December 10, 2006

Turmoil and Tinsel

by Julianne Stokstad

Where are you in your preparations for Christmas this year? This time of year there is always so much is to be done: getting out the decorations, putting up the tree, writing cards, planning parties, shopping, baking, going to special Christmas performances, oh my, so much to be done and only two weeks left to go. It isn't at all clear we can do it all. There are so many ways and levels of preparation. The many demands we put on ourselves make it all the harder to hear the God's call, a call to a deeper preparation of ourselves that can lead us out of the wilderness of crazy meaningless into a true relationship with God which is the meaning of the season and the true meaning of our lives.

God's messengers and prophets are all around us, if we can see. They always have been. Our scripture reading from the prophet Malachi, the very last book of the Hebrew Bible, was written at a time when the Israelites had returned from the wilderness of their exile. Their trust and belief in God had been turned into cynicism by a series of corrupt religious leaders. It didn't seem to make a difference how one behaved toward each other or God. In Hebrew, Malachi means messenger. He preached that God will send a messenger to prepare the people for transformation of their hearts, which will restore them to God. These are the final words of the Old Testament.

Not only Luke, but all four gospels identify John the Baptist as that messenger, preparing the way for Jesus. In Luke, we learn that Jesus and John were cousins, both their births were foretold by angels, so clearly they are special in God's story. God's word came to John as he was living in the wilderness. He heard and responded by proclaiming his message of repentance and baptizing many at the Jordan River. He was a persistent, prickly fellow, no time for tinselly visions of sugarplums danced in his head. Instead he had a passionate urgency to bring God's kingdom to his lost people.

Only Luke so carefully identifies John in a specific time in history. Historians think the year was probably 29 C. E. Luke's audience knew well the ways of the Romans. Their politics of worldly domination and oppression stood in stark contrast to John's promise for God's way.

This time of year John reminds us to pay attention to our Christmas preparations so we don't forget the real meaning of our celebrations. His strident call to repent challenges us. It calls us to get our priorities in order but repent? Do we have time for that now?

We are good people. We are trying to live our lives according to God's word. Yet, most of us struggle with the idea of repentance. Repentance means a change of heart and attitude, a total shift in the way we look at things. The word literally means to turn around. It does seem a little extreme doesn't it to be called to repentance when we're so busy?

[In the children's sermon] We heard the competing voices of John the Baptist and Maud Claus, the cousin of Santa, echo the sacred/secular tension we have in our lives. Do we have to choose between them I wonder or is it possible, somehow, to live with both, in the communion of heaven and earth?

Where are you between these two extremes? Do you identify with Maud preparing for the holiday celebration? I want to point out that following Maud's way is not all tinsel, parties and chocolate, much as we wish it were. For every good intention, there is another side as well.

For all the joy of giving, the bills come due and we have to pay. A huge percentage of Americans are still paying off their debts from last Christmas.

We live with expectations and tradition and memories freezing our imagination of new ways and of what can be.

We live with hurts of broken relationships and failing health that are harder to escape and more painful this time of year.

We live with grief of a holiday without a loved one, perhaps feeling we shouldn't be blue this time of year. Truth is the holidays are depressing times for many people.

Perhaps it is surprising to you, but it always gets much quieter around the church in December. I suspect there are fewer of you who identify with John as he urges us to prepare for a new way of living more aligned to God's will? It's not easy to hear we ought to change our ways. Who are the modern prophets who call us to change and return to God's ways? We might look at the people who most irritate us as they call us to change; perhaps they are God's messengers? I suspect the Biblical prophets really irritated the people they preached to. We have so much to change! We must end our warring ways. We must stop raping and pillaging our earth home. We must not live in unsustainable ways that oppress other peoples in our world. There is much to do collectively.

But let us look first at our own lives and see how we might prepare a space for God in our lives here and now because real change comes from a change of each of our hearts here and now in our own lives.

Take time, even if it is only a little bit each day, to pay attention to what is really important in your life. Light a candle together with your family. In a new way, pay attention to each person who is dear to you.

Do something each day, that feeds your spirit: listen to your favorite music, go outside and plant a bulb with someone you love.

Read the Bible. Read a favorite poem. Write a note to a friend. Call a relative and tell them what you are doing.

Do something kind for someone you don't even know.

Maud and John both call us to change. We live in a demanding world, dominated by powerful economic and political forces and we are called to examine how we might open a space in our hearts and lives for God. We live in both realities.

The second Sunday of Advent is traditionally focused on peace. Peace is the most elusive and sought after gift. Peace is the greatest gift of God. But, like John said, we have to do some work to prepare the way for this gift in our own lives. It is not honest of us to call others to do what we don't do ourselves. "The practice of peace," writes Mahatma Gandhi, "involves introspection. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed--but hate these things inside yourself, not in another."

God's way of peace begins with ourselves. Joan Chittister writes, "Peace comes when we are at peace with ourselves. Peace comes when we know that God has something for each us in everything we do, in everything we experience."

Surprisingly, it is often in times of great disruption and turmoil, when we turn to God, that a way opens preparing our way to God. When we do that an extraordinary quiet sets in, a peace beyond all understanding, and we know the peace of God has come. It is said that when one person finds peace, thousands around attain salvation.

How I wish I could give you a prescription for peace: tell you to say two prayers and you'll be peaceful in the morning. We all want a quick fix. Each of us needs to do our own work, examine our own life: our priorities, our values, and our behaviors. If our actions are not in line with our priorities, then we need to change our ways.

Take time this season to pay attention to your spiritual preparation. If you need to change, then do it. This blessed Advent season, the light of God draws near to us once again. Let us prepare a place in our lives for this greatest of all treasures. Amen.