“Beyond
Preparing for Christmas”
Matthew
3:1-12
First
Presbyterian Church
The
Reverend Donald E. Ray
December
5, 2010
Second
Sunday of Advent
Twenty days until Christmas. It seems like a long
time if you are a child, or still a child at heart. If
you are a Martha type with all the preparations on your mind - the decorating,
parties, shopping, baking, wrapping . . . Oh,
I apologize; you wanted to forget all that for an hour this morning and now
I’ve reminded you.
Our culture says; “Christmas is coming, you’d
better get ready.” But we are
reminded this morning that there is another voice. John
the Baptist says; “the kingdom of heaven has come near. . .
.Prepare the way of the Lord.” With
all there is to do maintaining Christmas traditions, the perfect gifts to find
for all on our list, “ John,” we want to say; “there isn’t time to
prepare the way of the Lord - barely an hour to get to church; manage a quick
prayer: ‘God help me if I’m to ever get it all done in time.’”
John the Baptist gets a bum rap. Repent
has come to mean remorse, regret, bearing the weight of guilt for a
miss-directed life, meant to scare toward a change in direction. Translated,
it’s today’s lament that the real meaning of Christmas has been buried in
all the commercialization pressures on our celebration. John
does need a new image: wearing camel hair before it was stylish; eating wild
honey, maybe, but locusts; calling the religious elite a brood of snakes;
burning chaff.
Or maybe it’s that John needs his old image back.
Wilderness, not necessarily a
terrifying jungle, can be a peaceful, inspiring place. “Repent,”
after all means first, “to turn in a different, opposite direction.” The
motivation to do that is in the appeal of the new way. “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 3:2) If
there is guilt, it is in the remorse at what has been missed and miss directed. John’s
harsh words are for those who come just in the outside chance that he might be
the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and they wouldn’t want to miss adding
his baptism to all their other religious trophies. Burning
chaff - that’s what the reapers do, threshing means removing the chaff so the
granary is filled with clean and nourishing grain.
This year’s theme for Christmas at the White
House is, Simple Gifts. The
preparations for Christmas however include the traditional tree in the Blue
Room, an 18 ½ foot tall Douglas fir, elaborately decorated floor to ceiling;
four large spangled trees in the East Room; garlands, poinsettia trees, wreaths
throughout; a 350 pound ginger bread house; and a replica of the family dog
formed from pipe cleaners. Michele
Obama, perhaps acknowledging that while all that may be our Christmas tradition,
said it is the simple gifts that are important; time spent with loved ones,
freedom, joy we feel reaching out to those in need.
Across the years, we have probably run the gamut of
alternative Christmas celebrations but not much has changed. Among
our New Year’s resolutions are often ones about doing things differently with
Christmas next year. But the next
Christmas comes, and . . . So here we are - Christmas is coming and we have to
get ready. But another voice is
heard; the kingdom of heaven has come near . . . prepare the way of the Lord.
What I think that means is in spite of the
characterization of God as distant, uncaring, even dead, buried in the
extravagance of celebrations, love has come near. We
live in God and there in is the spirit of love, righteousness, wisdom, hope,
peace, joy and love. To prepare the
way of the Lord is simply, simply because it isn’t about what we make happen;
it’s simply to be open to hearing, seeing, feeling, being stirred.
A couple of years ago, I was distressed with the
way my Christmas preparations were going when I received a youtube link from a
friend. Opening it, I was greeted by
a Celtic Woman Christmas concert. I
was moved by O Holy Night, Christmas
Pipes, Silent Night. I was moved
not only by the beauty of the music but that indeed, the kingdom of heaven has
come near.
This year, another friend sent me another youtube
link, writing “in case you haven’t seen this yet.” Yet
another friend forwarded the same message to me just this morning.
I had seen the video before and almost closed it. But
I didn’t. Before, I had thought
the it cute, creative. This time
though, after a week and a half of travel, two funerals of beloved family
members in two days, I was moved to tears as the kingdom of heaven
came near.
In the video recorded at the Welland Seaway Mall,
Ontario, the Chorus Niagara, as a Flash
Mob, began with an organ playing Handel’s Messiah, a soloist, another
soloist, an ensemble, a section, a 100 or so persons who had appeared to be
shoppers having lunch, maintenance workers, store clerks, until they stood to
sing, filled the Fountain Square Food Court with the joyous Hallelujah
Chorus. Although it wasn’t
politically correct, the flashed shoppers smiled, took pictures, some sang along, children were in silent
awe, because in the midst of all the Christmas preparation, the kingdom of
heaven came near.
We have in the midst of all our Christmas flurry,
what we sometimes call sentimental, those moments when some beauty, warmth,
treasured memory catches us and stirs our heart. For
me it’s always the lighting of candles at the service on Christmas eve. But
it’s other moments too.
Maybe it will be the music of the season that
because John the Baptist calls us to turn around from our Christmas busyness,
will strike a heavenly chord we might have missed.
I realized Thursday evening the extent of my
disconnect after the stress of the past week and a half. I
knew what this morning’s anthems would be, yet in selecting our second hymn,
duplicated one of them. I made a
hasty decision to change the hymn but Cindy in her spirit and wisdom said, “It
would be okay - the tune is different.”
It is the word this morning and it bears
repeating--in the spritely tune of the hymn and to David Cherwien’s
arrangement of the anthem that becomes a dance:
On
announces
that the Lord is nigh
Awake
and hearken,
for
he brings glad tidings of the King of kings!
Maybe it will be the tinkling of a bell beside a
red kettle that calls us to care for those whose needs are great.
Perhaps we will see a candle and in our darkness we
will see a great light - not great because of its brilliance but because it is a
light of warmth and love shining when all has been very dark. It
might be a star in the night sky, or part of some Christmas decoration, or the
lone symbol of Christmas atop a stark, foreboding prison building, and we will
be reminded that wisdom is in seeking the king of hope and peace and joy and
love.
Maybe it will happen as you walk through the
Cloister and see the angel trees calling to prepare
the way of the Lord in the joy
of reaching out to others in need.
Perhaps it will be a morsel of bread and a tiny cup
that will stir gratitude, Eucharist, love in our hearts even as it is the joyful
feast of love in the Christ.
It may be a card or a caring word and a hug from a
faith community friend that brings comfort and courage.
There is no doubt in my mind-- no reservation in my
heart, John the Baptist speaks true; as we turn around - we may not be able to
turn away from our entrenched Christmas traditions, but if we turn around in the
midst of it all and take a few steps into the wilderness calm and peace - not
just to add another ornament to our decorations - but to prepare the best we can
the way of the Lord in our hearts, the
kingdom of heaven has come near.
Amen.