First Sunday in Advent -December 1, 2002
The Holy Gospel - Mark 13:24-37
13:24 "But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
13:25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
13:26 Then they will see ’the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.
13:27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
13:28 "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.
13:29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
13:30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.
13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
13:32 "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
13:33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.
13:34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.
13:35 Therefore, keep awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn,
13:36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.
13:37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
Two Ways to Reclaim the Holiness of the Season
In the name of God, Father, Son (+), and Holy Spirit. Amen.
These are strange words with which to begin the Christmas season. Of course it is no longer known as the Christmas Season. The New Orleans Times Picayune newspaper coined a new phrase on Friday, “The Shopping Season.” Page one headlines proclaim “Shopping Season Showing Promise.”
That may be good news for a sagging economy, but I am a little bit offended that Christmas is now known merely as “the shopping season.” And I am dismayed that the word “promise,” so connected with the Scriptures, is now connected with mall managers’ prognostications. But I suspect there won’t be many letters to the editor, like when someone sets up a nativity scene on the lawn of a public building – God forbid!
If you look deeper, you might even wonder if our whole culture is becoming hostile to the Christian faith, not by direct confrontation, but by co-opting everything Christian about the season, and turning it into something to boost sales.
All of which is why we need the words of Jesus today, as “Un-Christmas-Season” like (or should I say “Un-Shopping Season Like”?) as they are. They keep us mindful that there is more at stake in the celebration of the season of Advent and Christmas than the economy. They remind us that there is a bigger picture to be kept in mind and that bigger picture has to do with God, and the reason for the Advent of his Son at Bethlehem.
The Advent, the coming, of God’s Son to Bethlehem, was for the redemption of the world, not the resurrection of the bottom line. And that redemption was accomplished by his suffering death, and resurrection from the dead, not by a better sales campaign.
What is more, where we really are now is where the text says we are: waiting for the day when we “will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Then he will send out his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven…but about that day and that hour no one knows…watch therefore!” We are post resurrection, and waiting for the Second Advent, his coming in glory.
Jesus’ words remind us that the Biblical vision of what God is doing is more global and universal than we are attuned to in this culture. For example if you take out your worship guide and skim the Bible readings for this weekend, and circle all the times the word “I” and “me” and “mine” occur, do you know how many circles do you end up with? The answer is not one. Why? It’s because the Biblical writers are always thinking and writing “globally” and communally. God’s vision is not about me it’s about us, the human family!
We live in a culture that maximizes the individual experience. Among the billions who want to know, “what’s in it for me,” you and I as the church are called to be the voice of God’s global vision, a universality that says there is a more important question.
We are called to say, “wait a minute, we are all in this together, all of us, black and white, poor and middle class, Jew, Muslim, Christian, or atheist, we are all in this together.” Jesus was born among the least and the lowly, not among those who could afford an X-box for him to play when he got older.
The question is how can we, as God’s church, express that global and universal vision of what God is doing the Bible in this holy season? How can we do it more faithfully in this church, than perhaps we have in the past? How can we re-claim the holiness of this season at least in some small measure? Whose birthday is it any way? I want to suggest two ways we might reclaim some of the holiness of this season.
1. One way we might do that is to be aware of the pain of the whole world, and not just our own pain. When people die in terrorist attacks in other places, and Americans are not necessarily the targets, as happened this past week in Kenya, we get much less offended. Why is that? In part it’s because it didn’t happen to us.
Maybe it would be more faithful for us to think more globally and communally about human pain. Maybe it would be better to ask ourselves at worship, what does this text, this sermon, this liturgy, have to do with God’s people all over world? What does this tell us about “us” as a human race?
Hopefully we’ll conclude, “Gee, we are all in this together! How has God blessed us to be able to do something about the hurts and pains other people have?” So one way to begin to move away from the self-indulgence of our “shopping season culture” might be by remembering the pain and hurt of others.
St. Francis of Assisi wrote a wonderful prayer on this the goes in part, “Lord…grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.” It’s a prayer we should all take to heart, and can help us reclaim some of the holiness of the season.
2. Another way to express the universal vision of God in the Bible and reclaim the holiness of this season might be simply to be more aware of the presence of others outside our own circle of friends and family.
There are always people around us we don’t know. And sometimes we are too quick with a word of judgment and suspicion about people we don’t know. The other day I saw two guys passing out handbills in our neighborhood. They were weird looking, with dread locks down past their shoulders and bright striped pants. I only saw them for a moment, but I felt a little anxious. What are those guys doing in my neighborhood?
Do you suppose we can be like that in church too? God calls new people into churches…maybe they look different…what do they see and feel when they come here?
For example, imagine I am a visitor. If, by the subtle prompting of the Holy Spirit, I show up to visit with you for worship, when I arrive I am a little anxious because there are people here whom I don’t know. While I don’t want to get smothered, if no one talks to me either, well, I wonder, what’s up with that? And maybe I think, “I came to their church and no one noticed.”
Our problem is we each have our own agenda. And just like the discount stores don’t really care much about the Gospel at Christmas but about their bottom line, sometimes Christians are more concerned about what they are about – their own personal bottom line -- than about being global. We may be focused on our own families, and our own friends, and not take time to notice those who are strangers to us.
But here is the question: should the worship of God’s church be a reunion of our bio-families, or should it be a welcome home for those who are struggling to find a spiritual family? What do you think is God’s idea of church?
Expressing God’s global vision can be as simple a thing as making sure you share the peace with the people you don’t know before you share the peace with the people you do know, or after the service leaning over and saying, “Hello, my name is Joe, or whatever… I should probably know your name, but I don’t…”
We express God’s global vision when, for the sake of Christ, we welcome the one’s we do not yet know into our circle of fellowship.
You are right. Today’s Gospel reading is not very Christmas-like. But it does remind us the way to reclaim the holiness of the season is to be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born, lived, died and was raised from death for the whole human family. That’s God’s Biblical global vision.
His Gospel says not only are we all in this together, but God in Christ has been in it with us.
Let us pray. Lord, our Christmas time can so easily turn into self-indulgence and self- absorption. Keep us mindful of the One whose birth we are preparing to celebrate, and grant that, as your church, we may more faithfully reflect your global vision of compassion and hope in all that we do to prepare for the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ. In the name of God, Father, Son (+) and Holy Spirit. Amen.
