Isaiah 2: 1 – 5

¹ The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

² It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills;

and all the nations shall flow to it,

³ and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

⁴ He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide for many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.

⁵ O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Matthew 24:36-44

³⁶ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. ³⁷ As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. ⁴² Watch, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

It is a new year. A brand-new year in the church. Christ the King Sunday was last week, and this week, Advent 1, a new year. We were in year c of the lectionary, now we are in year a.

A new year, and we by looking back and looking forward.

Looking back and remembering that Jesus was born. We are preparing for Christmas. For remembering the Word made flesh and dwelt in our midst.

AND looking forward. Knowing that Advent is not just about remembering what has happened, it is preparing for what is promised to happen- Jesus will come again. This is a time of preparation for Jesus’ return.

Opening our hearts. Considering where we are. Imagining where God wants us to go, to be ready when Jesus arrives.

O Come O Come Emmanuel, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence - These are just words about looking back, they are calling us to look forward.

God promises Jesus will come again, we know we can trust that word. Jesus will come again. Because Jesus already did.

We do not know when. We do not know where. But we do know He will.

The only thing that all predictions about when Jesus will return and when the end times will be, the only thing they have in common is that they have all. Every one of them. Been wrong.

The words we heard in Matthew? They aren’t describing some modern-day rapture, because the rapture isn’t, actually, a Biblical idea. Here, in Matthew, rather than meaning that the faithful are going to be taken up to heaven while those who are not chosen are left behind to struggle, these words tell us that those who are not faithful are begin taken away, taken away to be judged. Those who are left behind are the ones who were ready. Are blessed. Being left is their reward.  And Jesus wants us to understand these words as an invitation.

While we may watch for Jesus with the diligence of a night watchman, Jesus does not come to steal. Jesus does not come to take.

Kim Clayton writes: “The thief breaks in to steal, to take away, to do harm. God will break in to bless and build. The Son of Man, who will apparently come suddenly and dramatically, is coming to give life, not to take it away. The Son of Man is coming to complete the kingdom he has begun, not to topple it and us with it. It is Jesus who is coming again and because we know him, we do not need to be afraid. Jesus is not a thief or a terrorist, he is the good shepherd, the Savior of the world, the Prince of Peace.”[i]

And so, to help us get ready, Jesus issues us an invitation. An invitation that is the focus of each 1^st Sunday in Advent. To change the way that we live. To consider what it means to be ready.

Not a busy-ness ready. But a faithful living ready. A seeing and welcoming the Christ in each person we meet kind of ready As the song goes:

Day by day

Oh, Dear Lord

Three things I pray

To see thee more clearly

Love thee more dearly

Follow thee more nearly

Day by day

As we consider Jesus’ return, how can we live more fully in the world as God intends it?

This advent, I’m remembering a story from a few years ago, about a Friday Night Football night in Texas.

The kind of night to which most fans look forward. The home team was anticipated to win, and maybe, even, win big.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School, and Grapevine Faith was the odds-on favorite. 

Only… it wasn’t your ordinary High School Football night.

Photo by Melinda Wright

Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.

Rick Reilly reported this story for ESPN magazine[ii]:

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through. ….

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?  It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name….

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower as he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment, and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault, and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth….."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman…. "They started yelling 'DEE-fence!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes… But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!...."

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible, and an encouraging letter from a Faith player….

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

 As we look forward to Jesus’ arrival. We pray for it and hope for it. Prepare for it, it is natural for us to consider that we are the Grapevine Faith team in this example. One of the joys in being here in your midst is knowing that, if we were in that situation, I would not have to make more than a few phone calls to have the stands filled with cheerleaders for Gainesville State. 

But let me also suggest that we are those players, too. We, too, have a cheerleader. God, yellin’ for us, by our names. Taking our brokenness in Her arms and encouraging us to take ever stronger steps in faith. Towards living the rule of love.  Towards a world where, when Jesus comes again, we will be ready.

Being ready for Jesus is not about watching for the signs, picking teams, or choosing sides, it is about living love.  It is about loving our neighbors and seeing the face of Christ in each person we meet. Seeing the Jesus that is alive today in the work of the Church, so that we will recognize Jesus when he returns, bringing his kingdom with him.  

So let’s live the love that Jesus taught and be ready. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.  Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

[i] Journal for Preachers, p. 4, Advent 2004, Kimberly Clayton Richter

[ii] http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789373 Dec 23, 2008