“Sit a little while with the purple”

(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 in 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 placed.  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 readings for the 1^st Sunday in Advent are usually a surprise for me.  To hear all of this foreboding in the midst of the uber-excitement over Christmas out in the world can be a bit shocking.  Shocking because by now, we’re completely programmed for the Christmas madness.  We’ve been exposed to TV, newspaper and text notices about Black Friday sales for weeks.  We are intended to get sentimental when we see soft lit Christmas trees with snow drifting down through the window and Santa looking for his cookies and milk. …It works on me!  

Everywhere we see Santa Claus, lights on trees, Baby Jesus, sleigh rides in the snow, smiling carolers and anything red and green.

              We’ve become accustomed to being bombarded with exuberant elves, synthesized singing angels, inflatable Santas and reindeer, and glitz and glitter everywhere.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the overfunctioning of the ad campaigns and the constant visual stimulation, along with the manipulation of our emotions because it has all become so familiar.

            So, when I read in the Gospel of Luke about distress among nations, people fainting from fear and the power of the heavens being shaken, I admit that I feel a bit shaken.  Compared to that, maybe I WILL surrender my thoughts and attention to the Christmas tsunami and give in to the strong urge to shop and shop and shop some more.

            But instead of caving in to all the pressure, “shaken up” is probably where we need to be on this first Sunday of Advent.  Because there is a wisdom in the way that our church seasons are arranged.  There is a reason for this preparation time that is Advent.  Let’s face it, we do things differently here in church than out there.  How else could we prepare for the coming of God to our world? 

            Awhile back I received a newsletter from a church where a long-time friend pastors.  In her letter she was ruminating about Advent.  Listen: “Advent carries this call: Watch and wait, for the Redeemer is coming, has come, will come again.  You see, the focus of Advent is not so much a preparation for Christmas as it is for the return of Jesus and the establishment of the reign of God in its fullness.”

            …If we treat Advent as simply the prelude to a more-important Christmas season, it will be celebrated far differently from the Advent that has us watching and waiting for the Redeemer.  If we choose the first sort of Advent, it will be simply a calendar with days to be ticked off—a countdown to the big show.  If we choose the latter, Advent is four full weeks intended to fill us with its spirit.

            So, what is the spirit of Advent?  Well, Advent is a time of repentance, a time of waiting and watching for what God will do next.  It is recognizing, as it is clear in our Luke reading, that our God is over all things in this time.  This matters because we need to cherish and make count every day of Advent.  We need to open ourselves to God’s healing and forgiving powers, allowing ourselves to be made brand new.  But this is not as a goal to be reached and then celebrated as in “done!”  Rather, it teaches us that our work of repentance and turning to God in all things is an everyday affair.

            But what is also coming, has come, will come again, is a God who is our Savior.  Our longing for God’s acceptance, forgiveness, presence and love is satisfied in Christ’s coming.

            So that in the midst of the fear and discomfort—the dis-ease—that is laid out for us in Luke’s reading is also the word of hope that God gives to us.  In the midst of a world in which there is, then and now, the distress of nations, the roaring of the sea and waves, people fainting with fear and forboding, in a world in which we are weighed down with the cares of life, in a world in which there is much suffering both in our own lives and throughout all Creation; in a world that has us twisting and turning because of politics in our nation; in a world in which we have allowed that-which-is-not-God to smother what-we know-to-be-God’s-way—STILL there is hope.

            We live among people who go to bed hungry each night, where folks are still brutalized because of the color of their skin, their accent, how they worship or because of whom they love; where children are used as scapegoats for their parents’ anger, where old dictator-types have the power to make war, and young people die and are wounded for life because of those decisions.  THESE are the signs of OUR times.

            …But there is hope.  There is always hope in God…but can WE read the signs as Jesus suggests in today’s reading?  Are we willing to hear and respond to the Advent message that calls us to repentance?  Are we watching and waiting for what God has to reveal?  Or are we so sure we know exactly what God’s will should be?  Are we paying attention to the signs?  Are we being present in this very moment?  Are we watching and waiting as a way of actively participating in the coming of Christ—the coming both as the baby in a manger and as our Savior? 

Watching and waiting means reading the signs of the times and doing what we can to make our world acceptable for Christ.  Watching and waiting means recognizing that God will not settle for a half-baked Creation; God will not be satisfied if we people have lost our focus and our way.  God will not settle for our being scattered and shallow.  God will not settle for us squandering this moment because we have overscheduled the mundane–and under-committed to that which gives meaning to life.

            Again, and hear this loud and clear, there is hope.  OUR hope is in knowing that we are not helpless, that we do have a role in making our world better.  That role is to not get thinking that we are above all the watching and the waiting of the Advent season.  Our role is to participate in this, this God moment.  We’ve got to admit our self-centeredness, our own lost-ness.  Then we gotta get to work, changing ourselves and our little corner of the world, whatever that looks like—changing it to reflect God’s love and God’s commitment to humanity.

            The spirit of Advent is that there is power in the forgiving love of Christ, that we in the church CAN touch the world if we keep our eyes trained on what is now and is to come, and that is: God is in the business of sending love into our lives and into our world.  God is still in the business of creating. 

            The spirit of Advent cautions us not to jump into the reds and greens and glitter and glitz of the world’s Christmas celebration too quickly, but to watch and wait for God, to allow our spiritual growth and maturity to catch up with God’s greatest gift to us.  So, let us sit with the purple for just a little while, let us live in the hope of Advent as we await Christ’s coming.  Amen.