Connection and Expectation: In Tension or Complementary?

It’s not surprising that, as I read the passages for Advent 1B, [corrected from 1A-What can I have been thinking?] I got the sense of expectation, and even just a bit (or more) of impatience.  We have the prayer for God’s intervention and protection in Psalm 80, the cry for God to rend the heavens and come down in Isaiah 64, while in Mark 13:24-37 we have both the promise of the future coming and the command to hang on because we don’t know when.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to a congregation that was very confused on expectation.  Some thought they had already arrived.  Others were looking for a variety of signs.

The idea of being in connection with the world is one that has caused Christians considerable distress over time.  We have those who think that the only thing we must do is to look for the second coming.  Saving souls becames the only important thing.  Saving bodies and dealing with the problems of the world fades into the background.  On the other hand we have those who get so involved with living in the world and solving its problems that they have no time for heavenly things.

We tend to see connection with the world as something that is in constant tension with preparation for the heavenly kingdom.  It comes up when it’s time to vote.  How much attention do I pay to elections?  How much weight do I put on their results?  Is my kingdom not the one in heaven?

But then I must remember the Lord’s prayer:  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  There is somewhat less tension there and more of a cooperation, a combination.

In fact, as we think back to last week’s text (Christ the King Sunday) we might remember Matthew 25:31-46, in which the key question of the kingdom was all about something done living here on this earth.

I like the idea that we are preparing to be the right type of people, “heaven” people, folks who will be happy in God’s kingdom.  We have to be kingdom people now, in this world, or we won’t suddenly become kingdom people there.  Thus the greatest fulfillment of the expectation occurs very much in connection with the here and now.

A baseball player stands at the plate, ready to swing.  He lives in expection, or perhaps better in hope, of getting that hit, or maybe a home run.  But if he loses the moment in his hopes and expectation, he’s never going to get that hit.  He has to be absolutely there, at the plate, in the moment, or he will never have his expectations fulfilled.  The two go together.

Advent is a time of expectation, but God did something very interesting in the incarnation.  He became more connected with us that we can possibly imagine.  The babe in the manger represents God here, with us, among us, one of us, like us.  That’s connection.  It’s the connection that gives birth to the expectation.

Can you expect in a connected way?