Listen to the Sermon.
Happy Advent! Today marks the beginning of a new season and a new year in the church calendar. There’s some comfort in a new year, in starting the calendar over. We know what’s coming in this season and the next, what to expect in the four Sundays of Advent, followed by the 12 Days of Christmas, culminating in the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. Of course, there’s a lot to do as we prepare for God’s arrival in the world, but it’s something we anticipate with hope rather than fear.
Fear is all around us, as it was in Jesus’ time. Luke quotes Jesus saying, “People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world” (21:26). The Gospel reading today (Luke 21:25-36) is one of three apocalyptic readings in a row, foretelling the end of the world. Or at least the end of the world as we know it and find comfort in it. We’ll know that apocalypse by signs in the heavens and on the earth, roaring of the sea and the waves, earthquakes.
We can extend those metaphors to human interactions and imagine that in the end times there will be no hope, no light. That human civility will cease, there will be atrocities of human against human, that governments will no longer protect basic human rights, and we will live in constant fear of war, famine, and global destruction. Fear, and its cousins Hate and Scarcity, will dominate.
Wait! Isn’t that the world we live in? It feels like it when we read the paper or listen to the news. Let me be clear, I am NOT saying this is the end-times. I do look around and see and hear fear in so many places. Fear that manifests as discrimination and hate against people for the color of their skin, or their birth country, their gender identity, or who they love. Fear that looks like scarcity thinking - that there won’t be ‘enough’ of something so that we have to hoard what we have and prevent new and other people from sharing in our abundance.
Last I checked, there are cities in this country with twice as many houses as population, food that goes to waste because no one eats it, and growing local economies that need workers. What are we worried will run out, besides our generosity and compassion for basic human needs for safety, housing and food?
In Advent, we are preparing for the coming of God into the world. Part of our Advent anticipation is to remember Jesus who was, and is, and is to come. With Baby Jesus in the manger, we remember Jesus who was - who grew up and walked this earth teaching his imperfect and often-faltering friends about God’s love for all humanity. We also celebrate Jesus who IS - in the form of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit of God, who continues to inspire and encourage us to walk and speak courageously in faith. AND we look forward to Jesus coming again, with power and great glory, to God’s commonwealth of love and justice for all people, a realm we are active partners in building here and now.
The promise of Advent is the promise that Jesus came to conquer fear, to bring the message of love and hope, peace and justice for ALL people. In the kingdom of God, there is no more fear, no more scarcity, no more hate or discrimination. Advent holds the promise that the light will shine in the darkness, that God’s kingdom is coming near.
Advent is a season of hope and anticipation. It’s somehow fitting that the days continue to get shorter and colder. As we find reasons to gather together this season, to share food and warmth, to comfort and rejoice together, we are living Advent. These are the things we do when we wait together, in good times. In times of crisis, we do the very same things - we gather, we break bread and comfort one another while holding back anxiety about the future.
In Advent, there is no anxiety about the future. So much in our world is uncertain, and yet, in our faith we hold great certainty. Our future is known - and it includes God’s love made manifest for every person.
Our Advent purpose is to live these next few weeks with hope and love. Hope and love are verbs. Not passive, sit-back-and-let-it-wash-over-me words - though some of that is necessary and good in the midst of a busy holiday season. I mean hope that makes room for Jesus in our hearts and lives. Love that welcomes the stranger and the neighbor with joy.
Find an Advent practice that nourishes your soul, that helps you remember God’s promise in Jesus, to shake the world’s foundations of fear and hate and replace them with boundless love. The email this past week had some ideas for ways to take a few minutes every day to be quiet, to read a little scripture, to give thanks, to pray and talk with God. We are preparing our hearts to receive God, again, anew. How is God calling you to open your heart this Advent?
Advent is a time for practicing love, for welcoming strangers and neighbors alike. Whether that is helping feed hungry neighbors, sharing in creating and distributing our holiday outreach efforts, or joining some social action to show our marginalized siblings that we stand with them and support them. Writing about Hanukkah, which begins today as well, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says, "For though my faith is not yours and your faith is not mine, if we each are free to light our own flame, together we can banish some of the darkness of the world."[1] Sharing light, practicing love, welcoming strangers - all are ways of resisting fear, and building God’s kingdom.
The world may be full of fear. Knowing the promise of Advent, that God will indeed come to be with us, to show us a new way to live, we can choose to live in love. We can choose hope and joy over fear and scarcity. This Advent, dare to wait with hope, that God will indeed break open our hearts and transform our lives and the world in which we live.
Let us pray.
Urgent God, breaking through the static to speak to our hearts: disarm our love of control and shake the silent heavens to reveal your dawning glory, judging all in the light of love; through Jesus Christ, the one who is to come. Amen. [2]
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[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/06/why-hanukkah-is-the-perfect-festival-for-religious-freedom/, accessed 02 December 2018
[2] Steven Shakespeare, Prayers for an Inclusive Church (New York: Church Publishing, 2009), Collect for Advent 1, Year C.
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