2nd Sunday of Advent: Instant Christmas?

2nd Sunday of Advent: December 4, 2011

Mark 1:1-8
Preacher: Pastor Carrie B. Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

One day earlier this week, the first week in Advent, I saw a television commercial that caught my attention. As I remember it, it features a family finishing up Thanksgiving dinner. As Grandma and Grandpa are being walked to the door, they comment on the perfection of the turkey and the quality of the stuffing and pie. “Wonderful, as always!” they say, “Happy Thanksgiving!” As the front door shuts behind them, a visibly tired wife turns and leans on the door, no doubt thinking about the work of cleaning up that delicious Thanksgiving feast. But then, she notices that her house has been magically transformed from a Thanksgiving feast into a Christmas paradise! The tree is up and lit, the rooms are decorated, and the husband (in a red and green holiday sweater, of course) sits in front of the roaring fire with two glasses of wine—one for him, one for her. Instant Christmas! And the tagline of the commercial is: “Santa has elves; you have Target.”

On a similar note, just yesterday a Texas friend commented on Facebook that she had received an email coupon from Hallmark, to be used on the “5th and 6th days of Christmas”. According to Hallmark, the 5th and 6th days of Christmas are tomorrow and the day after. Now I know we call this entire time between Halloween and New Year’s the holiday season, but I wasn’t aware that this year we were skipping all the weeks of December! This year, it seems, we’ve already arrived at Christmas—instant Christmas!

Lest you think I am an Advent Grinch, out to steal your Christmas joy, let me assure you: my Christmas tree is up at my house, too. I have lights on my house and holiday CDs playing in my car. What’s more, I’ve already worked my way through a goodly portion of a bottle of my favorite holiday drink (Bailey’s Irish Cream) as well as several packages of Christmas-colored Oreo cookies and an embarrassing number of Starbucks Peppermint Mochas. I love Christmas!

But I also love Advent, and here’s why: Advent prepares me for the joy Christmas brings. The decorating, the planning, the shopping, the baking, the candles on the wreath, the chocolates in the calendar, the singing, the wrapping…and the waiting—are all important parts of being ready. If elves did arrive after our Thanksgiving meal to magically deliver “instant Christmas” to our house, it just wouldn’t be the same! Time for preparation is a gift. Advent is a gift.

What’s more, Advent is a gift we receive nowhere else, except for in church. That’s why, today, things might look a little barren behind the altar. Gone is the vibrant greenery of the Epiphany season. We don’t yet see the baby Jesus or the shepherds or the angel announcing the good news. Red and green light bulbs and placemats and sweaters and Oreos may be populating our homes, but here in Sunday worship, we are welcomed by blue, the color of hope and expectation. The “Instant Christmas” outside is about having it all, and having it now—no waiting period required. Advent, on the other hand, is about expectation and anticipation. And so for these few weeks we sing “Prepare the royal highway, the king of kings is near” rather than “Noel, noel, born is the king of Israel.”

Advent is about expecting Jesus, and that’s why when you leave worship today, you will also see a new image of Mary hanging on Bethany’s art wall. This new painting, part of a series called “The Nativity Project”, is surprising in that it doesn’t show a traditional nativity scene at all. Instead, it portrays Mary cradling a very pregnant belly. It’s not “Away in a manger”, but rather “Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free.” It is hope and expectation. It is Advent, not instant Christmas.

It’s also true that “instant Christmas” isn’t to be found in the Gospel according to Mark. Today’s gospel reading starts off this way: “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We might expect the next verse to be: “Then the baby Jesus was born in a manger.” But instead, we hear that the beginning of the Good News came long before the stable and the manger. The beginning was even before John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching repentance. The beginning, according to Mark’s Gospel, is just as it was written in the prophet Isaiah, who said: “See, I am sending a messenger ahead of you, to prepare the way. A voice crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight!” In other words, the Good News of Jesus Christ began long ago, when God began preparing the world for the birth of the Messiah.

The incarnation was not instant! God has been preparing the world for Jesus—through the prophets, through the Word, and through the saints of all times and places. Today we especially remember John the baptizer and his important role in preaching repentance. His was the voice crying out in the wilderness that the people could not ignore.

But there were others, too. There was Abraham, and Sarah. There was Noah and Jacob, Rachel and Miriam. God didn’t start working in history on that holy night in Bethlehem. God has been at work throughout history, in all times and places, from creation to Bethlehem to Jerusalem and Golgotha and, ultimately, to the New Jerusalem. Christmas is not the beginning of the story, but it’s also good to remember that it’s not the end of the story, either! Amen!

Just as God has been at work in the world from the beginning of time, and has prepared us for the birth of the Messiah, so also God is always at work in our lives, preparing us for Christ to be born again in our hearts. God prepares us for new things, and this preparation time can be difficult. Darkness before there is light, and there is time in the wilderness before we hear a voice calling us out. When the rest of the world is celebrating Christmas, the Advent journey can be lonely, even when we trust that God is indeed preparing us for a new thing. Advent is a gift—but sometimes it’s a gift we’d rather not receive!

In preparing the world for Jesus, God sent John to preach the need for repentance, and I’m certain that was a gift not all were happy to receive. Indeed, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it seems a bit of a downer to think of the need to repent, to confess sins, and to straighten out our lives. Where is the Christmas joy in that? Where is the magic and the glitter in that message?

And yet repentance and confession are important parts of being prepared to receive Christ. I wonder if you’ve ever noticed that one of our favorite Christmas hymns, “Joy to the World”, actually resides in the Advent section of our hymnal. I suspect it finds its home there largely because of this phrase: “Let every heart prepare him room…”. And indeed, this is a wonderful Advent message, because this could be the call of John the baptizer! Let every heart prepare him room—let every sinner turn back to God—let every person be honest about her shortcomings—let all who are filled with hate make room for love—let all who are empty be filled with God’s grace and forgiveness.

God prepares us for Jesus, making room in our hearts for the Good News, and for the new possibilities that Good News brings. This Advent, consider the ways in which God is at work in your life. How is God preparing you for new things? Where are there paths in your life that need to be straightened out for Jesus to arrive? How can you make room for Christ in your heart or in your home? Above all, what gifts can this Advent season bring, that will prepare you to more fully experience the joy of Christmas?

Let us pray:
We praise and thank you, Creator God, for you have not left us alone. Each year you come to us, Emmanuel, God with us in a manger. Each time you come to us in the broken bread and the cup we share. In time or out of time, you will be revealed, and we shall see you face to face. Prepare our hearts to receive you. Amen.