FIRST WESNESDAY IN ADVENT
December 1, 2010
MATTHEW 24:37-37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.
“So too will be the COMING of the Son of Man.” The Latin word for “coming” is adventus, from which we get our word, advent. The Greek word is parousia. A word about parousia – It has become a technical term in English to refer to the second coming of Christ. However it is only used in the Gospels four times and all four of them are in this chapter to Matthew.
According to Warren Carter, New Testament theologian, parousia has military, political and religious significance. It was a word used to refer to the coming of a king, emperor, governor, military commander or other important official. The coming, or parousia, of the official was preceded by a special payment to cover expenses. The welcoming ceremony indicated submission to the official’s power.
This past Sunday Carolyn and I journeyed to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. with some friends for their liturgy of Lessons and Carols for Advent. It seemed like a welcoming ceremony for the parousia of Jesus. The lessons definitely asserted the sovereignty of God. The music was awesome. The homily was right on. There was even an offering (surprise, surprise!) to cover expenses. .
In the First Century military/political use of the term, the season of Advent (remember the word is derived from the Latin word for parousia) would seem to call for an offering – certainly not to cover our Lord’s expenses – but as a show of gratitude for his coming. Our offering surely can and should include a monetary offering but there are other offerings we might make. I gave a money gift on Sunday to our parish’s monthly World Hunger Offering but I have also offered my time by writing notes to our homebound folks during Advent.
SO WHAT is that Advent Offering to your life? What might you offer to our Lord this season?
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Open our lives to receive you and offer them in grateful thanksgiving for your coming. AMEN
Advent offering, hmmmmm. I feel like I should just do more and complain less in general. There is a bumper sticker that I want that says "Wag more. Bark less." I know that the best thing I can do this advent is lighten the load of my 77 year old mother-in-law who is currently caring for her 4 great grandsons. I need to step up and take some of the boys for a weekend to give her a break - is that an advent offering??
ReplyDeleteI had the same idea that Kate mentioned in her comment. Isn't that amazing. Oh, that's because she's my wife.
ReplyDeleteMy nephew is struggling with 4 kids, all under 4, all on his own, no vehicle, no place to live of his own. He, and the 4 boys, are all living with my parents, who are 77 & 78.
It's easy for us to visit them for the day to help out, but when we leave, we leave all the worries behind too. It seems too easy to forget about the difficulties that my parents, and nephew, are having.
We are planning to offer at least a little reprieve for my parents by bringing the twins down for the weekend, next weekend. It's not much, but it is something.
Interesting that we are all "offering" childcare! I just made an offer this morning to my neighbor, a mom w/ six kids between the ages of 14 years and 4 months. Both parents work and barely make ends meet. They are a Christian family with whom we've gotten to be very good friends. Our kids spend a lot of time together, and Jackie (the mom) and I chat often and support each other in matters of family and faith.
ReplyDeleteShe is really struggling to juggle her part-time job and time w/ her family, and now her daycare gal is less and less available due to changes in her own life. I told Jackie I could take her youngest two, the 4-month-old and a 2-1/2-yr-old a couple days next week (they will actually only be half-days because of how her and her husband's work schedules overlap). I am assuming she'll pay me what she'd pay the regular sitter, and if she didn't, after several days of childcare I had planned to say I'd need some sort of payment in order to continue (b/c I *will* be giving up some of my own work time). But now, in light of Evan's challenge about offerings of *time*, I have decided that, for next week at least, I will *donate* my time to her and her family. They could use the financial break, along w/ the actual childcare needed for those hours. The "loss" of money won't make a big difference to us; I will probably make up the editing time in the evenings anyway.
This offering, for this reason (Advent giving to our Lord), feels like a good thing to do.