Advent 1 2019

 

December 1, 2019            Matthew 24:36-44           Isaiah 2:1-5         Romans 13:11-14

                This morning I got up and took a shower, dressed, ate my breakfast, and got Sterling up, fed, washed and dressed with a struggle here and there.  While he ate, I brushed my teeth and hair.  I packed us up in the car and after heading back into the house twice for the things we need, we headed to church.  When we head home today, we’ll have lunch, maybe go grocery shopping or watch a movie.  Sterling will finish his homework with a lot of encouragement and a quite a few stern reminders and even a shout or two, maybe some tears.  Somebody won’t like what his dad makes for dinner and will resist bedtime, but we’ll read a chapter of Harry Potter and eventually head off to dreamland. It’s business as usual for us, with a few added activities this month for church in Advent.

                For the Israelites in Isaiah it was business as usual, the way it had been for a long time: Making swords, warfare, arguing between nations, one dispute after another, conflict, hunger, sending sons off to fight.

                For the believers in Rome it was also business as usual: Works of darkness, being sleepy, having one too many drinks, quarrelling and jealousy, partying and taking things a little too far. 

                Jesus’ disciples can relate to the story of Noah for all those not working on the ark, business as usual: eating and drinking, falling in love and getting married, completely oblivious to what was coming next.  The disciples had once been fishing, business as usual, when Jesus came and invited them into new life, but everywhere they looked it was business as usual, people working in the fields, people sleeping, people grinding meal. 

                Often as we go about our usual business, we are oblivious to what is happening around us.  Even though I’ve only been serving here for a few months, I already get on automatic and can’t remember long portions of the drive here.  Sometimes I feel like I’m in a daydream.  The other day I was coming out of the store and somebody asked me for my spare change, I automatically replied, “Sorry, I don’t have any change.”  As I walked back to my car, a scripture came into my mind, “Give to everyone who begs from you.”  We just heard it the previous Sunday.  Then I woke up and remembered I had some granola bars in my car that I put together for just such an occasion.  I came back to the young man with the packet and he was so grateful.

                I often go through life as if I am sleeping.  I sleep through my drives to work through God’s beautiful good creation.  I sleep through conversations with family that I will never get back.  I sleep through meals, so delicious and satisfying.  I sometimes even sleep through church. I know I miss a lot because I am not paying attention, and especially I forget to give thanks for so many blessings I take for granted. 

Jesus says, “Wake up!”  With alerts of deadlines approaching there are many ways to respond.  Some of us put off the preparation, and tend to procrastinate.  And those of us who do prepare in advance, sometimes miss the point of the season, because we are too busy pleasing others.  Somewhere in the middle of these two extremes is a wakeful awareness that Jesus calls us to.  We can cultivate an awareness, an awake spirit.  We can practice looking at the world around us, and noticing things.  We can train ourselves to open our eyes. 

                Prayer is one way that we keep awake.  In prayer we often close our eyes to remove distractions, and we search ourselves inwardly for our fears and hopes and we express them to God.  In our prayers we are awake to God’s blessings and give thanks for them.  In prayers we are awake to the longings of our hearts begging to be noticed.

                I have a friend who wakes himself up with a little bell that goes off on his phone every half hour.  Whenever he hears that little sound, he has a practice of stopping what he’s doing and noticing.  He notices his own body and give thanks.  He notices his own feelings.  He notices others around him.  He notices his surroundings and give thanks.  He opens his eyes to what is going on and has found himself healthier for it.  He opens his eyes to God’s activity in his life.

                I have practiced a quiet time early in the morning before anyone else is awake.  When the weather is nice I eat my breakfast on the porch and watch the birds and people going by, hear the sounds of the bustle of the city, and smell the cut grass or wood stoves burning nearby.  I see the leaves and the clouds and the sky.   I breathe in deeply and remember that all creation is connected by the Creator who made us all.

                Another way of waking up is to take a walk or have a conversation with a child or someone who is very old, or someone different from us as possible.  There are lots of kinds of people who are more awake to this world, who see things that we don’t that offer such a different perspective that it startles us awake and makes us see what we usually miss.  I talked to one woman a couple of weeks ago whose cousin was in a car accident, a young man just starting his adult life.  The family has rallied to his side, but they don’t have many resources.  We prayed for Dylan and now I am a little more awake to those who spend the holidays in the hospital.  I met grandparents last Saturday while we were handing out Thanksgiving boxes.  They are caring for grandchildren whose parents have fallen victim to addictions or other troubles.  I was comforted that there was someone to care for these kids, family to step who love them.  And I lamented this world in which people drown their pain with drugs and alcohol.

                Thanksgiving time is a time to wake up and give thanks for all the blessings God has showered upon us, things we take for granted and sleep through—family and friends, a warm place to sleep, water that comes out of the tap, abundant food, a soft safe place to sleep, means of transportation, access to health care, an education.  And Advent is a time to pause, just when the world is ramping up with decorations and gifts and sweets, and take a step back in wonder at all that God is accomplishing, preparing to appear in the flesh among us, small and vulnerable, a little bundle breaking through all our fear and worry, bringing his reign of peace into our violent world.

                We need our sleep, but God didn’t make us to be in a trance all our lives.  God is trying to wake us up so that we can see something big is happening.  Is it a flood?  Will this new thing destroy everything that was and make a new beginning?  Is it a reign of peace?  What happens when someone stands up against the violent armies of this world with nothing but love?  What happens when we nail the prince of peace to a cross and he offers his forgiveness even as he suffers?  Is it the rapture?  Will people simply disappear as we work side by side?  Is it better to be left behind or to be taken?  Is it Jesus’ second coming?  Will the angels blow their horns and the beast descend to scatter the people?  Will there be plagues and suffering?  Will the stars begin to fall?  Will we be ready for Jesus when he comes among us?  Will we be awake enough to know it is him?

This Advent we open our eyes on these short days and long nights and peer into the darkness.  God says something big is coming, something disruptive.  We might imagine all sorts of things to fear.  It is something that changes everything.  It is offensive like a thief.  It is disturbing like a flood.  It is earth-shaking like the loss of a friend.  There are many terrible things that can and will happen to us in life, but we have nothing to fear.  God holds us close and walks with us.  This something that is coming is also hopeful as a new year.  It is renewing as new life.  God’s reign is breaking in, a baby is about to be born.  Salvation is coming, healing, hope, renewal, restoration is on the way.

                So let’s prepare ourselves.  Let’s wake up to the new life that is about to be born.  Let’s stop business as usual.  Let’s pause and breathe and look around at the wonder God has brought us.  Let’s listen to each voice with curiosity and hope.  Let’s look into each other’s eyes and connect.  Let’s sing God’s praises with feeling, with smiles on our faces, because we know what’s coming.  It’s disruptive to the status quo.  It’s an interruption to business as usual.  It’s going to surprise us and shock us out of our daydream.  It will mess up everything we’ve planned.  But God’s plans are far better, God right here, in the flesh, living and dying and rising again that we would receive the gift of abundant life.