1. Luke's community seeks to deal with the pastoral reality that Jesus' return is not as imminent as the earlier church community believed. Luke was concerned with issues of relationship, relationship with God and with one another, while still focusing on and hoping for the parousia. The end would come soon enough; disciples must keep a watchful, hopeful vigil, but they must also maintain an active pryer life if they are to withstand the temptations of their present reality. Only through constant prayer will the work of transformation and ongoing relationship with Christ grow.
>> How can Advent be a time of renewed prayer for myself and my community?
2. The Scriptures of Advent challenge us to wait for the day of the Lord, but they also demand that justice reign. In the biblical sense, justice (Hebrew: hesed) refers to right relationship with God as evidenced by one's behavior toward God and God's people. The demands of justice are not suggestions, they are commands. Advent asks the tough question: How are we living hesed relationships with our God? If we are God's people, if we are in covenant relationship with God, then we must be advocates of justice wherever injustice takes center stage.
>> How can Advent be a time of renewing our understanding of justice and practicing it more fully?
3. Another theme that echoes through the season is penance. God's people are to recognize, name, and lament over the evil that permeates the world and work to eradicate it. Throughout Advent we hear the ancient prophets who cry, "Repent and change your lives!" The prophets' cry is as relevant today as it was then. They foretold the light that would shine in the darkness. Christ is that light. We are to embrace the light and become the light of Christ in the world.
>> How can Advent be a time of chasing away the darkness in our lives and in our world?
4. Advent explores two realities: the kingdom here and now and the kingdom yet to come. We live in the midst of that tension. We struggle just as Luke struggled to maintain the proper balance between passive waiting and proactive waiting. When we are proactive we cooperate in the work of history making. We enter salvation history with God and seek to alter injustice when we see it. We enter the struggle of the kingdom here and now with a vigilant eye and hopeful anticipation of the kingdom yet to come.
>> How can Advent be a time of entering into salvation history with God?
5. Advent is a wake-up call to the world. Advent's message is a countercultural plea to engage in the deeper meaning of the season. It is a mandate to reflect upon and prepare for the second coming of Christ while looking forward to the celebration of the incarnation, the ultimate gift of God's personhood to the world. We can do nothing less than ask ourselves the questions of human response and responsibility in the face of such a gratuitous gift.
>> How can Advent be a time of challenging the values of our culture that are not in harmony with Gospel values?
[Adapted from Word and Worship Workbook for Year C. Mary Birmingham. New York: Paulist Press, 1998, pp. 44-45.]
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