Sermon by Pr. Michelle Sevig on the First Sunday of Advent + Sunday, November 8, 2026
Take a look around this worship space. What do you notice? Some might wonder if the blue tsunami swept into our worship space as well this week. Blue paraments on the altar, blue candles on our wreath, a new blue chasuble, even the pastor’s nails are painted blue.
But the blue wave in this space has nothing to do with politics. Today is the first day of seven weeks of Advent. Since 2013, Holy Trinity has joined others in an ecumenical movement to extend the season of Advent.
Often, Advent merely becomes a season to prepare for Christmas, or enjoy calendars filled with chocolates, tea, even wine, as we count down the days to Christmas Eve. But this extended season invites us to incorporate Advent themes of preparation and anticipation into November. Historically, the color blue has been linked to themes of anticipation, hope, and the divine presence. So get ready for a spiritual blue wave in church as we prepare, with hope, for the coming of Christ.
In today’s gospel Jesus tells a parable about ten women who are waiting for a wedding celebration to begin. They’ve brought their lamps to welcome the bridegroom, but he’s running later than expected. So late that every one of them falls asleep, even the “wise ones.” Then somebody shouts, “Look! Here is the bridegroom!” And suddenly they’re all awake, fumbling with their lamps in the dark. Five have brought extra oil. Five are watching their flames sputter and go out.
I feel for those five who are left out, door shut in their face. I wonder why the others didn’t share. By the time they get back from buying oil from a dealer in the middle of the night, the party has already started, and they’re standing outside begging the door keeper to let them in. It’s a hard ending to hear. And then Jesus explains the parable, “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day, nor the hour.”
If all ten fell asleep, what does Jesus mean by “keep awake”? The wise ones had made room for a longer wait than they expected. They were prepared and ready to greet him when he arrived.
And I wonder what it looks like for us to do the same as we wait for Christ’s arrival. How do we keep expecting Christ when we’ve prayed for something to change and it hasn’t? How do we stay ready to welcome him, when we’ve gotten so used to waiting that we’ve almost forgotten what we’re waiting for?
Most Lutherans would never bring up the Second Coming in conversation, we leave that to the others who are expecting a big reveal from the Holy One someday. But we do refer to Christ coming again in worship all the time. In the eucharistic prayer we proclaim boldly, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” In the Apostles’ Creed we say that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead. And every time we pray “your kingdom come,” in the Lord’s Prayer we’re asking for Christ to come again and make this world whole.
The early Christians had a prayer for that longing–Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus! This prayer, come Lord Jesus, was not whispered reluctantly, but cried out with longing. They wanted Christ to come, soon and fully, because they trusted that his coming meant healing, restoration, and joy.
Bernard of Clairvaux, a monk who lived some nine hundred years ago, talked about three Advents, not just the blue one we observe the next 7 weeks. “Advent” is from the Latin word, Adventus, which means a coming, approach, arrival. Bernard named three ways Christ’s advent (arrival) appears to us. There’s the one we know best, when Jesus came to us as a baby. And there’s the one we pray for, when Christ will come again at the end of the age to welcome all the living and the dead into the embrace of God. But Bernard said there’s another Advent (arrival) right in the middle. And that’s the one we’re living in now where Christ is coming among us again and again and again.
What does this middle advent look like? Christ comes among us not with dramatic signs or cosmic warnings. But in the grace of the ordinary. The kindness of a stranger. A moment of forgiveness. A warm meal shared with a friend. A sudden swell of compassion. These are Advent moments—moments that reveal God is already here.
And sometimes Christ comes in unexpected ways, in a person whose need interrupts our plans. The hungry mother. The lonely prisoner. The immigrant neighbor whose language is different from our own. It takes a certain kind of wakefulness to see Christ there, especially when we’re tired or in a hurry, or when we know that paying attention might ask something of us.
On this first day of Advent we hear from the prophet Amos, who questions the worship practices of his people and admonishes them (and us) to “Let justice roll down like water!” It's as if he’s saying, “I love the music we make in this space. I love the blue decorations and the candles and all the care that goes into making worship beautiful. But all of that is meaningless if justice and care for the needy among us is not overflowing like a thunderous waterfall.
Amos’ words invite us to ask questions we need to hear in this season of waiting and anticipation. What happens when we leave this space and this time of worship? When we pray for God’s kingdom to come, are we ready for Christ to show us where someone is still waiting for a little of that kingdom to reach them?
Maybe that yearning we feel for a more just world, for a life in which our neighbors have enough to eat and a safe place to sleep, is itself one of the ways Christ gently taps us on the shoulder, encouraging us to wake up.
The season of Advent encourages us to wait patiently for the coming of Christ, while also inviting us to recognize that he is already here. Christ comes this day as we gather around God’s Word and this Meal–A little taste of the wedding feast while we’re still waiting for the whole world to be made new. Christ is coming in the poor and hungry, the sick and dying, and all who are at the margins. Christ is coming in our hopes and dreams for a more just world. Christ is coming in our yearning that there is more to life than we presently know.
Christ will come again, yes. And Christ is arriving now over and over again. May we be stirred to wakefulness and notice the Holy One who has been with us all along. Amen
