First
Sunday of Advent, Year A
Isaiah 2.1-5
Psalm
122
Romans 13.11-14
Matthew 24.36-44
“LET”
The other day I was in a store that
had a lot of hobby and craft supplies. I
don’t do crafts, unlike my cousins I have no talent for them, but the stores
have some things I occasionally need. So
I passed about eight aisles of Christmas items and was looking, tongue in cheek
here, for the Advent section. There was
a nice Hanukkah display, as there should be, but no part of the store was
devoted to Advent. Christmas is a very
big deal, while Advent scarcely gets noticed.
Advent is the time before Christmas in which to
prepare for the celebration of the birth of Christ. Now millions and millions prepare for
Christmas, buying gifts, cooking, decorating one’s home, sending out greetings,
and so forth. But that is not the kind
of preparation Advent is. Those other things
are good and needed if a person is going to celebrate Christmas, but they don’t
really get at the meaning of it. There
is something to Advent, what we do in Advent, that most people don’t understand
or appreciate. It is a different kind of
preparation. It is never going to have
an aisle in a store.
The meaning is, that since Christ has come into our
world and we live in the expectation of his return, we live both in that hope,
but also in the urgency that Christ’s return could come any moment. We prepare for Christ’s return by our
behavior. The Gospel reading talks about
how that return could come at any time.
So the lives we lead are not just preparing for one season of the year. And we are to be prepared for an event that
will change our lives forever. We live
in the hope, not of Santa’s coming, or of Rudolph, or of Frosty the snowman,
but of the One whom we celebrate in this season, coming back to us as he first
came to us many years ago. Paul’s letter
to the Romans echoes that thought.
The reading from Isaiah talks about
what will happen in the time to come. Nations
will come to God’s house. People will want
to learn God’s ways and nations will learn ways of peace rather than war. That is, as much as this is a wonderful
season with things that delight us, there will be change within us. We will turn to God. That is the character of this season.
So, some recommendations. Let, that is, allow, the season come when it
comes. Let it unfold as you prepare for
it. Folks who sell things want
everything to happen fast so they can move on to the next sales event. But there is more to this season than
things. There are people we share things
with. That takes time and sometimes
effort. There are memories which put our
lives into perspective. There are
opportunities for kindness. Sometimes it
takes some thought. There might be
people you can reconnect with over four weeks that you could not.
Let others enjoy Christmas, too. The past few years there are some who make
the greetings of this season into some kind of crusade. They say “Merry Christmas” and demand that
everyone else use that same greeting. It
is ironic that what is called a season of peace is made into a conflict by them. Forcing people to say what you want them to,
suggests maybe they don’t really understand the season at all. Remember, whatever Christmas means to you, it
means something to others as well.
Let the meaning of the season take
root in our lives. We say, yes, we know
what this holiday is about. But then we
surround ourselves with other things and the real meaning does not seem to
touch us. We need to be more conscious
about what part of our lives these days are.
The meaning of the wonder of Christ coming into our world is not to have
new socks or new games or new tools or new fragrances, but new souls. They can only be formed as we spend time with
God, as we put away the old things to take up this new thing.
Let the things of Christmas bring
you joy, but remember, they are just things.
We need to do something where God takes first place and all the other
things fall back into where they belong.
We start out the season thinking about the Savior of the world, but end
up talking about tinsel. Philip Gulley
tells about the time he was mistaken for someone else and appointed to a
prestigious board in his denomination.
He went to the meetings throughout the country. The best part he found, though, was telling
people he was serving on that important board.
He said that the last time he felt so important was when he won second
place in the 1972 Danville Optimist Bicycle Safety Rodeo. He realizes that it meant so much to him
because it caused others to think well of him and led him to exaggerate his
accomplishments. As he worked as a
pastor, he ran across the idea of idols in the Bible, and noted that altars in
the Old Testament were often made out of stones. He says, “Today we still have idols, and they’re
more sophisticated than mere graven images.
Modern idols are those things we love more than God, including the
obvious temptations like cars, fancy houses, and grand-sounding job titles. If we value anything more than God, it is
idolatry, plain and simple.” We prepare
for this season by putting away things of lesser importance so that we can
spend time with what is more important, and even the most important. What is most important as we look towards
Christmas is not our traditions and celebrations, but that Christ has come and
is coming into our world and into our hearts.
We find the meaning of Christmas when we let go of the other things.
Christmas comes each year. We race to it and then it is over and the
most important part of our lives, who we are, has not changed in a season which
is about wonder and miracles and God’s presence and grace. For the season to be what it is supposed to
be, we need to do something different. We
need to pay attention to what God is doing in our lives, more than what
marketing people want to do with them. We
need to find the meaning, not in noise, but in relationship with God. For this to happen we need to be open to
this, you have to let yourself be open to it.
Lancelot Andrewes wrote this prayer 400 years ago:
Open thou mine eyes and I shall see;
Incline my heart and I shall desire;
Order my steps and I shall walk
In the ways of thy commandments.
O Lord God, be thou to me a God
And beside thee let there be none else,
No other, naught else with thee.
Vouchsafe to me to worship thee and serve thee
According to thy commandments
In truth of spirit, in reverence of body,
In blessings of lips,
In private and in public.
