“Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy
people free.”
“O come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here, until the son of God appear.”
‘tis the season, again. It comes around. Quicker every year,
right? Advent arrives on the last day of
November and so we begin a new year a little more than a month before the
pagans do. I mean the term ‘pagan’
affectionately, as we all celebrate New Years’ day on January 1. But it is right to call it what it is—a pagan
definition of calendar time. Both older
Julian and Gregorian calendars adopted January 1 as New Year’s day. The first month itself was named after the
Roman god Janus, whose head had two faces looking both backward and
forward. The day commemorates both endings
and beginnings. It is also the day
commemorating the circumcision or naming of Jesus. Both Lutherans and Anglicans observe that
commemoration as part of the 12 days of Christmas. For many, Christmas and new
years are combined as one continuous holiday---not to celebrate Jesus, but to
mark time with an end and a beginning.
Punctuation in the cyclical revolution of life going around and
around. Spinning on planet earth through
the solar system in the galaxy across the universe, consuming time as the hours
and seasons and years go by. There is movement in space and time. We feel
it. We mark it. Occasionally, we revel in it. With or without
Jesus, we humans pay attention to the passing of time. We observe it and its effects on life. Birthdays affectionately observe the aging
process. I’m in the middle.
Middle-aged. As a history major in my
20s I studied the middle ages. The dark ages. Some days, they are. But
cyclical time is just that, a cycle; with no direction. No goal.
No logical end. Cyclical time is
hopeless. At best we hope that it
continues, maybe even after we die.
Nevertheless, the new year begins for us in
anticipation of the birth of the savior. And so Advent, meaning ‘coming’ or
‘arrival’ prepares us for Jesus. We prepare
for his nativity and his “coming again.”
We may be uncertain or ambivalent about what that means for us or for
the world. That he came has made a
difference in the world. Perhaps more
than any other human. Most of the world marks time, really, by his birth. The year itself (2014 AD) is based on his
proposed birth date. Like it or not,
anyone who celebrates the year 2015 AD, inadvertently celebrates the birth of
Jesus. His birth functions as a restart of time itself, a new beginning date in
human history. And yet, his life does
not occupy our calendars like football or family activities or work or
retirement. Even the faithful tend to
fit in worship or church when it suits us. Jesus does not occupy our calendars
like a regular appointment with the doctor or the grocer. Faithfulness is less and less about
consistent, regular attendance on Sunday or any day. It’s not about loyalty to a congregation or a
denomination, either. Faith is a way of experiencing life in the world.
God’s presence in our lives is not like an
appointment on a calendar, is it?
Scheduling Sunday as the holy day to encounter God does not seem to work
for us. Most of us are aware that God
doesn’t only show up on Sunday morning at 9:30 for an hour or so. God is not
confined by our time in this way. God shows up.
The bible tells us this. Like a
young woman in labor, God comes. Like an
invasion. You don’t schedule such
things. That’s the intensity of
it. Like a burning bush. Like a sudden storm. One can anticipate, even prepare. But we do not predetermine God’s
presence. Some believe that God comes to
us in the Word and Sacrament. This is most certainly true enough. And
Lutheran. But to claim that God comes in
these means of grace and in no other way is a form of atheism. God is not
contained within our worship life.
There is a feeling that we associate with
anticipation, isn’t there? When we
anticipate the arrival of a guest or a package from UPS, we feel excitement or
anxiety. We wait. We watch. We pay attention. Around this time of year,
there is much anticipation. Most of it is positive and joyful. Children anticipate the first sighting of
Santa or a visit from relatives. We
anticipate gift-giving and receiving with eagerness and hopefulness.
Anticipation can be unsettling, too. When we
anticipate a call from the doctor with test results or we anticipate an
encounter with a person with whom we are not at peace. I suspect we overschedule our lives to avoid
the anxiety of uncertainty. We busy our
days to avoid an emptiness we cannot name. It is the emptiness that accompanies
our fears, our worries, and our doubts about God and life and our purpose. But as we busy ourselves and fill our
calendars, we may miss the presence of holiness and the incarnation of love.
We don’t celebrate Jesus’ actual birthday on
December 25th. We celebrate
the pagan festival of winter solstice, reclaimed by Christians. In Advent and Christmas, however, we
celebrate something more important than a date in history. We celebrate the in-breaking of the eternal
God into our spaces and times. God occupies the hours and days and months and
years in a way that we cannot organize or schedule or avoid. Like lighting a candle in the dark or waking
up from sleep. This is faith. And we
propose that the cycle is interrupted by a new story; one with a beginning and
end. In the end, like the beginning,
there is God and creation teeming with life and there is the human family
embodying the love of the creator. In
the end there is Christ, Lord of all and King of the universe. In the end there is peace. And so, we have hope. May you experience God’s invasive,
interruptive presence this holy season.
May you realize the beautiful ending and hope for it to come. May you see in Christ’s birth the joy and
peace and love and hope that God delivers for all humanity. Amen.
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