Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
December 2, 2007 – First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2:1-5
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44

Let’s Do Something Different

Four weeks from Tuesday is Christmas!  Are you ready?  What are the things on your list that have to be done between now and then? 

Very few of us are ready for Christmas – and we all have our lists of things to do between now and then, but I have a different question:  How do we get ready for God?

We know how to get ready for Christmas … but what do we need to do to get ready for God?  Today is the first Sunday of Advent … so, we have four weeks to figure it out.

Actually, it is Christmas that will be here in four weeks … But in terms of the time when Jesus will return, he himself says “about that day and hour, no one knows” (Mt. 24:36).  In terms of getting ready, we can take some clues from Jesus’ teaching.

The first is to watch for God’s presence.  Pay attention!  It is so easy to get caught up in getting ready for Christmas that we literally lose sight of God.  But our call is to “Be awake!”  So, this Advent season, I would invite us to adopt a spiritual discipline of making a point at some time every day … or several times every day … to look for God.

At the end of the day, as we lay down to sleep, we could ask ourselves where we saw God during the Day.  But, we don’t have to wait until the end of the day – we can do it all day … making a point of looking for God:  in the light of dawn, in the sky of the setting sun, in the smile of a child, seeing a pregnant mother, in the smile of a frazzled clerk, as we sit down to eat food that has been prepared by someone else, in the market as we are surrounded by so many choices and such variety, when a stranger extends a helping hand.  The list is endless – if we are paying attention.

We are called to watch – to see beyond the crowds and the advertisements and sales and see the folks who have gathered with us this morning – as people who share a value and a goal that is a little different from the rest of the world.

The second challenge is to work.  Jesus says two will be in a field, two will be grinding meal.  There is certainly no shortage of things that need to be done … but specifically, there is the work of peacemaking.  Isaiah has a vision of the world in which people beat their swords into plowshares … take the implements of war and turn them into tools for feeding the hungry. 

So, we can work toward ending the injustices of our society and our culture. 

I don’t know the whole story, but you may have seen the news clip on Friday of the guy from Central Falls who was caught stealing packages from houses on Blackstone Blvd.  He followed the U.P.S. truck, and each time the driver would leave a package on a door step, the guy would run up and steal it.  The driver was alert – watching what was happening around him – and alerted the police to this car that was following him for several days. 

The story ends with the guy being caught, being very cooperative with the police, taking them to his home, freely showing them the stolen goods … some of which had already been wrapped in Christmas paper and were under the tree as presents for his family. 

What would it be like to work for a society in which folks didn’t have to steal to have presents under the tree for their family?  What work are we doing for justice?

On a different note, what is the work that we need to do – the “soul work” to make for peace within ourselves?  You know that I have this ongoing inner battle, allowing other drivers, not only to disturb my peace, but allowing them to turn me into an angry person, with gestures and language that can be embarrassing.  I, for one, would do well to use this Advent, this “little Lent,” as a time to work at creating peace inside myself, of learning to have an “automatic response” of peace and prayer and forgiveness instead of anger and retaliation and frustration.

This Advent might well be a time for us to look within and see what it is that causes us to want to hurt other people.  What is the button, the trigger, the hurt inside us that causes us to want to lash out at others?  Inviting Christ to come into our lives and heal our own inner hurts so that we will be able to live peaceably … to turn the other cheek, to forego our own weapons of destruction.

            May God bless us as we enter this season of getting ready for God.

            Forget Christmas – may we be willing to do the work or Advent!

NOTE:  Much of today’s sermon is credited to The Minister’s Annual Manual, 2007 – 2008; edited by Rebecca H. Grothe, Inver Grove Heights:  Logos Productions.

SERMON IN A SACK:  A clock and a calendar.  Talk about how we know what time it is – time to get up, time for Christmas, time for Advent … time for Jesus to come.  We need to be always ready for God, because we never know when Jesus might come.