First Sunday of Advent Reflection

By Rev. Dr. Trevor D. Alexander

Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you don’t know when the time is.

“It is like a man, traveling to another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. Watch therefore, for you don’t know when the lord of the house is coming, whether at evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he might find you sleeping. What I tell you, I tell all: Watch. Stay awake.” (Mark 13:33–37 WEB)

Be ready! Be Prepared! That is the theme for today’s reflection.  The question is, “What does it really mean to be ready?”  Being ready means that you have planned and that you are living in the present whiles being ready for tomorrow.  In the military, we were trained to approach some difficult task with working from the end results and working backwards to the starting point.    

Advent is much like my military training. We can start with the desired ending point, Jesus’ return and work our way back to the beginning, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. As Christian we live in the present while preparing for the future.  We are loved by God in this present reality, but we are preparing for the pending reality. As Christians we struggle with that theological problem with the “Already and the “Not yet!”  

As we begin First Sunday as Advent, 2013, ask yourself, “Are you prepared, or are you getting prepared?” Years ago, I read a quote that said, “Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.”   During Advent, WE are all waiting together and ready for what is to come.  Waiting in the Advent Season is like being awake with all our senses awaken to God and to others.  Awaken to God love in our lives and in the lives of those around us.