We Do Not Know God's Timing – 3 December 2023

It seems so like God to offer us a time of quieting our lives for deep reflection alongside what the world considers the busiest time of the year. It really is a blunt reminder that as Christians we follow a different clock and calendar than the non-Christian world.

For disciples, this is the time to make New Year's resolutions. This is the time to reflect back on how and where Christ has met us in the last Christian year. This is the time to repent and to air our grievances, to acknowledge our disappointments in ourselves, with one another and yes, even with God. This is the time to pray for new beginnings, to ask God for increased courage, patience, faith, hope, and love.

There is something about a new year that offers us hope for a new start, and with Advent, we have four weeks to dwell on what that new start could look like for us as individuals, as families, as friends, and as the church with a mission to reach out into the world.

Mark 13:24–37

When Mark wrote his Gospel, Jerusalem and the temple lay in ruins (or were well on their way to that state of being). The threats that had started under Emperor Caligula's rule (39–40 c.e.) were carried out in 70, when the Romans lost all patience with their subjects.

Mark wrote to a community living in the midst of destruction, turmoil, and chaos. He addressed Christians who were being sought after by false prophets and who found themselves teetering between complete despair on one hand, and reaching desperately for glimmers of hope on the other. Given the circumstances, which included speculation that the end of time was nearly upon them, Mark encouraged his hearers to let go of their need for a timeline, while continuing to be faithful to their religious practices. God's timing is beyond our control, but we can guide our expectations and actions.

Isaiah 64:1–9 is part of a larger unit (63:7–64:12) characterized as a communal lament. Historically, it is placed within chapters 56 to 66 of Isaiah, a section that dates to the Jewish exiles in Babylon in 586 b.c.e. (after Jerusalem's fall) or to 539 b.c.e., which marks the initial phase of the exiles' return under Persia's King Cyrus.

The lament reflects the exiles' disillusionment with respect to God's apparent absence and disregard for their predicament. The lament also captures their sense of longing for God to reappear and bestow healing and restoration upon them. This Isaiah passage, and the context from which it arose, explores the dark side of Advent and might lead us to ponder how—or if—waiting can be an end in itself.

1 Corinthians 1:3–9

The people of Corinth, new to Christianity, were having a difficult time grasping, and putting into practice, the concepts that Paul had done his best to leave with them. In this, Paul's first letter, which he wrote to lend encouragement, support, instruction, and affection, he opened the letter with words of grace and peace. He also imparted words of confidence in order to instruct and empower them to let go of their mistakes, embrace the way of Jesus the Christ, and move forward in their faith.

Contributors to Vol. 42, no. 1: Carol J. Noren, Enuma Okoro, John H. Barden, Jennifer C. Williams, & Stephen C. Kolderup

Homily Service 42, no. 1 (2008): 4-15.