Second Sunday of Advent 12/9/12

Second Sunday in Advent 12/9/12 Luke 31-20 In a recent experiment, a number of married couples were asked to juggle several things. Each participating couple was given a crystal vase, a china cup and saucer, wedding rings, a crucifix, a china doll, a soccer ball, a hand-held computer, and a cell phone. Of course, before long, one could hear the crashing of broken glass, china and rings and all sorts of things falling all over the stage; it was just too much to juggle at the same time. Except for one couple who realizing that they could not juggle all of those things juggled the three things that they considered the most valuable in their lives; the crucifix (which symbolized their spiritual life), the wedding ring (which symbolized their marriage) and the china doll (which symbolized their children). The rest they aside, for they knew that when you try to juggle everything the most important things of life, religion, the marriage, and family get dropped While that illustration might not seem to have anything to do with the season of Advent it actually does, for Advent is a time to take a step back and assess our lives, to decide what is important and what is not, so that we are properly prepared for Christmas and the second coming of Jesus. I say to decide what is important, because this time of year, we see people running about, their priorities all askew, because they are juggling too much; as if every single thing in their lives is just as important as the next and usually the worship of God gets dropped first. That is why the Christian Church since about 375 A. D. has given us the holy season of Advent and the person of John the Baptist to remind us, especially in this busy time, that not everything in our lives is equally important. The scriptures of Advent this week and next give significant attention to John the Baptist. We know he is the one who “prepares the way for the Lord” with his preaching and with his baptizing. We know from the description of his food and dress that he calls to mind the Old Testament prophet Elijah, who called the people to repentance. We know that, but still wonder what that has to do with us? John is not, admittedly, a very “Christmassy” figure; he is not, at holiday time, especially attractive. You won’t find John the Baptist on any Christmas cards. So while John the Baptist is not very Christmassy” he is very much “Adventish”, for John through God’s Word still calls people to prepare, to ask forgiveness of their sins, to reassess their values, to change their hearts and lives and to turn to the things of God. For us, that means taking a hard look at just what it is we are juggling and perhaps set aside those things that are really of little value in the eyes of the Lord. In other words it is a time of preparation. Preparation is a way to indicate that some person is or is not very important to you. You spend a lot of time in preparation when you value the person that is coming. You spend very little time, if any in preparation when you do not value someone. That rule holds true for us; if we do not prepare properly for the event that is about to happen; the coming of Jesus as a child, and his coming every day into our lives, and his advent at the end of time we will miss what Christmas is really about. We know in our heads what Christmas is about, of course, but in these days before it comes, our preparations may have more to do with the things of the world; parties, lights, shopping, and gifts, than what Christmas is all about. All that stuff that we do, that we get ourselves all worked up and stressed out about isn’t preparing for Christmas, because the season of Christmas is about the coming of Immanuel; God with us. We need to be properly prepared, not with consumerism and commercialism but with a spiritual openness. We are summoned by the scriptures to allow the person of John and the person of Jesus to arouse in us a desire to change, to be better, to be different, to set our priorities straight, to be God’s people. You will never see a picture of John the Baptist on Christmas cards because he is not Christmassy, for besides his rough appearance he calls all who will listen to repentance and Christmas is not about repentance; right? Wrong! Christmas and thus Advent, the season before Christmas, is all about repentance, for it is in repentance that we receive the forgiveness of Jesus. Living a life of repentance often means changing the way we live, re-evaluating our priorities and even asking ourselves if we should not, as Christians, be preparing for Christmas in a way that is different from the rest of our culture. Again, without proper preparation, we can miss the real meaning of the event. We can’t juggle it all, nor should we even try. Since Advent is a time of preparing, John being in the wilderness is significant. It is significant because we too are living in the wilderness and thus uncertainty in our lives. You may be recently divorced or a single parent struggling with the challenges of life. You may be the one who presently mourns the loss of a loved one, or the person who has wounds from a hurtful or recently ended relationship. Your wilderness may be unemployment, fears about our job, anxiety about the future or debilitating concerns about schoolwork or your health, or just plain uncertainty . Your wilderness, the place where you are called to prepare, may be a serious illness or unimaginable family problems. These are broken spots into which God can enter. God loves you as much in your brokenness as in our wholeness. So we all bring our brokenness to God in Advent — we don’t need to wrap, hide or cover it up! We are called now, in this holy time, to prepare. We are challenged to invite God into our personal wilderness, not to put on a happy holiday face that masks our true self. We prepare by giving God our deepest longings, needs and desires. We prepare like the juggling couple, by setting aside less important things. We need to stop juggling the demands of a society who will miss what Christmas is about because they have not properly prepared. The story of Jesus is the story of salvation; the story of salvation is God’s love for all the world and God’s love in particular for you and me. Advent reminds us that not everything in our life is just as important as the next. And even if we are not filled with warm, fuzzy feelings, what we do have is a reminder in our lives of why God came to save us. The problem is of course, especially as Lutherans is that we believe we prepared ourselves for Jesus in our Confirmation, at least we believe we have and so we say to ourselves, “Do I really need to prepare again. I know Jesus is my Savior.” And the answer to that is, “Are you all that God calls you to be?” May we heed John the Baptist’s call and properly prepare this Advent so we won’t miss the meaning of Jesus’ advent when we celebrate Christmas, hear his forgiveness in the absolution, learn from his Word, receive eternal life in his Sacraments, and when he comes again at the end of time. Immanuel; God with us, come quickly. Amen.