Are you living
this moment for Christ?
Late in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the exiled people of Israel have at last come to realize
that they have failed in their covenant with God, and beg the Lord to return for the sake of his servants. They are in a posture of
waiting, not waiting out their circumstances, but rather waiting in
expectation, waiting for God’s salvation to come. They recognize that God’s is the only power
that can come to their aid: no eye has ever seen any God but you doing
such deeds for those who wait for him, they cry. In Psalm 80, the psalmist
similarly calls upon God to save us,
and protect what your right hand has
planted. Knowing they themselves are the
work of God’s hands, the people
must trust and call upon God’s name, waiting, confident that if only
God turns God’s face to them – a moment of revelation – they will be saved.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus
likewise exhorts his disciples to be
watchful and alert! He speaks not, however, of simply waiting for some
moment in the future, but of living this moment, being alive, fully alive to
Christ alive in them, now. May the Lord not come suddenly and find you sleeping; stay awake, he tells them,
be about what you are supposed to be about, do what is needed, but be ever
ready for Christ to step into your lives at every given moment. The disciples
are to live, as Paul later tells the Corinthians, in a state of expectation as they wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Grounded in
chronos time, we are called during this Advent season to tune ourselves, our
very beings, to kairos time, living in eager expectation of Christ’s ongoing
revelation in our lives, a revelation that comes to us, new, every time. So be watchful, this Advent season, and live
your life, fully alive in this moment, for Christ!
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
