SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT - C December 10, 2006

Baruch 5: 1-9 Phillipians 1: 4-6, 8-11 Luke 3: 1-6

It should come as no surprise to anyone who know me that I enjoy history - history programs, history books, historical novels. I am a fan of the history channels. History provides insight not only into one’s self, but also into the world we live. We learn how and why things happen or are done. We can reflect on the history of our country, our family, on our own personal history.

In thinking of our country, we realize that it was established at a particular time in the history of the world. By its very nature, with the struggles it has gone through, it is made up of a people from various backgrounds and histories. It is unique. The peoples who form our county valued, fount for and still struggle with the meaning of freedom

In thinking of my own family, I realize that they originated in Eastern Europe and chose, within the last century, to move to the United States. My grandfather was willing to push a broom in a factory in order to insure that his son pursued an education and thus the value and importance of education and betterment was clearly emphasized.

I can also think over my own personal history. I am one of those “baby-boomers” who knew the reality and the effect of the assassinations of the 1960's. These were events which were lived and not just learned from a book. There has been, in my life, the continuing influence in my life of the schools I attended, the parishes at which I was assigned, and the tribunal where I worked for over two decades. Now I am here, at St. Mel parish, in this place and at this time.

History is also an important element to St. Luke in starting to tell the story of the ministry of Jesus. In the passage we just heard, Luke lists a series of individuals who influenced the government as well as the religious practice of the Jews of that time. He appears to want to insure that the Jesus of whom he would write and the ministry that he performed, starting with John the Baptist, occurred at a certain time and place in the history of the world.

In the manner that he told his story, he was not as concerned as we are in this day and age with exact history as we know it and try to study it. At that time there may well have been listeners and readers for whom all of this was personal history. Now, in the so-called scientific study of history, we look at artifacts and signs of these individuals and places top confirm for skeptical minds, what Luke and others already knew: where and when Jesus lived, preached and acted.

Whether we appreciate history on a grand or limited scale, Luke’s writing is an important reminder to recognize a basic lesson of the Advent season. Advent celebrates the reality and presence of God who is with us in our history, the story of our lives. All of us here have a salvation history, a history of how God is willing to be part of our lives. All of us are then called to respond to this loving God and reflect this God in our lives and by our lives.

In words of Baruch that we hear, he uses beautiful poetry to remind his listeners that as difficult and painful is the defeat and exile they suffer, they still are to have faith that God is with them, that they will be re-established as a people - not as an earthly kingdom - with an abundance coming from God’s love and presence with them.

Paul reminds us that we can be assured in our daily lives of working, living and praying of God being with us, truly a part of all aspects of our lives.

What is offered to us today as a people of faith as we celebrate this time of Advent and prepare for the birth of the Savior at Christmas is the assurance of not being abandoned or forgotten by God. In truth, God is with us, present to us in this history of our lives. God continues to be with us. God is not simply a memory of a person in history, of Jesus in his ministry at a time and place in history. God is with us in this gathering here today in worship, prayer and praise. God is with us in the Eucharist we celebrate and share, in the presence of in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ we receive which refreshes and renews us.

Invigorated by the faith we show in being here today, we are to go forth to declare to the world by our lives and actions the reality of the presence of our loving God with us and with the world in this, our history.