“Beware, keep
alert; for you do not know when the time will come.” Amen.
 |
| The Prophet Isaiah by Tiepolo, 1729 |
Today, we begin
the season of Advent, the first season of the Church year. The Church marks the
seasons in a way that helps us reflect on God’s involvement in our lives. This
first season is an odd time:
1. It is a season
of preparation for the birth of Christ. You can say that takes lots of time
because we dig deep into storage to find the right decorations for the home.
There is a certain type of music and lots of shopping. Advent is one of the top
economic seasons of the year. I missed the opportunity to shop on Black Friday,
but I bet some of you were there. Hopefully, you didn’t bring your pepper spray.
We wear certain
things during the season in preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ birthday.
Some wear certain shades of green and red, possibly with a snowflake or two.
There are even special hats that a few especially spirited people wear. There
is also food and drink that represent the season: cookies in the shape of Rudolph
and covered with sprinkles and creamy eggnog with a shot or two of liquor.
With all of these outward trappings, it would seem that the Advent season
is a time to warm our hearts with joy and love and, of course, gifts.
2. What I just
described is what Advent has become, not what it is. Advent is supposed to be a
time of personal and communal preparation. It is a time, like Lent, that we
look into our hearts and reevaluate our motives. It is a time that we remember
that we must be aware of Jesus’ second coming, when we will be faced with God’s
judgment. It doesn’t mean that we must be perfect, because that will never
happen, but that we are working to deepen our relationship with God. It is
about celebrating, not in a way that creates individual warm fuzzies, but
requires each of us to mature in our relationship with God, and, as a result,
seek to serve the world, not because of what will be get as a result, but
because it is our responsibility as members of a community of God’s creation.
A couple of weeks
ago, I planned to take a day to clean off my desk. It never happened. My office
seems to be a resting place for various projects. The stacks of papers have
become unbearable for me. I hope that in this Advent there will be some time to
get things in order. Of course, there are times in my life that would not have
been the case.
When I was a
child, I remember being told over and over again to clean my room. I
set things down wherever it seemed convenient and I would have to step over
piles of things to move from one side of the room to another. Maybe you
experienced something similar.
I would be left
in my room with the direction to clean it up before doing anything else. As
soon as my parents left, I would hurriedly push my clothes under my bed or into
my closet. Or I would throw both dirty and clean clothes into the laundry. I
would open drawers and jam papers and pencils and other nick knacks out of
sight. I would fling my hats into a corner. I would do anything to hurriedly
clean up my room so that I would be free to do what I wanted to do. That
behavior was an outward sign of the fear of being inconvenienced.
Times have
changed. No one asks me to clean my room anymore. And yet, I do it
anyway. It actually bothers me when things aren’t easy to find and when
there are stacks of junk. I dislike clutter. That is why the current state of
my office is bothering me.
If anything,
taking responsibility for our own area, our own actions, and behaviors, and
even our moral judgment is a sign of our maturity. Maturity is the ability to
keep promises when no one will know either way. Children struggle to attain
maturity or more accurately swerve to avoid it. When I was a child, I waited
until my parents had left the area before I disobeyed or reinterpreted their
demands to bypass the inconvenience of being a member of a family.
The question we
must ask is if we are swerving to avoid deepening our relationship with God,
just because God is not holding us accountable. What I mean is, are we avoiding
living into our responsibility as creations of God because God is not
threatening our freedom? Are we avoiding the hard work of relationship, because
we are unwilling to be inconvenienced by the responsibilities of that
relationship?
That is what
Isaiah was praying about in the lesson we heard today. This prophet Isaiah
wrote nearly 500 years before Jesus’ birth. He witnessed the difficulty people
had keeping God’s law because God was not visible to reinforce the
expectations. But he proclaimed a memory of God’s marvelous and momentous acts,
like those with Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Isaiah wanted God to make another
earth shattering appearance so that people would fear God’s great power and
might, and would, therefore, fulfill their responsibility to their family and
community.
Isaiah dreamed
that God would continue to function as the parent. But that isn’t the way it
is. Isaiah’s prayer was answered in the birth of Jesus. There was no stupendous
music or special pomp and circumstance. The earth didn’t shake. Only those who
were most aware of their responsibility and relationship to God even knew that
he was born.
And that is what
Advent is about; it is about reorienting ourselves to be aware that God is born
in our lives today, tomorrow, and every day. To be aware that God’s
expectations are as palpable as they were for Isaiah. They are the
responsibilities that tie us to community and force us to consider how best to
serve others. Advent isn’t about feeling warm and comfortable, Advent is about
being on edge in expectation of fulfilling God’s mission set before us.
Advent is about maturing in our relationship with God. It is about
getting our house in order, our perspectives pointed in new directions, so that
we can continue to grow toward God.
Maturity is still
a goal, not a reality, no matter how old we are. We make excuses about
our behavior, we cut corners, and we have a tendency to look, with rose-colored
glasses, into the mirror. We say to ourselves, “I’m doing enough. I’m doing more
than that other person. Or, I’m doing all that I can because I’m busy.”
It is easy to
think that we are doing enough because we fear being inconvenienced. When no
one is looking, we throw things under the bed or into a drawer. That is what
our culture teaches us about responsibility to God and our community. Do enough
to feel good and be satisfied.
I challenge you
to keep awake. Don’t get distracted by what’s the minimum, instead continue to
grow in responsibility. Take on new things, not for you, but for God. “Keep
Awake” as Jesus tells us because we don’t know when the end will come.
Advent is a time
of preparation. We prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. That is a
joyful and anticipatory preparation. We also must prepare ourselves. That preparation
is more daunting. What steps can we take that will make us more complete
beings? These are tough questions that demand us to reach for the never
complete maturity that marks our existence as human beings.
Prepare for the
coming of God. Prepare and remember that God is ever mindful of our action.
Reach a new maturity in the eyes of God and his Son Jesus Christ, who was an
answer to a prayer once spoken, a call to keep our lives focused on God.
This Advent at
St. Patrick’s set aside time to reflect. Mark time with an Advent wreath. Pray
routinely. Listen to what God is calling you to do. Participate in the Advent
Quiet Day or the Caregiver’s Support Group. Volunteer to help your neighbors.
Bring in some extra food for St. Phillip’s Food Pantry. Meet with your priests
or another member of the parish to discern how you might change yourself this
Advent to become more mature in your faith. You will find that maturity in
faith will feed your soul and the souls of the greater community now and
forever.
“Beware, keep
alert; for you do not know when the time will come.” Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Kurt
Gerhard (kurt@stpatrickschurchdc.org)
St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church (www.stpatrickschurchdc.org)
November 27, 2011
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