Advent invites us to focus on our need for the presence of God. Yet, while we believe that Christ has come into the world, everything, on the surface at least, did not get better. Isaiah’s vision of weapons turned into farm implements has not been realized, and peace seems at best a remote hope. Wars and rumors of wars still abound. Death and disease and troubles of every sort still torment us like a cat playing with his wounded catch.

But don’t give up, says our Lord. Be ready! Wait. Be on guard! Only what Jesus is asking is that we be watchful, not for disaster, but for him in the midst of it all--God’s presence. Those who become aware of this presence are those who are, in the words of the gospel, taken. Taken doesn’t mean what has been hyped as "the rapture". It means something far more wonderful: in our daily lives, as we’re going about our ordinary duties, we discover the presence of Jesus Christ, asking us to accept our lives as gifts of God offered in service to the world, through the very ordinariness of what we are and do. And in those moments, our view of existence is changed.

As it is expressed by Jesus, being taken is being invited along on the adventure of discovering the realm of God in the midst of the ordinary, just like the first disciples. Remember? The first followers were ordinary commercial fishermen, until the Jesus showed up and everything changed—for them. They saw who Christ was, somehow. Others didn’t. And the others were, so to speak, left behind. Therefore, Watch, be on guard, don’t fall asleep at the wheel! Why? Because the very worst thing that can ever happen to us is to miss the presence of God.

Advent as a season of getting us ready for a true celebration of Christmas reminds us that God entered our world in Jesus Christ. Our primary task is not to seek great spiritual experiences on mountain tops, or by over-spending and decorating try to create the greatest Christmas ever. Everything our souls long for is already here: Jesus in the ordinary. Jesus even in the forgotten, the marginalized. In fact, the spirit of Christmas urges us to find him among those we might consider God-forsaken: in the faces and the needs of the poor, the homeless, the sick, the prisoners, the broken-hearted. But if there, then surely Christ is also here, among us in Word and Sacrament, and also in our families. And also in our often difficult workplaces.

Jesus as Emmanuel—God-with-us—is what Advent urges us to look for. We already long for him, now let us stay awake, watch, look, and listen. One pastor recently wrote,

"By far the best way is to live our daily lives constantly in the presence of the Lord who touches our lives at every moment. One writer called this the "sacrament of the present moment". Every moment of our lives, every experience, every person, every action and every word is a sacrament of God's presence. He can be found there and responded to. When we live our lives constantly surrendering to his presence and seeing his hand in everything that happens to us, we will not be afraid when the final call comes. We will not be caught unawares. Perhaps there were some people like that in World Trade Center that day. Perhaps they had already begun their day with prayer or had already [gone to] Mass on their way to work. Even in those last terrible moments when they saw the inevitable, they united themselves to their Lord and went to meet him. We will never know." [Frank Doyle, SJ]

That’s right. We never know. The end can come anytime for us, but it will not matter if each and every day we live in the presence of God.

Brother Lawrence, a simple monk of the medieval church, became famous for his teaching of the practice of the presence of God. Brother Lawrence lived his life as though it were a Sacrament of the Present Moment. For forty some years he lived in and practiced the presence of God, as he went about his ordinary work as a helper in the kitchen of a Carmelite monastery in 17th century Paris, where he became known for his simple, practical faith. His great gift and teaching to us was that amidst outward affairs and daily occupations, all Christians have the ability, by the grace of God, to enjoy an ongoing fellowship with God.

Capturing the spirit of Brother Lawrence an unknown author penned this little verse, called he Kitchen Prayer":

Lord of all pots and pans and things,
since I've not time to be a saint,
by doing lovely things,
or watching late with Thee,
Or dreaming in the dawn light, or storming heavens gates,
Make me a saint by getting meals, and washing up the plates. Amen

Discovering God’s presence as we prepare the meals, wash the plates, change the diapers or the oil in the car, chat with the check-out clerk, stare at the computer screen in our workplace cubicles, order our Starbucks, pay the bills, get dressed for work or kiss goodnight, we become saints of the ordinary, sacraments of the present moment, overflowing with kindness and love.

Finding Christ in such ordinariness, we come to realize that we are embraced always by the loving and forgiving presence of God. And then we are ready. Every day. For anything. Amen