Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ. There are two kinds of “coming” that we anticipate. One is the birth of Jesus of Nazareth which dominates this liturgical season whereas the other is the second coming of Christ. Our popular culture focuses on the nativity scene. The second coming of Christ, however, is rather disregarded or ignored for various reasons. For this Advent season, I would like to invite all of us to pay attention to the latter aspect of Advent to take Jesus’ teaching on the coming of Christ into our hearts. This coming of Christ is also the disciples’ consistent interest and curiosity throughout the gospels.
Jesus always gives them a simple, straightforward answer to this question of when and where: “Don’t know when and where the eschatological coming will actually take place.” But he doesn’t stop there. He urges his friends to “be awake here and now.” St. Paul follows up on Jesus’ emphasis on the here-and-now nature of Christ’s coming and says, “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.” The Advent message is way too simple then. Wake up from sleep right here and right now. Jesus has a sense of urgency that we can hear in the gospel lesson this morning. His parable of the owner of the house staying alert and ardent about staying up all night to guard his house against breaking in is the attitude that he would like his friends and us to have. Be alert and ardent always. This may sound a bit unrealistic and even stressful. Can we really continue to be awake? How do we actually do that? Before adding more stress to our lives, especially during this holiday season, let’s unpack and undo our assumption about being awake. Too often, we assume and presuppose that we know what it means to be awake. But we usually don’t. Here, being awake is to give appropriate attention to the presence of God in ourselves. We keep in mind that God breathes into our breath. Keeping in mind, while being alert and keeping our ardency, is to be awake here and now. This simple practice sounds like nothing so serious, yet once you actually do it, it may not be so hard. As we keep in mind God’s breath entering into our breath, we notice thoughts and feelings proliferate. It’s not that our thoughts and feelings are jumping around because we start meditating. Because we pause to breathe and contemplate, we can see what’s going on every second in our daily lives. What has been unseen or unnoticed is now exposed as we meditate. It’s like what Lao Tzu would say, “Do you have the patience to wait? Till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?” Jesus provides us with a great metaphor to have a more biblical theme to our practice of the Breath of God through our breath. The image that he coins is Noah’s Ark. I would like to invite all of us to briefly delve into how Noah ended up building the Ark. Below are the verses from the Book of Genesis with my comments in italics: 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of humans was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made humans on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the humans I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air—for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord. (6:5-8) In God’s eyes, Noah is right with God. This cleansing act of God, however, contradicts the image of God who is loving, compassionate, and forgiving. I would not suggest that we take this story literalistically, but rather God’s anger acknowledges that evil does exist and still does in our days. Despite all the reasons to be dishonest, if not becoming evil ourselves, Noah keeps his integrity. When others go low, he goes high. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and put the door of the ark on its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. (6:16) The Ark is designed to have no windows on the sides but only the roof on the top. Mechanically, no windows on the sides would prevent any water leak. Also, later when it finally stops raining after forty days and forty nights, Noah sends the raven and dove to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. (8:6-8) Psychologically, Noah and his family are protected from seeing all the creatures, especially people drowning to death. This may prevent them from potential PTSD. Spiritually, Noah is focused on the roof, single-minded to set his eyes on the sky. My friends, for this Advent season, I would like us to build this ark of the heart within. Remember what to keep in that ark. Keep in mind what’s most essential, which is the Breath of God. You will build a roof or a window that lets you focus on the presence of God only. Be alert to what you see in that window. Thoughts and feelings might come across. You can simply turn on your wipers to clear your sight. As the presence of God charges, restores, and energizes our hearts, we become ardent about maintaining the ark of the heart. Instead of forty days and forty nights of rain, we’re entering into four weeks of Advent. We yearn and long for the coming of Christ as we set our eyes on the window on the top of our inner ark through which the dove dawns upon us. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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