hope is the same. So as the days continue to darken earlier in this season, we are summoned to the light at the end of the Advent tunnel. The light is Christ.

Advent is a time for making ready. It is a brief season that belongs to the Church to be lived as if each day will be our last. Advent tells us what time it is, it is time to wake up for the “night is far gone,” as St. Paul, says, and the Light of Life is near.

These four weeks, then, are given to us as a reminder that Christ will come again at an unexpected hour. It will be nothing like His first coming as a babe in the manger where only a handful was made aware.

At the Second Advent, Christ will come in power and great glory accompanied by a myriad of angels and with the sound of a trumpet that will take the whole world by surprise. Amen+
(readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44)