ADVENT WEEK ONE
December 2, 2020
Be Present
Luke 21:34-38
“Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:36
As I write this devotion in mid-August, pandemic alcohol consumption and pot sales are way up. So is violence in cities, with Chicago and Portland often in the news. Racist and bigoted behaviors in public seem to be everywhere, as do protests against racism, bigotry, and state-sponsored violence. Mental health professionals warn of the mental health crisis that is sliding toward us like a broken ice sheet heading for the sea. Economists ring the alarms about jobs.
Then there is the small matter of the presidential election and its possibly unprecedented aftermath.
I’m feeling anxious. Really anxious. And, like everyone else, I’m trying to chill.
But our call is to be present. According to Luke’s version of Jesus’s last week, he was in the temple, teaching every morning. At night, he retreated to the Mount of Olives—praying, we imagine (hold on to that image of him praying at night to fuel his day). Among Jesus’s final words, Luke claims he said: “Take care your hearts aren’t dulled by drinking parties, drunkenness, and the anxieties of day-to-day life. Don’t let that day (the coming of the day of the Lord) fall upon you unexpectedly, like a trap.”
Jesus’s counsel (v. 36) in a time when it feels like the world is coming apart, because it may really be coming apart: Stay alert. Pay attention. Be present. Pray.
I confess—these words feel inadequate, weak, untimely. I want everything resolved in favor of personal and social shalom NOW. But hope is not the same as optimism. Hope is rooted in trusting in God. Trust may best grow by paying attention, just as Jesus practiced and counseled.
Dr. Gary Peluso-Verdend
President Emeritus and
Executive Director of the Center for Religion in Public Life
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