FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT

29 November 2009

FLASHBACKS AND PREVIEWS

WORDS TO MEDITATE UPON

I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.                             Mr (Fred) Rogers  (1928-2003)

OLD TESTAMENT READING -- INTRO

Welcome to the first Sunday in the season of Advent -- that time in the church year when we prepare for the reentry of the Christ into our lives.  Advent is just four weeks -- four Sundays -- between now and Christmas.  And we will do our best to help you prepare -- spiritually -- for the Christmas event.  I say “spiritually” because we can’t help you find where you put the outdoor lights when you took then down last year or what gift to get for Aunt Gertrude.  You’re on your own there.

Each Sunday in Advent we’ll sing another verse of the hymn, “People, Look East,” as a song of preparation.  Today’s verse spoke of decorating the house -- setting the table.  Our visual element will grow each week -- these wonderful Advent banners made by our ferocious percussionist’s mother.  Thank you for sharing, Elizabeth.  We will read familiar scripture passages and sing familiar hymns.   And -- ready or not -- Christmas comes.

Our Hebrew Scripture passage today comes from Jeremiah.  Jeremiah was a prophet of the exile.  Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 BCE.  Jeremiah spoke a message of hope -- that God would honor the covenant between God and the People of Israel.  A king of the line of David would arise.  The time of David, some 400 years earlier had been a great and proud period in their history and the people longed to return to that time of glory. 

READING 

Jeremiah 33:14-16

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Jerusalem was in ruins -- the walls of the city -- and the walls of the temple had been destroyed and the city was vulnerable to her enemies.  BUT -- tearing down walls is not always a bad thing.  Hear what the Band has to say about tearing down walls.

Gospel                                   Luke 21:25-36  

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

* * * * * 

The Gospel passage today is about signs -- Jesus talks about signs that will indicate the end of the age and a new beginning.  There is a lot of talk about the Mayan calendar and its apocalyptic message of the end of the world in December 2012.  Scholars say it only means the end of the calendar -- not the end of the world -- just time to turn the page -- but the end of the world plays better in the movies.  

We look for signs all the time -- we check the weather forecast -- is it going to rain?  We look at stock market numbers -- is the economy improving?  And there’s the old one that goes, “Red sky at night, sailors delight -- Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.”    

But, the signs in this passage are not signs of the coming of the Messiah -- what we might expect at this Advent time of year --  but rather the signs of the second coming -- the end time -- an event considered by some of the people of Jesus’ time to be something that would happen within their lifetime.  We 21st century urban progressive Methodist Christians don’t focus much on the second coming but can see these stories as exaggerations meant to get people to face reality and to act now.

We live with a linear view of time with one event following another.  The church’s liturgical and lectionary calendar however is cyclical -- with patterns of events repeating themselves.  The church year that begins with Advent presents stories about the end of history and then prepares us for the coming of the Christ child and the dawn of a new age.  The message is that the kingdom of God has come, is with us now, and has yet to be made complete. 

I love story-telling as a method of communication -- of teaching.  It’s very effective.  I learned my moral code from Roy Rogers and  the Lone Ranger.  Stories in the movies are often told in flashbacks and previews -- what has happened and what will happen.  Stories are so much better a way to learn than being lectured to.  I was thinking about Dickens’ A Christmas Carol the other day.  The message -- the truth in that story -- is to live our lives in a respectful and caring manner towards others.  You could hear that message preached a hundred times without the impact that we feel when we encounter the warmth of the Cratchit family and the joy that old Scrooge experiences in his conversion from selfishness to generosity.

The quote from Mr Rogers in our words to meditate upon today is right on the money, I think.  We experience this Advent to Christmas season by hearing the old familiar stories over again.

Stories are a vehicle to connect us and make us a people -- a people of God.  Mary and I took a long driving trip recently and I had more than the usual amount of reading time.  One book I read was “Outwitting History” by Aaron Lansky.  It tells the story of a young man who rescued over a million Yiddish books from being destroyed.  The charm of the book is in the accounts Lansky relates about the stories the people told him as they brought their books to him to be kept safe and to be put to use to study the history and the character of Jews in the world.  “Outwitting History” -- I recommend it.

In defense of fiction, someone once said, “The best way to tell the truth is to make it up.”  Most of what I read is fiction -- and it is full of human experience and truth.  Like Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  The Bible is full of stories and the truth behind those stories for me is that we have a relationship with God -- a covenant relationship.  A relationship that is eternal -- from before we are born through our physical life on Earth -- and beyond -- eternal.   What was -- what is -- and what will be.

Story telling is a most excellent way to tell the truth, but a problem can arise when we come to believe in the story -- worship the story -- and forget the truth it revealed.  The truth for me is that we are never alone.  The God revealed in the Christ Jesus has been, is now, and always will be a presence for us.

In these remaining weeks of Advent we will tell the stories and sing the songs and share the truth of God’s love, preparing for Emmanuel -- God with us -- again -- always.

AMEN

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