Sunday 18th November Gospel: Mark 13:24-32

My words will not pass away

This chapter from Mark is part of a farewell speech from Jesus to his followers in the last days of his earthly life. It sounds almost apocalyptic because we are nearing the end of the Church’s liturgical year and so the texts we read take this tone. Jesus is revealing to his disciples something about the new order which is coming. He talks about the ‘end times’ and this can appear frightening at first. However, if we enter into a meditation on this Gospel we might bring to mind something of those moments in our own lives when we felt like our world was ending. Perhaps it was the end of a relationship, the death of a loved one, the end of one stage of your life. Things which seemed so familiar and helped keep us secure suddenly changed. These can be extremely difficult periods of one’s life. It is during those times that someone comes to us offering prophecy of better times to come, of words that ‘will not pass away’. Jesus is preparing the disciples for what is about to happen to him and with assurance that God’s kingdom is far greater than any evil that is about to occur. The passage is often interpreted as referring to the seconding coming of Christ or his resurrection. Whenever we experience trauma we keep going with the assurance that resurrection is all around us and a new way of being is on the horizon.

First Sunday of Advent ~ 2nd Dec 2017

"Keep Awake"

We are surrounded these days by the commercial ‘circus’ of Christmas shopping and ‘getting ready’? It might seem far removed from the story that we are celebrating; the story of a poor refugee family 2,000 years ago who had a very special delivery. The story of God choosing to intervene in human history in such an intimate and shocking way; God choosing to be born into a situation of poverty and danger. It is good to ask ourselves at this time of year, what are we getting ready for? Advent is a wonderful season which invites us to use our waiting to grow spiritually. We are invited to make space for ourselves and for God in the midst of the rushing. Can we stop and be still and ask ourselves: ‘Where do I see God being born around me today?’ In those I meet? In kind words and gestures, in my community, in my own heart? 

Have a more ‘aware’ advent. Be mindful in all you do. Be aware in your rushing, be aware as you stand in that queue, be aware as you eat, be aware of your feelings, be aware of your thoughts. By watching all of this we become more awake, more able to recognise our true selves and more able to see God being born continuously each day within us and around us. Our awe and wonder grows and we can be prepared for the coming of the Gift himself. How we prepare determines what will be.