1 Sermon for December 7, 2014 2 Advent Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8 by Vicki Betsinger Opening prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen. I love Advent! Advent is the season for waiting, anticipation, and preparation. The word comes from the Latin adventus and means coming or arrival. As a homemaker, I know all about preparing for this season the decorating, shopping, wrapping, meal planning, cooking, and inviting. All these things contribute to providing a warm and hospitable atmosphere for all who enter your home. Then comes the waiting waiting for family to arrive to share the traditions, waiting for guests to come to share the joy of the season. These are all secular activities, but are they exclusively secular? I think not. For in the providing of a warm and inviting place for friends and family to congregate, to share a meal or a festive evening, a pastoral opportunity is present. So I believe that in the midst of the busyness of the season, which has become so commercialized, pastoral occurrences happen. The anticipation I feel at this time of year is a kind of muted excitement, a mysterious unknown a pregnancy. The sense of trepidation, awe, and wonder that surround a woman as she awaits the birth of her child are reflected in our Advent preparations after all, it is a waiting on the birth of a child for which the whole Christian world yearns. 40 years ago, I was living my own Advent story. At the age of 28, I was living with my first husband in Vancouver, Wa., and became pregnant. After about 4 months, it became apparent that I was married to a man who did not want to continue in our 5-year marriage. At first I was devastated, fearful, and felt very much alone. I was so traumatized, I could not make any decisions, could not see any future. I had good friends and a family who loved me but I felt totally alone, really just unable to deal with this reality. The due date of my child was December 24th and so I started thinking about Mary and felt such a connection I can t totally explain why I felt this way but I felt hope
2 and love in a way that was almost mystical. Maybe it was because we were two young women, separated by time, place, and culture, who were both expecting a child under less than ideal circumstances. As I reflected on that pregnancy and birth so many years ago, I felt supported and loved in a way that defied explanation. I prayed that God would give me the strength and grace to carry the baby to term and deliver a healthy child. During this time, the fog lifted and I began to make plans to move back to Allyn and live with my folks until the baby came; I prepared and waited and hoped. I knew that I would provide for this baby to the best of my ability and would love the child unconditionally, and would let the child know always that it was loved, no matter what. In those days, I didn t know if my baby was a boy or girl, but as all parents will tell you, it didn t matter. In the intervening months, still focusing on Mary and Jesus, I realized and felt in a very palpable way, that is how God s love is for each of us unconditional. The grace we receive from God is unearned and undeserved it is there simply because we are there and brings us the hope we need to continue in troubled times. So it is in the spirit of this hope and preparation that we prepare our worship space for the season as well. Some ways we do this during Advent are in the placing of the Advent wreath and the lighting of the Advent candles each Sunday; in the greening of the church in anticipation of the Christmas Eve service, when we wait in the darkness for the birth of the Christ. The Advent preparations are full of rich theological symbolism. By understanding the theology behind these preparations, it helps us to be more present and participative in the season. A few Sunday s ago, Garby preached about singing a new song. This year we are singing a new song by incorporating some changes to our Advent preparations. Garby and Christie lovingly created the beautiful blue stoles worn by our clergy as well as the burse and veil you see on the altar today. You may note that we have a new Advent wreath stand which was crafted for us by our friend George Riddle. The Advent wreath itself sits on the sturdy table and is circular in shape, which is representative of God s eternity and endless mercy which has no beginning or end. The fresh greens in the wreath reminds us of the hope we have in God; the hope of newness, freshness, of renewal, of eternal life. Since the greens are evergreen, that also symbolizes the love of God which is always with us. The candles symbolize the light of God coming into the world through the birth of the
son. The four outer candles represent the period of waiting during the four Sundays of Advent, which themselves remind us of the four centuries of waiting between the prophecy of the coming Messiah by the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ. The first three Sundays in Advent, a blue candle is lighted and these represent hope, peace, and love; the fourth Sunday is honoring Mary and the birth to come, and it is represented by a pink or rose colored candle which signifies joy. The white candle in the center is the Christ candle which is lighted on Christmas Eve and of course honors the light of Christ entering the world again. This year you will note a fresh approach to the Liturgical color we are using. In years past, we have used the color purple as the Liturgical color for Advent. The color purple represents not only royalty, as in Christ the King, but also represents fasting and penitence. In this way, the season of Advent has traditionally been seen as a penitential season similar to that of Lent. However, in recent years, the penitential aspect of this season has been almost totally replaced by an emphasis on hope and anticipation. The color blue is an accepted color to be used during Advent and it is being used at St. Hugh this year to emphasize the bringing of light and the hope aspect of the season, to distinguish it from Lent. Royal blue may be used as a symbol of royalty, or bright blue to symbolize the night sky, the anticipation of the impending announcement of the King s coming, or the waters as the beginning of a new creation. Theologically, during the Advent season we really have a dual focus one focus is on the celebration of the anniversary of the coming of Christ into the world over two thousand years ago; the other focus is on the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his second Advent. So, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating the revelation of God in Christ, whereby all creation might be reconciled to God. That is the process in which we now participate and the result for which we anticipate. The scripture readings for today reflect the emphasis on the Second Advent, including repentance and judgment of sin. Repentance and sin are not things we like to focus on during Advent.we d much rather leave that to Lent. The Gospel scripture for this morning is from the Gospel of Mark, as was last week s Gospel reading. This oldest of the Gospels does not begin with the 3
genealogy of Christ, leading up to his birth. Nor does it begin with the angel Gabriel visiting Mary and telling of her coming pregnancy and birth of the Christ child. This Gospel does not open with a birth narrative at all. Instead we find John the Baptist in the Judean countryside baptizing throngs of people in the River Jordan and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Even without the traditional birth narrative, this is still Advent and the scripture is preparing us for a coming or arrival the arrival of the adult Jesus Christ to begin his public ministry. See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. This passage from Mark echoes the passage we heard earlier today from the Old Testament reading in Isaiah. In Mark, it refers to the fact that John will go in first; to prepare the way for Jesus to begin doing his work among the people and preparing the people to be ready for what is to come for Jesus to take away the sins of the world and to bring light to a world that was cloaked in the darkness of Roman oppression, low wages, high taxes, and a sense of hopelessness. The emphasis on this John the Baptist, who was an unusual, reclusive, and yet oddly charismatic figure, is a reminder to us of the hint of penitence in this season. The reading today from Isaiah also refers to preparing the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God. In this scripture lesson, the Jews were returning to their homeland after being exiled in Babylon, and they were bringing their God back with them. They believed when they were exiled, God deserted the land also. For those Jews who were left behind and not taken into exile, the old, and weak, and un-influential, as well as the Jews who had been in captivity for all those years, the return of the people and their God to their homeland must have felt like transitioning from an oppressive darkness into the light. In both these readings, people lived in desperate times. The light and hope that God brings is the Advent message we still anticipate today. In every generation, people face darkness and a sense of hopelessness. Since today is December 7th, it is only appropriate that we remember this famous day in American history. As President Franklin Roosevelt said,... a date which will live in infamy. This of course is the anniversary of the day that the Imperial Forces of Japan attacked the 4
5 American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and all but annihilated it. It also marks the entrance of the United States into the Second World War. I d like for us to honor those service men and women as well as the civilians that perished during that war and made the ultimate sacrifice that we might retain our freedom. I think it s important here to distinguish between darkness and night. Or maybe I should say the essence of darkness and night. Darkness has typically been associated with evil, bad and scary things. But in the book of Genesis, scripture tells us that God created all the creatures, the sky, the waters, the stars, moon, and sun and he created day and night. The light he called day and the darkness he called night. And everything that God created was good! So at this time of the year, as night falls earlier and earlier, I would like to suggest that we embrace that nighttime. I look forward to this time of the year, as the day gives way to the night and the darkness. In trying to determine why I find this time of year so compelling and endearing, I think it is because so many things that enchant me would be impossible without the darkness... the beauty and mystery of the night sky, with stars shining as bright as diamonds; the full moon reflected on a body of water, shimmering with the movement of the tide; the fanciful whimsy of a firefly; the soft aura from candlelight; the beautiful glow from luminaries on a snowy path; and the majesty of the Northern Lights. So I view the dark as not so much the absence of light but rather as an expression of fear, loneliness, despair, and hopelessness. These are the situations that the light of Christ was and is sent to dispel. To bring hope, peace, joy, and love. And each Sunday, as we receive the sacrament of Christ s body and blood, the second coming is here and now, powerful and real. As we take in Christ, we become the light of Christ. This Advent season, may the force be with us Christ s light force... and may we burn brightly with that light as we take it with us into a broken and hurting world that is still waiting still anticipating still hoping. Come Lord Jesus, Come! Amen.