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Readiness for the Light Isaiah 2:1 – 5; Matthew 24:36 – 44 One of the additions from the book to the movie version of The Polar Express is the conductor’s concern about time. Tom Hanks, in one of the five roles he plays in this delightful movie, keeps checking his timepiece. It is VERY important that everyone arrives at the North Pole by 12 midnight. The peculiar twist is that time seems to be stuck at five minutes before the hour. A good portion of the movie occurs without the time shifting to the next minute. Time being ‘stuck’ is a wonderful image to play with during this season of Advent. Many of us are still not all that comfortable with this season. Our culture doesn’t help. We would like to be at Christmas – now – and enjoy Christmas festivities for the entire month of December. Let’s get to the Bethlehem part of the scriptures! Ron Allen, preaching professor at Christian Theological Seminary (Biblical Preaching Journal, Fall 2004. Vol 17, No. 4, p.24) defines Advent scriptures as interruptions. They often interrupt the good feelings with which we come to church during this season. They interrupt the urgency of what we feel like we should be doing right now – shopping for children, spouses, and friends. They interrupt the busy-ness and parties of the season. What was the church thinking when they developed a season of four weeks of preparation – of time seeming to get stuck – all so we could be ready to celebrate a birth…that we celebrate every year…knowing full well that it happened centuries ago?! Celebrating the birth is not like our own birthdays – which pile on years. Jesus is always a baby at Christmas. Nor is celebrating the birth like some pagan rituals which are supposed to provoke the universe or gods into activity. Celebrating the birth is a great gift and it takes time and work to be ready to receive. The prophetic word from Isaiah today speaks about a time, a place, and an experience. The time is merely ‘in the days to come’. The place is on the highest of all mountains. The experience is living according to the desires and will of God. Isaiah and Micah both use this passage – which centers on the possibility of real peace. Some say it is wishful thinking. Some say it is just poetry. Some say it is a prophecy about heaven – or life after death. The truth is that this passage is foundation to our faith and our hope, and it is not just about life after death, or poetry, or wishful thinking. It is about Advent and it calls us into the responsibility we have right now – even as we may be stuck in a time that estranges us from others who are already drinking the Christmas cheer. The ‘mountain’ is mentioned three times in the Isaiah passage. This mountain is not a geographical description. It is, however, the height of the worshipping community. For the Jewish people of Isaiah’s day it was the Temple. For there, the faithful people gathered to truly meet as communit…to come before God and learn what expectations God might have for the people. I have difficulty with the question asked of me: where is your home? Many Americans have become so mobile; they share my difficulty in relating to such a question. For me – home is where I am living. Wherever that is becomes the center of my universe. Most of us – who have moved throughout our lives – do not have the longing for the Temple in Jerusalem that is running under this scripture. When we have moved, we have sought and found a community of faith in our new location. We have intertwined our lives with friends on similar faith journeys and moved into a congregation’s life in order to do that. The longing is the same, however: We come to a community to know what it is that God requires of us; We desire with our whole heart to be in the presence of God with others who are searching; We long to figure out with others the will of God for this whole creation and how we can be a part of bringing that about. This passage is very clear about what will happen when we hear the intention and will of God. There will be no more energy gained from making war or fear tactics surrounding it. We will be feeding each other rather than killing each other. The mind of God is that people are able to live together in a peaceable kingdom. So, if we receive this prophecy of Isaiah as knowing what God would want from us – and are part of a congregation of the faithful seeking – what about the timing? Is it just in the after-life? And what does this have to do with Advent? Basil Pennington (Seeking His Mind. 2002. Brewster, Massachusetts: Paraclete Press. Pp. 80-81) writes about the four comings of Jesus Christ. The first is what we celebrate every year related to the nativity – that poignant Bethlehem scene that builds appreciation and joy within us because God has loved us so much. The second ‘coming’ of Christ is, of course, the culmination or fulfillment of all creation…and who knows what, when or how that might happen (although too many people spend too many hours in that speculation!) The third coming of Christ – for Pennington – is when any individual crosses from death into resurrected life. All of these are important. However, the fourth coming is what we need to be most conscious of during this season of Advent. For it is how Jesus Christ opens life and the fullness of life to us in this very moment. It is for us to allow God’s work to begin – now. It is for us to capture that vision and find ways to start our part immediately! During Advent, we must be trying to move to the top of that mountain – and hear, feel and know the leading of God for this very time. We must take the opportunity to sense the desire and will of God for our lives and the life of this whole creation. We ought to be drawn into the heart of God so much that we will help bring about the peaceable kingdom that is so clearly what God wants. We should believe that if we know God’s desire and will, that surely God will give us the gifts and power to help bring it in. Advent is a moment – stuck in time – when we know that the great gift of light is about to break into our lives. But first, we are called to help in the preparation. Advent is the season when we have opportunity to begin living out the peace that God so desires…to provide hope to a world crazy with fear…to share joy with war-weary people. Advent is not just wishful thinking. It is not just poetry to get us ready for a magical Christmas. Advent is our participation in the dream that God has for this creation. It is our opportunity to work with God for its fulfillment. And so as we walk through these weeks, may we explore together God’s hope that is clear in this prophecy. May we find ways in personal and collective life to bring about times of peace and hope in our own families and communities – for this is where we can start. Then we can grow to our nation and international community. To appreciate the gift, we must prepare. We must make ready. The joy of Advent is to be ‘stuck in time’ as we ready ourselves for the light to come. • SW |
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