All we need is here.

Advent 1: The Rev. Paige Blair-Hubert

• Audio Transcript

  [00:00:00]
  I pray that God's word is spoken and that God's word is heard. Amen.
  

  All we need is here,
  All we need is here,
  All we need is here,
  All we need is here.
  

  It's true.
  

  Do we believe it?[00:01:00]
  

  Paul certainly thinks it's true.
  

  Paul writes to the church in Corinth. His gratitude because the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus for in every way, in every way, you have been enriched in him so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have everything.
  

  You need, all we need is here.
  And that feels to me perhaps the most important message for First Advent this year. [00:02:00] It's tempting to go down the sacred rabbit hole of a mini lecture on apocalyptic literature.

  Because we always start First Advent with a mini apocalypse, based on this mini apocalypse in Mark's Gospel. It's either this version, or Luke's version of Mark's this version, or it's Matthew's version of Mark's, right?
  

  It's one of these, First Advent, every year. Um, but what I will say in short is, Join us for the journey through Mark when we launch that in January, so we can dive into this passage specifically when the time comes, but know this.

  Apocalyptic literature is written exactly so that no matter when in time we are, no matter what chaos and evil and brokenness is out [00:03:00] there stirring up stuff in the world, the reader will identify the reader's self and the reader's world in what they're taking in.
  

  So in some ways, this isn't about any of us, and it's about all of us throughout history.
  

  And it's a lot, isn't it? And it can make us feel completely inadequate and ill prepared. Despite the assurances, uh, which it seems like, Many have ignored through the ages. Uh, no one knows when this time is coming. I sat next to a person on the plane when I was coming back from my, um, uh, retreat in Alaska in October.
  

  I texted some of you about this individual during church. You were my respite from my seat mate. Um, [00:04:00] who was convinced that everything he was reading in the headlines was indication that, um, the rapture was coming and he was really seriously considering the physics of what it would be like to be raptured out of the airplane we were in.
  

  So, so many people through history have chosen to assume that they know what even Jesus says he does not know in this passage. But what we do know, and this is where the transition from Matthew to Mark is a little gentler than the transition in other years because we just spent the last several weeks in Matthew's kind of apocalyptic worldview with all those edgy end times parables that we spent the last several weeks in, um, this, this call to keep awake, [00:05:00] this call to keep awake.
  

  Because whether, uh, God wrapping up this story of time happens next week or millennia from now, there will be opportunities one after another to be God's people and to participate in the inbreaking of the reign of God now. And if we are not awake, we will miss them.
  

  And given how overwhelming it can seem, Not being awake might be really tempting. Because we might feel like we don't have what we need. I mean, we are faced, not unlike some of our ancestors over time, but we are faced with a world right now that leaves pretty much most of us feeling like the challenges we are facing and the [00:06:00] traumas in this world are so far beyond our ability to do anything that it's hard not to feel anything but inadequate.
  

  But we can do this. We can keep awake, and we can love, and we can be, um, what one of my my colleagues and favorite, um, sermon preparation, uh, sources alluded to, uh, with regards to that grace that's been poured into us that we heard of in First Corinthians. He said, we have a choice. We have received all this grace.
  

  Are we going to be a reservoir or a headwater? A reservoir holds onto all, if not most, but usually all of what [00:07:00] is poured into it. A headwater. Grace is a constant source flowing into the world. We have received everything we need. This grace has been poured into us. Are we going to hold on to that grace out of a fear of scarcity and not having enough?
  

  Or are we going to be like the headwater of a great river? It allows that grace to flow out into the world, bringing about God's dream for this world.
  

  Because this world has all it needs. All it needs is not everywhere it needs to be, but this world has all it needs. [00:08:00] Which is not to make us complacent, right? We need to keep awake. This parish has all it needs. That is not meant to make us complacent. It means that we have what it needs to face the challenges before us.
  

  The challenges of being people of faith in this world. The challenges of being part of an institution in a world that's not so hot on institutions anymore. The challenges of being in a, uh, sort of post pandemic crisis mode and trying to figure out who we are.
  The challenges of balancing a budget, which the Vestry will soon turn itself towards at the end of the year, uh, the next Vestry meeting, we'll start to dive into more of that. We have what we need. It may not be where it needs to be. If you haven't pledged yet, get that card in. [00:09:00] But we have everything we need.
  

  We do. And if we can approach the challenges we face as individuals, as a parish, a neighborhood, a society,
  a planet, Starting from that assumption that God has given us everything we need, we can trust that what we have is enough. What we bring to this journey and this work, when we stay awake and are ready to be God's people in God's moments.

  Not only, not only [00:10:00] do we have enough, but Beloved, please hear me, please, please hear me.
  We are enough. You are enough. And I need you to believe that. And God needs you to believe that. You are enough. If you hear a message that says otherwise, quote Jesus from another part of this gospel and say, get behind me, Satan, because you are enough. God's grace has been poured into you and you have within you every spiritual gift you need.
  

  Keep [00:11:00] awake, beloved,
  each of us to be God's people. So this advent and always.