Advent I
St. Mary of the Angels
Jeer 33:14-16
Psalm 25
1 These 3:12-4:2
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
Musical Introduction: “O Come, O Come…”
Waiting is remaining until something expected happens. We wait for birth and we wait for death and in between those very significant moments
in our lives we do a lot of other kinds of waiting.
We wait in emergency rooms to be treated for a sudden illness.
We wait in grocery lines or food pantry lines to have the food we need
to feed our families.
We wait for jobs that seems so slow to come, so slow to open up.
Waiting is not the easiest of life’s invitations and
yet waiting is always part of our experience.
WILSON
Advent ushers into our awareness another kind of waiting,
a kind of holy waiting for the Promise.
The promise is Jesus our Savior who has come but always comes again as He waits
to be born again in our hearts and in our spirits. Many of you know that I have
spent these last five years in a leadership role in my religious community. I
am waiting for Jesus to show me some sign of whether I might say yes to five more years or say this has been good and it is
enough. When I ask Jesus what do you want from me, for me his only response thus
far has been: “I just want you to love me and to let me love you…” Somehow I wait for more while wondering if that response is enough for me.
WILSON
During this
Advent time we wait for peace to come amidst the division, disappointments and troubles in our families, in our relationships
with one another and within our neighborhood and the world. Tonight we
wait to hear about the future of our troops in Afghanistan. Think about how many lives will be impacted by that decision during this Advent time.
We wait for healing for someone we love and for the healing of family members and all whom we hold dear. During this Advent
time we wait for God to surprise us with a gift of courage, of renewed faith or of discernment to choose. As we wait for what
we long for we are reminded that our waiting needs to be active. We need to be
fully present to one another as we wait in prayer and as we watch for God’s Promise to come near. Our waiting needs to be patient especially with those in our lives with whom it is most difficult to be
patient. Our waiting needs to be supported by this community which offers us
the space where we can touch survival and growth and where we can support one another, encourage one another and strengthen
one another.
WILSON
Tonight let’s speak to God about what we are waiting
for ourselves or in the life of someone we love.
What are we waiting for in our beloved SMA community?
What are waiting for in our neighborhoods, our world?
The psalm of the first Sunday of Advent cries out our longing
as we wait:
Make us know your ways, O God;
teach us your paths.
Lead us in your truth and teach us
for you are the God of our salvation
for you we wait all day long.
WILSON
***Sharing
Naming someone we need to wait with in this Advent Season as we receive the light from one
another.
Closing music: “O Come, O Come…”
