St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
November 30, 2025
Year A: The First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44
Packing Our Bags
You know, it’s rare that everything comes together just as you hoped, but that’s what happened on Monday night at our beautiful Interfaith Thanksgiving Service.
On the Monday night before Thanksgiving, lots of people (the official count was 148) journeyed from their homes out into the dark to gather here with people of other faiths, people with different ideas about all sorts of things, gathering because what unites us is way more important than what divides us, gathering because it is good for us to gather.
Jon and our choir, joined by singers and musicians from other congregations, gave us beautiful music.
The visiting clergy offered profound prayers, in most cases, prayers they had written themselves.
And we raised just under $1000 for the Community Crisis Center!
I know that Thanksgiving has passed and we are moving onto the next thing, but if you need of some uplift (and who doesn’t?), I encourage you to watch the video on YouTube or on our church website.
In my reflection on Monday night, I talked a little bit about my childhood Thanksgivings, when my extended family plus some other guests would squeeze into the living room and kitchen of my grandparents’ not very large rowhouse in downtown Jersey City.
So, memories of my grandparents – and especially my faithful and hardworking grandmother – were already on my mind when I turned my attention from Thanksgiving to Advent, the holy season of anticipation and preparation that begins today.
I’m convinced that Advent is the most counter-cultural season of the Church Year.
We all know that out in the world, it’s already the “Christmas Season.”
People are scrambling to buy gifts and put up decorations, doing their best to create a nice holiday for their families and friends.
Even here at church, next Sunday evening we’ll enjoy “Carols and Casseroles” and light our Christmas tree – and then there’s the Christmas Extravaganza, our amazing festival of community and generosity, just a week from Tuesday.
These are all good things.
And, in part, Advent is a spiritual preparation for Christmas.
But, as we heard loud and clear in today’s lessons, Advent is also the season when we are meant to prepare for the last day, the day of judgment, to be ready for the Second Coming of Christ.
And, as Jesus says at the end of today’s gospel lesson, his second coming, his return, will be at an unexpected hour – so we need to be alert.
And we need to be ready.
Which brings me back to my grandmother.
I remember visiting her in her apartment in a senior citizen building, towards the end of her life.
As I’ve mentioned before, she was a person of great faith, a very devout Roman Catholic.
And I’m not sure how we got to talking about ultimate things, but at one point she said something that got my attention.
Anticipating the end of her life, she said:
“My bags are packed.”
As you’d guess, those words – “My bags are packed” – made me sad.
In the moment, I thought she meant that she was done with life, that she was just sort of sitting around waiting to die.
But that wasn’t it – and as I’ve reflected on that vivid expression – “My bags are packed” – I’m pretty sure that, for her, “packing her bags” meant that she knew that she had lived her life as faithfully as she could – not perfectly, of course, but as lovingly and generously as she could, so she felt prepared for the end.
And the end – or what might seem to be the end – was nothing to fear.
Advent is a season for us to pack our bags.
Advent is a season for us to pack our bags with prayer.
With God’s help, this is a season for us to spend even just a few minutes in prayer, maybe at the start or end of the day, maybe instead of doomscrolling on our phone or zoning out in front of the TV – a few minutes of prayer, to thank God for our many blessings, to ask God’s help to face the challenges ahead of us.
Advent is a season for us to pack our bags with repentance and forgiveness.
With God’s help, this is a season for us to repent of the ways we’ve gone wrong, the ways we’ve missed the mark, the ways that we’ve been selfish, unkind, or judgmental. This is a season for us ask for forgiveness - and also to offer forgiveness, to let it go, to unburden ourselves and ease the burdens of others.
Advent is a season for us to pack our bags with community.
With God’s help, it really is good for us to gather.
I think that’s why so many people ventured into the night and came to our service on Monday. People – we – are hungry for community – hungry for what we receive here every week.
So, over these next busy four weeks, make time for community – come to church each of these four Advent Sundays, witness the lighting of each of the Advent candles, come have some casseroles and sing some carols, join us for the Extravaganza, our festival of community and generosity.
And, yes, Advent is a season for us to pack our bags with generosity.
With God’s help, let’s provide Christmas gifts for families in need, a gift card, a toy, a sweater.
Or, if we can’t afford that, all of us can manage picking up the phone to call or text someone we know is struggling - and a lot of people are struggling right now – the holidays are hard for all sorts of reasons, the times we live in are challenging for all sorts of reasons.
But we can be generous with our time and our attention, our genuine care for others.
Advent is a season for us to pack our bags.
My grandmother’s final illness took place during Christmastime.
Since I was a teacher, I was off from school, and able to spend a lot of time with her in the hospital, spending more time with her than I had since I was a kid.
It was a hard time, but a beautiful time, too.
Once, while I was sitting beside her hospital bed, she turned to me and, calmly and confidently, she said, “I know where I’ve come from and I know where I am going.”
“I know where I’ve come from and I know where I am going.”
I’m not sure if she knew that she was quoting Jesus (it’s John 8:14).
My grandmother’s words were life-changing for me, making me wonder what I would need to do so that I could face my future, my fate, with as much faithful confidence – it’s one of the things that nudged me to explore my sense of call to the priesthood.
I’ve told this story many times but it’s only now that I’ve connected it to what she had told me before, back in her apartment, about her bags being packed.
Of course, she was calm and confident: her bags were packed.
With God’s help, as we begin a new Church Year, as we begin Advent, let’s pack our bags with prayer, repentance, community, and generosity.
And with our bags packed, we’ll be prepared.
And there will be nothing to fear.
Amen.
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