As I write this message, I prepare to preach on the first Sunday of Advent. As we celebrate Advent, we are supposed to do it with the conviction that the Reign of God is in our midst, that Christ is King, and that Christ is the ruler of this world.
As we start a new year in our Christian Calendar, we should be excited, expectant, and eager to continue discovering what it means when we declare that Christ is King. As we start this New Year and a new season, we are supposed to be the preparers of the way of Christ. We are supposed to actively participate in Christ’s rule of the world.
Advent is a season that invites us to prepare ourselves to once again tell the story of Jesus, the son of God, the One who came to redeem us. The truth is that the way we tell the story is influenced by the way the story is revealed to us. And, as we look at the history of how Jesus’ story has been told, we can identify a series of theological mistakes that still influence the way we tell the story of Jesus in the present day that should challenge us to redeem the way the story of Jesus has been told. We are invited this morning to share Jesus’ story so that those who are suffering, marginalized, and tagged as underserved by society can experience liberation and freedom. We are supposed to tell Jesus’ story in a way that the oppressive powers are challenged. We should tell Jesus’ story without being afraid to cause crises.
Now, here is where it can get complicated. What does it mean that Christ is the ruler of this world? What does it mean that we are an extension of Christ’s ruling of this world? Perhaps the Advent season can help us hold in tension the notion that Christ is King of this world and came into this world as a king, but a very different kind of king. The Advent season reminds us that Christ, our king, came to this world in the most vulnerable way, as a baby who was rejected and did not have a place in the inn and as a member of a family that had to escape the violence and oppression by a ruthless ruler.
The Advent season reminds us that our story as the Church of Christ begins with the birth of a child born in the most vulnerable way. God calls us to be brave and open to be vulnerable to God and one another. God calls us this Advent to not only be vulnerable but to be in solidarity with those who are vulnerable: those in countries where there is war, the immigrants, the refugees, and asylum seekers, those in prison, those in poverty, the unhoused, anyone experiencing pain and suffering.
The General Board of Global Ministries invites all United Methodists this Advent to stand in solidarity with all those suffering in the Holy Land; click here for more information.
I finish with this Advent prayer from St. Romero:
“Let us be true Christians, worthy of this eschatological hour that lasts from the first coming of Christ until the second, this final period of history. Let us experience this time as something that is not permanent but passing. Let us not become too attached and established here. We should not let the goods and the power of this earth make us lose the enchantments of the kingdom of God that will soon receive us. Just as a person is abducted and taken away without leaving behind any trace, so also will we be taken away, but by the love of Christ, who will take us forever into his heaven. May it be so.” Amen.
