While looking at my car the other day, someone asked, “Does it have a rotary engine?” Clearly, this was an older fellow who’s been around long enough to know that Mazda had at one point produced vehicles with rotary motors. I immediately thought of Uncle Fred.
When I was a kid, my mom had friends who used to come and visit from time to time. They were an older couple, and Auntie Margaret as we used to call her, had nursed with mom many years before. So once in a while, from time to time, Uncle Fred and Auntie Margaret would call up and say, “We’re on our way for a visit…”
Uncle Fred drove a little Mazda 1/4 ton truck, and it had a rotary motor. He thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, although I was never entirely sure what “rotary motor” meant.
Here’s the thing…when Uncle Fred and Auntie Margaret said they were “on their way for a visit,” there was no way to be sure about when they’d show up. They lived a very long ways away, and for them, in retirement, there was never a rush about getting anywhere. They would stop here and there, for a day or two, and eventually, one day, there they’d be! Expected, but somehow unexpected.
On the first Sunday in Advent, in an entirely new church year, we shall explore this whole business of when it is that we might expect Jesus again. Advent is the time when we prepare for Jesus’ coming at Christmas, but also when we reflect upon his promised coming again.