An Advent of the Heart: Moving from Death to Life One Moment at a Time
By Brian Stankich
A recent midweek gathering of Cathedral worshipers embarked on the Advent theme of death. I know, who thinks of death in the context of Christmas? Apparently, Episcopalians. It's okay, because death has been conquered by the manger inhabiting Savior, even if we may all experience a personal death. Avoiding death doesn't seem to be an option for us, though we may try to avoid it by our obsession with avoiding pain, heartache, trial, disappointment and suffering. Avoiding these terrors comes naturally to us; embracing that savior who toiled for us does not.
As we talked about the coming of Christ and the event's place in the church calendar, we had a lively discussion concerning the imminent return of Jesus, and how the early church sought to live in the expectation that he could return at any day. Then we asked ourselves the dreadful question: What would our lives look like if we lived like Jesus' second Advent could happen at any moment? The spectre of death arises again, along with it's shadows: selfishness, pride, hate, wandering from God and so many others.
I've thought through this a bit more and arrived at one conclusion. If it's possible that Jesus' second return could happen before we celebrate the 2020 version of his first return, and it is, then I propose that living in the moment is an effective way to honor the moment of Jesus' return. Said another way, What will you be doing when Jesus returns?
I do not have an admirable history of focusing on the Advent season, but the last two years I've stepped up a bit because, you know, I'm worshiping at an Anglican church now. One of the intellectual themes I've been pondering for my life in recent years is what I call 'living in the moment.' Living in the moment means taking every moment of the day seriously. Not every second, or every minute, but certainly every event, every transition of hello or goodbye, every interaction, every decision, every attempt to obey and honor God, every misstep and every thing that could end up in a journal at the end of a day. Taking every moment seriously means honoring every breath that God gives us, treating it as precious, meaningful, purposeful and with potential to be life giving.
As I've been thinking about living in the moment this week in the context of Advent, I found that my Lord was interested in my moments. One morning after I woke up, I was greeting God and getting ready to start my morning return. I sensed that he wanted more time with me, and so I took it. I found that he had a word for me as I picked up a book I'm reading on Moses. Moses is described by the author as being a selfless man and God offered that I ought to pursue that same characteristic: selflessness.
A few days later while driving home from work, I intended to play a podcast, per my norm, and again sensed the Lord saying, 'wouldn't you rather talk with me?' I don't always like to pray when I'm driving as I'm not confident I'll stay focused on the road, but I obeyed. What did he want to talk about, I wondered. Oh, yeah, that nagging feeling I've had the last hour. What is that about? Oh, yeah, that wandering heart issue. God called me out on my heart wandering from him. I realized it bothered me too. The next ten minutes I confessed my wandering nature to him, and the lack of desire to deal with it. I felt so much better, in a better place, I now realize, to meet Jesus face to face if he shows up in the next few weeks before Christmas. It was an advent of my heart, choosing life over death. Let's call it being steadfast before God.
Living in the moment is taking each moment seriously, because God gives us moments. Jesus came as a baby and savior and he will come again as a conquering king. And he is available during the days in between, how ever many they will be, to come to me, to walk with me, to talk with me, to give me moments. So I want to live in those moments, and in so doing, celebrate life and the Lord who gives it, who came, who will come again and who shows up in my life every moment of every day.
Being steadfast and being selfless are the themes God is working in me these days. He continues coming to me to conform me into the image of the Son. That is Advent, one aspect of my life, one day, one moment at a time.
