I once dated a guy who never used my name. At first this didn't seem odd, because my father never used our given names, either-not even my mother's. But my dad used pet names for us: Stinky, Snurnisse, Old Woman. We knew who he was talking to. But this guy that I used to date never used any name for me. He'd wait until he caught my eye to start talking. There is something disconcerting about not being called by name, something almost intimate when we are. Which is why we're using names to journey through Advent this year. Using a person's name can be powerful.

Psychologists tell us that "how" we talk about something reveals a great deal about what that thing is to us. What we call the One for whom we wait is important. Today's name is "Jesus." If you listened carefully, you noticed that I only used two syllables to pronounce that name. "Jesus." Had I used three syllables, you would have known something entirely different about what I was going to say. "Ja-HE-sus!" Some of you would have (at least emotionally) gotten up and left, because you would have sensed the threat of an altar call, possibly the laying on of hands with that pronunciation: "Je-HE-sus!" But I'm not going to do that today. For one thing, our scripture texts just don't take us there. Today's name is more "Jesus."

Actually, our texts give us a pretty terrifying, dreadful urgent Sunday. If this is about waiting, it requires alertness, because there is something dire coming down. Isaiah has the mountains shaking and rolling, fire burning up the slash, and a God who is angry at our sin, but whose absence causes it. Jesus sees stars falling from the heavens and ominous slave owners returning, a powerful judge arriving on clouds gathering people from the ends of the earth. Yipes! Cut to baby sweet and mild, soft lantern glow in the barn and cattle lowing in the background.

But not yet. If we're going to get to the bottom of this name, we've got to go through the wary time of alertness. The name means "Savior," but before we get to a Savior, we've got to know that we need redemption. The One Who Judges is coming, and none will be found righteous. If we want to experience God's hope, we've got to know there are no other alternatives. Certainly none we provide.

Some of you may know that I experienced pain this fall. As a result, I have learned a great deal about the human body in general and mine in particular. Something was going on in my neck, which hurt my back and right arm. Part of the pain was that my doctor was stingy about giving pain pills. Boy, was I mad at her. She wrote out a list of referrals, but she refused pills. "I don't want you getting addicted," she said. I saw a physical therapist. I know that many of you have had love-hate relationships with your physical therapists over the years. It's the pain. Physical therapists no longer say, "No pain, no gain," but you know that's what they mean. My physical therapist taught me about trigger points as pain relievers. Your arm may hurt, but pressing certain places in your back causes even more pain in your arm. That's a trigger point. What I learned was, if I could breathe through the pain of the trigger point, the pain in my arm would subside.

When the trigger point was released, the local pain stopped immediately. What is happening in today's scripture lessons is kind of like trigger point work. It's that weird thing Jesus says about the fig tree. When things are dire, dangerous, ferocious, terrifying, and painful-that's when you are getting close to relief. You are on the verge of the Judgment Day, the Day of the Lord, so stay alert to notice it. Good news. This is good news? When my kids were little, they spent a lot of time trying to control each other's behavior. You may be familiar with this phenomenon. The control issues were particularly noticeable when I left them on their own. They were old enough to be responsible. And they tried to prove it on each other. "You can't go out until you finish your supper." "You're not supposed to watch TV until your homework is done." "Mom didn't say you could wear that." Of course, you know the result of children controlling each other's behavior. Some of these folks grow up to write our laws. I used to tell my kids that they would have more time to live their own lives if they stopped living each other's. As if that made a difference. Jesus apparently didn't say, "You're gonna get it when Mom comes home!" but he may as well have. Jesus says, "Stay alert. Keep awake. Be wary."

What is that all about? Waiting. What sort of waiting? Not like young people, partying while their parents are away for the weekend, careful to clean up before the expected return on Sunday afternoon. Not like flossing after every meal, but only for the last week before your dental appointment. Not like studying all night before the biology exam. Not like that, Jesus seems to say, because the parents may come back as early as Saturday night or as late as Monday or even Tuesday, because the dentist can see you haven't flossed the previous five months and three weeks, because ten weeks of intended learning can't be crammed into eight hours. To wait as if God isn't present, Isaiah says, is to sin. To wait as if God is just around the corner is fruitful. Would you behave differently? We know what waiting is like. Test results: cancer or not? Parents returning: will we be grounded when they find out? Stoplights, check out lines, the coming school break, when will supper get done, your turn in the bathroom. We just don't know how to wait fruitfully, expectantly. Waiting can feel like either a waste of time or dread. That's what our texts sound like today: dread. And we ought to! We need to! It's appropriate to! Dread-unless and until we get to Jesus, the savior. Would you behave differently?

The name we are using to enter Advent's waiting is "Jesus." It's the name of the Savior, a name meaning salvation. Fruitful waiting for today means embracing the meaning of "Jesus." Savior. Our need for that Savior. Jesus never made himself the center of his teachings. Jesus did not go around proclaiming that he was the Messiah, God's gift to the world. Jesus simply pointed to the reign of God. Jesus didn't even point out his role in the reign of God. He just submitted to what God asked him to do to bring it about. Savior.

As we try to wait this Advent, as we are expectant about the Coming One, let us do the same as Jesus: point, submit. Know that his name is Jesus, Savior, and he invites us to this table. His very invitation is one that points to the future coming, the future reign, the time of our redemption. Now that is fruitful! May we also point to the coming time when people from the north and south, from the east and west, will sit together and enjoy this feast. Welcome home, children of God. Come to the table.