A Sermon Prepared by the Rev. Jeffrey A. Packard	For the congregation of Christ Church, Spotsylvania, Virginia
To Be Delivered on December 2, 2007	On the Occasion of the First Sunday of Advent

Text: 1 Advent, A

The Promised Day: Today

If you knew that you had only one day to live, what would you do? You knew for certain that you only had one day, but no other limitations on you. What would you do?

Would you finally paint that back bedroom that you have been intending to paint for two years now? Would you read that book that has been setting on your bedside table but you’ve been too tired lately to pick up? Would you go to the gym like you have been promising yourself you would, to try and work off those few extra pounds? If you had one day…

Or would you do something different? Would you pick up the phone and call your sister in Chicago that you haven’t spoken to in years, just to tell her that you are sorry for being so petty? Would you grab a hold of your children, or your grandchildren, and hug them, and squeeze them until they told you to stop because you’re cutting off the circulation in their arms? Would you tell your spouse, “I love you,” about a thousand times? Would you try to make every relationship in your life right in that one day? Would you try to give something good, even if it is just a smile, to everyone you meet in that day? Would you try as hard as you could, with every bit of energy you have, and every minute of that day, to be the best you could possibly be, because that is it, you only have that one day to define who you are, to make clear what is important to you, to decide what kind of legacy you want to leave behind in this world. You only have one day. And this is that day.

There is a part of the Gospel message that we don’t talk about that much, at least not in the Episcopal Church. Oh, this time of year you hear about it. Usually during Advent you’ll hear a sermon or two about how Christ will return and we should be prepared. But in the very early Church this was a central part of the Christian proclamation. The first generation of believers in Christ were absolutely sure that Jesus’ return was imminent. He was going to return before their life was over; they were convinced of it. That aspect of the message colored all the rest of the Gospel for them. When Jesus returned in his glory and the judgment day came, would you be prepared? Would you be found to have served the Lord faithfully? Would you be found to have proclaimed the Good News by word and deed? Would you have loved God, and your neighbor as yourself? These were imperative questions because even the Son of Man did not know the hour. It would come like a thief in the night. Keep awake therefore!

We have lost that kind of immediacy. Frankly it is hard to maintain that kind of expectant waiting for a couple thousand years. That’s why we need to be reminded every year just how important the attitude of expectation is for a life of faith. So I come back to my original question: If you knew that you had only one day to live, what would you do?

Here’s the secret: you do have only one day to live. Today. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is never a guarantee. Today is really all we have. We are only given one day at a time to live. Every day we wake up, we have to decide how we are going to live this one day. It is actually a really difficult spiritual exercise to attempt to be totally present in the moment, to be totally connected to the people you are with and what is going on right now. We are so often distracted by thoughts and worries, plans and regrets. That’s the challenge of Advent expectation, to be aware of the future, but not consumed by its possibilities. If we can just focus on the need right now, we will be prepared for the future when it comes. Not assuming that the future will be this or that, whatever we want it to be, or whatever we fear it to be, we can somehow get our priorities straight. We can do what we should be doing.

In the wilderness, when God provided manna for the Israelites to eat, Moses told the people that they should only gather what they needed for that day, and not keep any for the next day. Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Living by faith isn’t easy. Just this past week I went to SECA, the Spotsylvania Emergency Concerns Association. At our ecumenical Thanksgiving service we took up a collection to support their ministry and I had to deliver the money to them. I had a conversation with Bob, the gentleman who runs the program. He asked me if I had seen an increase in the amount of people who were looking for financial aid lately, and I told him that yes I had. He told me that he had started to spend more than usual to buy food for their feeding ministry and they were starting to run low on funds. He seemed kind of worried about it. Then he told me that for the past twenty years God had been telling him to give it away and he would provide more, and that’s what he had done. So he would keep giving it away.

It is not easy to live by faith, living in the moment, not worrying about tomorrow, and trusting that God will provide what you need. It is not easy to live each day as comes, one day at a time. But the great irony of God’s grace is that when we do that our future is secure.

I think part of what prevents us from having this kind of faith is the illusion of control. When we make plans and preparations for the future, we feel like we have some control over our own lives and the world around us. Unfortunately, it often takes tragedy to remind us just how little control we really have. Even the Son of Man does not know the hour. What God gives us is a series of moments that we string together to create the narrative of our life. With each moment we receive there is no promise of another one, just that one moment to be treasured, to be lived. When we start believing that we have the power to influence the way the moments will play out in the future, or how many moments there will be, we start to displace God who alone can grant the next moment.

What Advent faith demands of us is a radical dependence on God, on God’s goodness and generosity. At the same time it demands action. If tomorrow is not promised to us, then we better do what we need to do today. In Advent we prepare. We prepare to receive Jesus at his coming. We don’t really know when that will be. So being prepared needs to become a way of life, a way of living… every day.

Today you have this one day to live. What are you going to do?

AMEN