Advent 1 CELTIC 2025 Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

 Advent 1, 30 November 2025

St George’s Episcopal. Fredericksburg, VA

“Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”

Collect: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Matthew 24:36-44

Jesus said to the disciples, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

And so we begin, again. Today we start the liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent. This is Year A where most of our Gospel readings come from the Gospel of Matthew, for those of you keeping track.

Advent means the “Arrival,” or the “Coming.” We wait for Jesus to arrive the first time, retelling the Christmas anticipatory stories, and we also look ahead waiting for Jesus to arrive again. It is a season of both/and, Jesus is long awaited, and look busy, Jesus is coming back.

Tonight’s reading covers that well. Jesus warns his followers that we must be ready AND that it could happen at any time. Being ready is our side of things. I was a Boy Scout, and our motto said the same thing, “Be prepared.” But the other side is just as important, it could happen at any time. You may remember just a few weeks ago there were many who believed that the rapture was coming and they spread their mania that it was imminent, and even named a day for it back in September. But here lies the problem, Jesus says in tonight’s reading NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY OR HOUR, NOT EVEN JESUS!

I am not sure how this is news to anyone, Moses was not expecting God when he encountered the Burning Bush where he heard God’s call. St Paul, when he was blinded by the light on the Road to Damascus definitely did not expect Jesus to correct him and redirect the rest of his life. God breaks through when God breaks through. That is why we are always to be ready. It could happen at any time.

Our Advent is about our waiting. Sometimes we see the waiting tied to the matriarchs/patriarchs, and sometimes we hear the cry of the prophets to change our ways. But both sat in wait, they sat in hope, and they sat in anticipation. They were looking ahead. Because if God is the way they thought God would be, then God would find and provide a way out of the mess we find ourselves in, or more often, the mess we put ourselves in.

One time, when my daughter was three, no more than four years old, we were shopping at Target. It was the whole family. And somehow, Sojo, our youngest, just disappeared! She was there and all of a sudden, she was gone. Not taking any chances, I told my wife to stay with our other kid and search, thinking maybe she was in a clothes rack playing hide-n-seek, or something. Meanwhile, I would run to the door so that she would not get past us or no one would get out with her. As a parent, there are few things so scary as having a lost child.

It was only a couple of minutes, and sure enough, I saw her down the first aisle hoofing it for the front door as fast as her stubby little legs could carry her. She was alone, but going full blast for the exit.

I went towards her and when she saw me, her eyes lit up and she smiled and said, “I knew you’d find me!”

I could have wrung her neck, but the comfort of having her safe and sound outweighed everything. Now I had a talk with her about where she was headed. She thought she would just meet us at the car. Talk about scary. But I let her know that the next time she got lost to stay where she is, and look for us. To head for an aisle and not to move, and definitely do not leave the store to go to the car.

While funny now, my love for her drove my worry and fear. But her words are the most apt description of Advent. “I knew you’d find me!” The cry of the matriarchs and patriarchs was to be found. The call of the prophets was to get ready, to REPENT because we were waiting for the Chosen One of God who would come, and the Chosen One could come at any time. And maybe that is where your heart is tonight. In hope, maybe you came here tonight, hoping to find and be found by God.

I know I did. As Charles Wesley wrote in his celebrated hymn:

Come, thou long expected Jesus,

born to set thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us,

let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,

hope of all the earth thou art;

dear desire of every nation,

joy of every longing heart.

Or maybe our prayer is even simpler—maybe it’s Sojo’s words: “I knew you’d find me.” Amen