The church year turns to another beginning, another new
year. We look to new years with hope, expectation, anticipation of better
relationships between people, and even countries, even when the reality of our
lives may be much more bleak. But, Advent, the church’s new year, invites us to
stay awake, don’t fall asleep or cover our eyes when the going gets tough. And.
there is a Caribou coffee tag line - life is short, stay awake! I feel that way
about Advent, Advent is short, stay awake, stay alert, or you'll miss it and
all the Good News.
Indeed, our culture has already missed it. Christmas carols,
Christmas trees, Christmas decorations. Christmas is all around us, and today I
encourage you, at least in this sacred space, to make room for Advent.
In the cacophony of Christmas, make room for quiet. In the
race to Christmas, make room for waiting, preparing, anticipating. Advent
really isn't that foreign to us, it is where we live most of our lives, in the
tension of what has been and what is to be. Advent calls us to live that
tension intentionally. Rather than be lulled to sleep by the shiny balls and
blinking lights, stay awake, stay alert, listen, and turn toward God.
Advent calls us to occupy the space between the
inconceivability of incarnation and the mystery of resurrection, the messiness
of birth and the hope of new life, the reality of brokenness and the joy of
healing. Advent calls us to be fully present in each event and activity, and to
be fully present with each person. Advent calls us not to walk through this
time with indifference, but to shine the light of love and hope in all places
and at all times. Advent calls us to sit with the other, to look into the eye
of the other, and to listen, not to talk. Advent calls us to stand next to
the one that you really cannot stand, the one you really disagree with, and
look toward love and hope together.
This is the very darkest time of the year. We look for
light, that's why we hang twinkly lights on everything, that's why we light
candles. But here, in the church, we don't light them all, not yet, we light
them one at a time, watching the light build, preparing for the light that is
Jesus to be fully blazing.
And, on this first day of Advent this year, and next week as
well, we have before us the gospel of Mark. This is a story of assurance. We
know that God is love, and love drives out darkness and fear. And, some of these passages we read during Advent
may seem to be pretty scary reading.
But Mark is not pointing us to end times. There is no
mention in here of the end of the world, no indication of final judgment, no
call to flee the day-to-day realities and obligations and responsibilities of life,
only the promise that the Son of Man is near. Indeed, if we recognize that the
key temporal markers of the parable that concludes this passage – evening,
midnight, cockcrow, and dawn – as identical to the temporal markers of the
passion story about to commence, then we realize that much if not all of what
comes before – darkening of the sun, the powers being shaken, etc. – also
correspond with key elements of the passion narrative. Mark, in other words,
isn’t pointing us to a future apocalypse but rather a present one, as Christ’s
death and resurrection change absolutely everything. Jesus suffers all that the
world and empire and death have to throw at him…and is raised to new life!…and
nothing will ever be the same again. Including our present lives and
situations.
The church has long counseled keeping Advent as a season of
active and vigilant preparation for, rather than constant celebration of,
Christmas. And so it is the Good News, the Incarnation, that is spoken into any
fearful time, as it is the Good News and the Incarnation that is spoken into
the fear of our time. It is god-in-our-midst that is hope and promise. It is
into all of this that Mark cries stay awake! Stay awake!
So maybe that is what staying awake during Advent can be all
about. Maybe in the midst of the cacophony of Christmas, in the quiet we can
hear the voice of Good News. When the herald of consumerism speaks more loudly
than does the angel Gabriel we need to stay awake to hear the announcement that
a child will be born and that the world is about to turn. When the blast of
trumpets announcing sale after sale drowns out the voice singing “my soul
cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great, and my spirit
sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait” we need to be
quiet to hear the music.
Maybe we even need to be quiet to hear the beat of our own
heart, and the beat of God's heart within us, the beat that says there is
nothing you can do that will make me turn my love from you.
Maybe we even need to be quiet to hear the love of Jesus
moving in our blood, giving nourishment to our bodies, our minds, and our
hearts.
Maybe we even need to be quiet to hear the movement of the
Spirit, enlivening us with new birth, connecting us to one another, connecting
us to the ones who have not yet said yes to the Good News of Jesus, connecting
us to all those who are broken and hurting on this most amazing day, at the
beginning of this, most amazing season.
Today we light the first candle of Advent. We watch its
quiet light flicker in the darkness, anticipating the light and the love and
the hope of Jesus.
How will you make room in your busy life this Advent, to
hear the word of Love?
How will you make room in your busy life this Advent, to
share the Light of Jesus?
How will you make room in your busy life this Advent, to
speak love and hope into fear and darkness?
How will you make room in your busy life this Advent to
proclaim the love that wins?
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