Advent-1 – Mark 13:24-37

Some years ago, the London Times ran a front-page story about an Englishman named Arthur Arch. He had just celebrated his 95th birthday, which was an accomplishment in and of itself. But the truly newsworthy thing about Mr. Arch was that for 42 years he had been precisely and consistently 20 minutes late for every meeting and appointment he had. According to his own time, he was always prompt. But according to everyone else's time, he was always late!

In 1922 in England they changed all of the clocks by 20 minutes. But Mr. Arch never accepted the change. he said: "Nobody is going to take 20 minutes off my life. So, I'll keep my watch at the old standard time. And some day I plan to die 20 minutes late just to prove that I was right!"

Now, Mr. Arch had an American counterpart, who was also a very stubborn man, a Kansas farmer, and an independent thinker if there ever was one. In the early 1940s, this Kansas farmer alleged that the worst thing that ever happened to the United States of America was the election of Franklin Roosevelt as President. And, he said, the worst thing Roosevelt ever did was to approve the order of Daylight Saving Time. As you know, the order went through, but the old farmer never changed his clocks, so he was always one hour off the time observed by everyone else. That farmer, like Arthur Arch, lived and died by the old time. And his defense, he felt, was theological. He said, "I will not exchange God's time for Roosevelt's time!"

Our scripture lesson today resounds with the same thought, that we are not to exchange God's time for anybody else’s time. We are to "take heed, watch, pray; for you do not know when the time is (Mark 13:33)." Our time may not have come, we may not be ready, but God’s time will inevitably come.

The season of Advent, which is the first period in the Year of Worship, reminds us to be prepared for the coming of Christ. The word "Advent" means "coming."

During advent we prepare for the three comings of Jesus in the world. On Christmas Day and during the 8 days of Christmas we remember the past coming of Jesus in history 2000 years ago. During advent however, we prepare for the final coming of Christ which will happen in the future and we also prepare for the present coming of Jesus in human life every day. Jesus comes every day into your and my life. So, we celebrate Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever,(past future and present) at advent and Christmas.

Jesus said to his disciples, "No man knows about that day and that hour. Be watchful, be wakeful and be praying, for you do not know when the time is."  Natural calamities and man-made disasters creep into human life unannounced, at the most unexpected time.  It is fact of daily experience that accidents, and medical problems like heart attack take away human life without any warning.  A faulty rhythm of heart-beats or a slightly prolonged halt between breaths is sufficient enough for the death-bell to resound.  Human life is as momentary as a shepherd's tent (Is. 38:12) that is pitched erect at every dusk and removed at dawn!" So, in this season the church reminds us of the need to be prepared.

One thing we don’t do very well in our society is wait. We get impatient. We get nervous and some even get angry. That’s because we see waiting as wasted time. It’s boring to sit and wait. It’s "down" time or "dead" time. We equate waiting time with being non-productive. “waiting is an attitude, an inclination to act. We wait because there is something worth having. We wait because the resources we need to survive and to grow are not in our own hands, but in the hands of God.”

Waiting is an opportunity to reflect or meditate. Nor do we have to fill our idle time with things to do. The more time we spend working the less time we get to spend with our families or attending to our souls. Our society has become so production focused that we have lost sight of the fact that we need time to think, relax or just wonder. We need time for introspection, for strengthening the family bond through family prayer and for cherishing the community life by active participation in the church activities.

 During the Second World War there was a young boy in a small town who had to go to the drugstore for his mother. As he arrived at the drugstore, he saw a poster on the front window that made a great impression upon him. It was the picture of an American soldier dressed in full battle uniform lying flat on his face, dead in the sands of a South Pacific island. He was lying there with the ocean cradling his body, and at the bottom of the poster was this question: "What have you done for your country today that's worth this soldier dying yesterday?" During advent we need to ask a similar question to ourselves:"What have you done for Christ today that's worth what He gave for you on Calvary?"

During the season of advent, let’s try to do something that would make Christ’s coming into the world worthwhile.

Advent is a time for us to go about our business of obeying God's directions for living, being found frequently in prayer and good works. St. Francis de Sales was asked one time by a nervous parishioner: "What will I do, what will I do?" St Francis replied, "Do the next loving thing."  Let’s watch out for that chance to find the next loving thing that we can do while waiting eagerly for the Lord to walk into our life.