Keep Awake

Advent has begun, and the message for the day is “Keep Awake.”  I am uncomfortable with the idea of the virgin birth, with Jesus at the right hand of the Father and with the expectation of a second coming.  As always, though, my discomfort is my learning.  In doing the “translations” I must always do to really hear the Gospel message or the ancient meanings in the Torah, I discovered something new today, First Day of Advent in Year B.  I discovered that I can look for the second coming in exactly the same way that last week, I was looking for Jesus in others so that I could serve them as Matthew suggests.  The second coming for which I am to “keep awake” might be the appearance of ways in which I can exemplify Christ, ways I can get folks who are thirsty a glass of water, as Anne Lamott puts it (2012, p. 26).  

To my amusement, Revkah has an interesting way of mis-remembering phrases and of stumbling through trying to say them that ends up with the entire household adopting her much more colorful (and often more poignant) phrase.  A classic example is calling herself a Ludwig with great sincerity when she meant to explain her upset by calling herself a luddite.  A few days ago, she gave me another gem.  In trying to quote Teresa of Avila saying “Christ has no body on Earth but mine,” she looked at me with utter seriousness and said, “Well…Jesus only has one body!”

I will keep awake.