Sunday, November 27, 2022

First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13: (8-10) 11-14
Matthew 24:36-44

Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.

Have you ever been anxious to go somewhere, but you are held up because someone is holding up the journey? I remember those years with kids when they’d call out “I’m coming” and still take several minutes before they are ready to go. Not that I had a right to complain, since I have often been the one to hold up the journey. “Let’s go” someone would say and we would begin to gather our things. Unfortunately, I often can’t find my keys or my cell phone or I need to use the restroom. “I’m coming,” I answer, and it seems a lifetime before I am actually ready to go. I have to return to the house too many times because I’ve forgotten something I need for that journey.

Imagine what it must have been like preparing for the journey to Jerusalem! Those pilgrims could be away from home for weeks. They didn't have a McDonald’s on every corner, so they had to carry food and water. The surely didn’t pack suitcases full of outfits for their journey, but they did need more than the clothes on their backs. They also needed the gifts and offerings they planned to make at the Temple. Someone calling “Let’s go,” was probably filled with as much excitement and exasperation as it is for us today. Our journeys may take us on long adventures or may be the daily excursions to work, school, leisure activities, or the story. Every journey has a destination, some close and others far away. The big journeys might seem of more value, but even though the small journeys seem insignificant, they are opportunities to share God’s grace and grow in faith.

But we don’t always move from place to place on our journeys. We journey through life, from childhood to adulthood, moving from one age to the next. We journey through our education, from kindergarten to graduation day, learning and growing and changing every step along the way. We journey through our faith, walking with Christ from the moment we first heard His voice to the day we will hear Him calling us into eternal life forever. These journeys don’t take us to a place on a map, and they are often harder to identify. Sometimes we don’t realize we are moving forward, or backward. We don’t see how we are growing or changing. We may even think we are standing still, or even worse, that the journey we are on is pointless or insignificant, much like the trip to the grocery store.

The church calendar is cyclical. We begin with Advent, go through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and then Pentecost. The last few weeks of each year, during the month of November, we look forward to the coming of Christ the King. It is a great way to see the whole story of God in a year, to celebrate the works of His hands, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. We see the life and ministry of Jesus develop until He is finally given the Kingdom forever first on the Cross, through the empty tomb and then on Christ the King Sunday. One of the disadvantages is that we go from Christ the King directly into Advent, thus moving from the promise fulfilled to the promise yet to come. It is hard to go back to the beginning once we’ve seen the end. Don’t we get tired of reruns?

I don’t know about you, but there are some movies and shows that I could watch over and over again. Who isn’t anxious for those old cartoon Christmas favorites to show on television? I have at least a few favorite movies that I look forward to every year. Some sitcoms are timeless and make me laugh even if I’ve watched an episode a dozen times. And when it comes to storytelling: I love to tell the same old stories over and over again. I’m not sure my kids like when I do, but those old stories bring joy.

That’s why we don’t get tired of hearing the Good News story of God year after year. It brings us joy to hear about the birth of Jesus and His saving grace. God commanded His people to repeat the story, to remember His good works for His people. The Jews still remember the Exodus year after year, even though it happened thousands of years ago. Oh, there’s parts of God’s story we would rather forget, but we need to remember those parts too, which is why we hear so much of the Bible through our lectionary. The horrors found in the Old Testament point us to the salvation of Jesus in the New. It all points us to the time when time as we know it will end, when we will all experience the beginning of eternity.

We keep the story of Jesus close to our hearts because we don’t know it will happen. Jesus made it clear that even He would not know the time that all things will end. There is a scene in the book of Revelation that shows the Temple emptied of everyone and everything except God Himself. The Temple fills with smoke. From there, God commands the final act of His story as the bowls of judgment are poured out upon the world. At that moment, God gives all people a final chance to choose between joining in the heavenly worship of God and the earthly blaspheming of God. And when it is over, God Himself proclaims that it is done. Jesus could not command those angels with the bowls; only God knew the time when it would happen.

Jesus reminds us that if He doesn’t know, we can’t possibly know when the time will come. This is why it is vital for us to be ready always for the end times. This is why it is vital for us to remember the story over and over again. Besides, the story always brings us joy. I love the song “I Love to Tell the Story” and there is one verse that is particularly meaningful for me. “I love to tell the story; for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, ’twill be the old, old story, that I have loved so long.” This weekend we begin the retelling of the story that we all need to hear over and over again.

The four weeks of Advent may not seem very important, and they certainly get lost in the hustle and bustle of our quest for a perfect holiday. But in chasing after that perfection, we forget that we are beginning a journey toward the greatest story ever told. For the next four weeks we are meant to look forward to His coming even while we know that He has already been here.

Today’s Gospel lesson is not very hopeful, but Advent always begins in darkness. Jesus told his disciples to keep watch for the time of His coming, and to be doing everything He has commanded: loving God with our whole heart and loving one another as ourselves. He warned His disciples that no one will know the time when the Son of Man will come. He told them to prepare their hearts so that they will be strong against those who try to confuse them with false doctrine, false prophets who will come. As the day grows closer, Satan will become more desperate to deceive the children of God. His tactics will become harder to detect, easier to pass from one another.

On this first Sunday of Advent, we are reminded that the Christmas season is about more than presents and parties. We encourage each other to take time for God, to experience His coming with prayer and devotional time, to prepare our hearts for what is to come. It is likely that most people who are reading this already do those things, even outside the season. For many Christians, the Christmas season brings them into fellowship with Christians more often. We have extra services. We have fellowship gatherings. We have Christmas pageants and programs.

We also deal with the secular aspects of the holiday season. I have to admit that I like the secular aspects of Christmas. I like to have the biggest, brightest Christmas tree. I like to bake cookies and make ornaments for my family. I enjoy the brightness, the joy and the love of the season. I even like to shop for Christmas presents. I know that it isn’t all good. I am troubled like so many of you by the pervasiveness of the worldly and greedy aspects of the holidays. I used to love Black Friday, but it became dangerous to be at the door when they opened early in the morning. I’m not sure it will be a problem this year since most stores have had Black Friday savings for the whole month of November.

There are stories that make us wonder about the affects of the secular aspects of the holidays. A woman had the Thanksgiving celebration at her house every year and worked for hours to make everything wonderful for her family. One year, however, a bunch of her family members ate dinner, wiped their mouths and rushed out the door to go to the mall so that they could be there in time for the sales. She said that she was hurt and disappointed that they were more interested in shopping than spending time together. “I won’t invite them again,” she said. A family is falling apart because of this need to be the first in line for the sale.

I suppose in some ways this is exactly what it means to be entering Advent in darkness. Even though the decorations are up, and the lights are twinkling, the attitudes and expectations of the people are exactly why Jesus came in the first place. People are looking to the world instead of to God. People are more interested in fulfilling some quest for the perfect gift (although I imagine a lot of the shopping is not even for others) than in spending time in the company of family and friends. All too often those gifts are not from the heart; they are bought and given out of some duty. After all, third cousin twice removed Bernice really is expecting another duck figurine. And that nephew you never see expects at least a $50 gift card, right?

We fill the night with Christmas lights, but we are wandering in this darkness that has our focus on everything but God. It is no wonder, then, that we begin the Advent season with a warning: Christ can return at any moment. It might be tomorrow, or it might not happen for another ten thousand years. No matter when He comes, we are warned to be ready.

What does it mean to be ready? My husband was in the military for thirty years. He wasn’t often sent on temporary duty at the spur of the moment, but he always had to be ready just in case. He had several bags that were always packed, including one that had personal items like underwear and shaving kit. Those bags were kept close at hand because they could be told that they would be leaving in an hour. They didn’t have time to pack. They barely had time to kiss their families good-bye. There were times when the call was expected. On those occasions they could go through the bag and make sure that the underwear was not holey and the can of shaving cream was full. However, sometimes the time was short, so they went with the pack as it was, even if it was not complete. I think his bag is still in the garage buried under a pile of junk even though he retired many years ago.

What does it mean to be ready for Jesus? We tend to get complacent when things seem to be going well. We pray, but half-heartedly. We read the scriptures, but we shrug if we miss a day. We decide that we are just a little too tired to get up and go to church. It doesn’t matter, anyway, right? God doesn’t take attendance. But what if Jesus came during at a point of apathy. Would you be ready for Christ?

The world is preparing for Christmas. The stores are filled with aisles of gifts and decorations. Invitations for parties have been mailed. The shipping places are already busy with people taking packages to send to family and friends who are far away. There are even a few houses in our neighborhood that have turned on their Christmas lights. It seems hard to believe that we are a month away from Christmas.

Advent is a dichotomy. It is a time when we wait for something we know has already come, and yet we also wait for something that we know is still coming. It is a time of looking to the past while looking to the future. We hope for something we know exists by faith, but which has not yet been completely fulfilled. We wait for the baby in the manger even though we just celebrated the coming of Christ as King.

It can be confusing to hear texts from the final days of Jesus’ life as we prepare for His birth. But that’s what Advent is all about. It is about seeing Christ as He was, as He is and as He will be all at once. When we think of Christ only in terms of the past, the present or the future, we do not live fully in His presence. If we stay in the past, we live as if there is nothing left to be done. We do not bother to keep watch or to wake up from our slumber. If we stay in the present, then we think what we do matters for our salvation. When we look only to the future, we think we have time to get ready and we put off the things we should do for the sake of Christ.

In other words, this first Sunday in Advent we are reminded that Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. As we live in this truth, we realize that our faith is not a past, present or future reality; it is all three. We die with Christ through our baptism. We live with Christ in this present reality, a reality that includes faith and grace and the hope of the promise to come. We look forward to the fulfillment of the promises: yesterday, today and tomorrow.

At the same time, we are living in this world and we have to find a way to live our life with our faith. That means making choices that are God-pleasing, ready at a moment’s notice to receive Him. See, there will be a time when Christ comes again in glory, a time when we will see Christ the King come as victorious Lord of all. But Christ comes to us constantly in our daily living: in the request from a charity for food, in the paper ornaments on an Angel Tree at the mall with the wishes of children, a knock on the door from a neighbor who needs a friend to listen to her troubles. Christ comes to us in those busy crowds as we are fighting over the last hot toy or cheap television. He comes to us in that car that needs to merge on the highway or in the parking lot at the mall. Will we choose to be selfish, or will we choose to be generous? Will we be greedy or kind? Will we glorify God this Advent, or will we chase after our own needs and desires?

What if Jesus came tomorrow? What would He find on earth? Would He mind if He found you in line to buy the latest gaming system at the Black Friday sales? Quite honestly, I don’t think so. I do think He would mind if you had abandoned a loved one to chase after a sale. It is about attitude, and Advent is about making our hearts right before God so that we’ll be ready to receive our King, both as a baby in the manger and as the Victorious One at the end of all the ages.

Jesus calls us to be ready so that we’ll embrace every opportunity to share Him with others. Christmas can be about presents and parties and decorations, but it is also about sharing Christ with our neighbor. Isaiah says, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” The many peoples to whom Isaiah refers are the Gentiles. The day will come when those who are not believers will seek the LORD and His Word. The time will come when they will answer His call to go to hear the Gospel and to learn from His wisdom.

Our relationship with God acts as a call to those who do not yet believe. They see our faith and wonder what it is that gives us that joy and peace that is visible in the way we live. Why are we a little happier waiting in the checkout lines? Why are we more willing to give bags of food at a time when our own purse strings are tightening? Why are we excited about going to a boring worship service with a bunch of hypocrites? What is it about Jesus that makes our life different?

The point is not that we should stop living while we wait for Jesus to come again, but that we should always be prepared so that when He does come He’ll find faith on earth. Will He see faith in the crowds at the Black Friday sales? Will He find faith in the piles of Christmas presents? Will He see faithful people living faith-filled lives in the hustle and bustle of the season and in the holiday celebrations ahead of us this month?

I don’t think we need to stop the quest for a wonderful Christmas. Perhaps the problem is that we try too hard to separate our secular celebration from our Christian faith. Christians don’t keep Christ out of the season; I’m sure many of those people who will be flocking to the stores this weekend will celebrate in many faith filled ways. They will display a nativity in their home, maybe even on their lawn. They will go to church. They will sing Christmas carols. They will be generous to the charities that need help at this time of year. But are we thinking about Jesus when we buy the latest “R” rated movies or video games that are filled with sex, hatred, and violence? Do we consider how our choices might impact the faith of our neighbor?

It is not easy living as a Christian in the world. This has been true of all time, not just this time. Can we really say that we are suffering from persecution just because someone doesn’t want us to say “Merry Christmas?” Jesus told us to expect this. Generations of Christians have faced death and beatings because they believed in Jesus. Even today there are countries that will deal with bombings in churches on Christmas day. Jesus warned us that the world would hate us. But He told us not to worry, He will be with us. On this first day of Advent, let us remember that He is there.

Isaiah says, “House of Jacob, come, and let’s walk in the light of Yahweh.” We are that house of Jacob now. We are the witnesses of God’s light and love and mercy. While individual prayer and devotional time is a good thing and is encouraged for everyone to help make their hectic lives a little more peaceful, we are sent into the world to share that peace with others. They will not see the Christ in Christmas if we are too busy to share Him with them.

The psalmist writes, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let’s go to Yahweh’s house!’” Those who hear the Gospel message and experience the love and mercy of God are glad when they discover that He has been with them all along. God is not relying on us to fight the culture war with Facebook memes about keeping Christ in Christmas. God’s presence is in this world whether or not we spend all day with our families on Thanksgiving or boycott the stores that they open earlier and earlier each year. He’s relying on each of us to shine His light.

Paul writes to the Christians in Rome that salvation is nearer at that moment than when they first became believers. That promise is continued into our day. We know this is true, and yet we wonder. So much time has passed since Paul wrote his letters. It might be closer, but it is so easy to become apathetic. We’ve heard the story over and over again for two thousand years and we are reminded each year that every day brings us closer to the day when Christ will come again. But it is hard to wait anxiously for something that doesn’t seem to be coming. We are called to wait patiently, to look forward to the birth of the King and remember that the King will come again. We live between the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Until that day, we are called to live in Christ, who is as present now as He was then and as He will be in that day.

So, come, let’s go. Are you ready? I’m not asking if you have all the presents for the tree or the invitations to your open house printed. Are you ready to spend the next four weeks looking forward to Christ? It might seem odd to return to the idea that He has not yet been born since we just celebrated Christ as King, but that’s what Advent is about. We begin again in darkness with only the promise of what will come. We’ll hear the same scriptures and the same music. The world around us will look much the same as those reusable trees and decorations are brought out of the attic. The banners will look the same, the Chrismons have not changed. Yet, we are beginning a new journey, a new advent, a new time of looking forward to the coming Christ.

We dwell in a world full of darkness, even when it appears there is light. But the True Light dwells among us, too, and we are sent out into the world to live in faith and shine that light to others. Remember that Christ is with you always, whatever the days of Advent hold for you. These weeks will be filled with opportunities and choices. How will you answer His call? Will you keep your faith separate from your quest for the perfect Christmas or will you be ready at a moment’s notice to be generous with His grace? Christ came. Christ is here. Christ will come again. Let us live today remembering the past, embracing the present and looking forward to the future as we dwell in His presence always.