GETTING READY FOR THE GIFT
November 27, 2011
Mark 13:24-37
Advent I
Union Avenue
You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout …our Gospel writer, Mark is telling us why!
As does William Wordsworth:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending,
we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away – a sordid boon!
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not – Great God!
(Wm. Wordsworth)
More than 40 people have died in the streets of Cairo… added to the war dead in many other places…earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires take lives every year.
Occupy Wall Street, St. Louis, and many other locations within this nation, including University of California, Davis are not dwindling but expanding even with increasing police reaction.
The congressional Super Committee has failed and tax cuts as well as unemployment benefits are in jeopardy …
The surge for Black Friday shopping boosts our economy and the possibility for businesses to stay afloat – at the same time masses of people continue to lose jobs and homes. There is more hunger in the world, in America, and in this neighborhood than we are able to imagine.
Our Gospel for the day is another end-of-times passage, but points us to take cues from a fig tree and admonishes us to stay awake, for God is about to appear.
And yes, it is Advent – today we emphasize hope…and we are trying to ready ourselves for the coming of Jesus!
Who wouldn’t be confused and wonder about the relevance of any message of faith and hope in the midst of the world’s chaos?
So, let’s start with ‘you better watch out’ and Santa Claus. Nicholas was a 4th century Bishop of the Church. He served in Myra – now Turkey. Best we know he did have a white beard – and sometimes wore his Bishop’s hat (which might have been red). He was known for his generosity to the poor and for the miracles he performed. One of his very specific gifts was that of coins to three impoverished young women…who, without that gift would have turned to prostitution.
Legend grew out of stories about Nicholas. The Church honored him as a Saint and his feast Day is set on December 6th. Later in the Netherlands, the tradition started that Sinterklaus came to shore from Spain. He carried a book with him which indicated which children had been naughty and which had been nice. He visited children’s homes for three weeks in November and December (late at night) leaving presents.
Father Christmas was introduced in 17th century Britain bringing good cheer and sprinkling the essence of joy to a depressed populace. Charles Dickens was important in fueling this part of the legend.
Santa Claus didn’t enter the US and Canada until the mid 1800’s, mixing up all of the earlier traditions and legends. There was never a massive conspiracy to over-ride the nativity story with a consumerist ploy. But as with any long-standing tradition we often forget the initial intention …and merely keep alive the framework changing it to fit the purposes of a given generation.
As mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles – the joy of giving that started with a 4th century clergyman seeking to protect girls living on the street can certainly be interpreted faithfully to the children of today.
It might be easier to separate Santa Claus from the real meaning of Christmas except when we are awake and open to the tradition of St. Nicholas we can teach of the miracles of gift-giving … and how through the ages people are given life and opportunities because of the generosity of others who were inspired by God.
But it demands being awake to understand and make those connections.
Actually Santa Claus is easy compared to the other craziness pushing into our lives. How do we stay awake in the midst of environmental disasters, governmental crises, economic woes that are unsettling this world? We can certainly pretend they don’t affect us … and we have all known of a few people who have succeeded in living entire lives in that manner – which is fairly close to a miracle.
Others of us separate the world’s crises from our faith life. We leave the newspaper and the Internet news at home when we come to church, when we move to prayer time, when we sing or celebrate as Christians. The result is about as constrained and confusing as separating Santa Clause from the meaning of Christmas.
Keeping awake is the repetitive admonition to us today …it is not just keeping awake to the world’s craziness … or the world’s tragedies … or the increasing political upheavals!
It is keeping awake to the reality that life – all of life – is bigger than our own near sighted perspective. Keeping awake means remembering that God is holding not just me, not just you, but the entire universe …and God’s presence and power are moving through everyone all of the time. At any moment we are able to tap into that presence, but it takes staying awake to it, being alert to it, asking for its energy to open our minds and hearts.
When we are awake …if we are alert … if we choose to be open – the gift of God’s presence can be seen and can be felt.
There is no separation of life outside these church walls and inside this room. We gather here to be strengthened for serving in the tumult. We draw together so that we can be awakened to the needs that we cannot see on our own – but that need our attention.
As Christians we celebrate the incarnation of that gift in Jesus …born as one of us so that we might understand, feel, touch, taste, hear, see how God acts, works, loves, aches, suffers with the whole creation.
So, yes, Advent is all about staying awake. It is the season we remind ourselves to be alert – to ask in every instance of our daily lives ‘how is God working in this situation…and how may I be a part of God’s work in this moment?’
The world is crazy – no question. The world needs us – as people of God who are staying awake to the possibilities of how best to serve, how best to answer serious political questions, how best to involve ourselves in issues of conflict, how best to give of God’s gifts to us, how best to be the body of Jesus Christ living and breathing today. Jesus has already come – but we need to stay awake to his daily appearance in this world.
Keep awake, keep alert – the world needs us working, breathing, serving. God needs to know we can be used well for the gift God has given us and continues to give us in Jesus Christ.
