Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them.  Take our minds and think with them.  Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen

Be ready! Or said a little bit differently: Be prepared!  In today’s scripture readings, Jesus says it.  St. Paul emphasizes it.  And eventually even the Boy Scouts picked up on the mantra—always be prepared.  Today, as the church, we begin the season of Advent.  The word Advent literally means come.  In this season of Advent, as our scripture readings suggest, we prepare…prepare our hearts and minds for something or, in our case, someone who is coming.  That person who is coming into the world of course is Jesus.  As Christmas quickly approaches, Christ is coming to us once again as the Babe of Bethlehem—something we joyfully expect. 

On Christmas Day, we will give thanks to God for the first and only Christmas gift of lasting value—the Christ Child.  God came near and His Holy Child —Jesus was born into the world of women and men.  That child would grow into a man, and that man would go to the cross for the sins of the whole world—even yours—even mine.  (As I mentioned last week) Jesus’ birth was nothing more than majesty in the midst of the mundane.  Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat.  Divinity entering the world on the floor of a cave, through the womb of a teenager, and in the presence of a carpenter.  Jesus came into the world humbly and, moreover, he would leave the world humbly dying a death reserved for the world’s most wretched people.  Yet through Jesus’ humble life and humble death, God defeated evil and death once and for all and opened to us the way of new and unending life.  Truly the Babe of Bethlehem is a gift that keeps on giving—and will continue to do so even beyond the end of time. 

Now before I get too far ahead of myself, let me return to Advent which again is the season set aside in our church year to prepare…to prepare our hearts and minds for this great feast of our Lord’s Nativity, which, believe it or not, comes to us in only twenty-three days.  And though we can even now hear in the distance the sound of the angels’ song praising God and promising peace on earth, we must wait a little longer.  Christmas is still in the distance.  Advent reminds us that it is still time to be prepared.

Now I am sure you are all aware of the fact that the word holiday comes from holy day.  With this in mind, the season of Advent confronts us with an important question.  One that I hope each of you will consider.  The question is: will these 23 days that lead up to Christmas be a time to prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate a holy day—the day God came into the world as the Babe of Bethlehem?  Or are we hunkering down for just another secular holiday?  Are we preparing for a holy Christmas or for a final month of frenzied shopping, holiday headaches and heartburn, economic suicide (that is, willfully sacrificing our bank accounts on gifts), a 10-pound weight gain, and horrific shopping mall traffic?  What are we preparing our hearts and minds for—a holiday or a holy day—the day God came near and entered our world?

Now, I need to take a step back here and make a confession.  The truth is personally I love our cultural expressions of Christmas.  I delight in carefully picking out the perfect gift for someone I care for—a small token of my abiding love for them.  My family is no Griswold family (if any of you are fans of Christmas Vacation) but growing up our home was brimming with Christmas decorations beginning the day after Thanksgiving until long after New Years.  And even today, my wife and I are no slouches when it comes to decorating for Christmas.  As we speak, our tree is up, Christmas lights are in the yard, and my radio is tuned to the 24 hour Christmas music station (I know that last confession is sort of cheesy…but true). 

The sounds, the lights, the smells, and colors of Christmas are all things that I look forward to each and every year.  And, in my opinion, these various expressions of the season are not in and of themselves bad.  Particularly, if our decorating and gift giving is a kind of preparation for the coming Christmas by setting a part this time in our year from the rest as special, and beautiful, and worthy of being celebrated.  But in and of themselves these traditions are not enough.  If we are intentionally preparing in Advent for a holy day, what more can we do to prepare for the Christ Child beyond decorating our homes and buying gifts for loved ones? 

Perhaps some of you know that before the fourth century the church did not officially celebrate Christmas.  However, there was a church season that developed early on that ran from November 11th (St. Martin's Day) to January 6th (Epiphany) which was a kind of Winter Lent, 40 days of prayer and fasting, penitence and self-denial in preparation for baptisms that would take place on Epiphany.  However, by the sixth century, the church had begun to celebrate Christmas and re-organized its calendar to accommodate the feast of our Lord’s Nativity.  The season of Winter Lent was shortened to four Sunday’s and given the name Advent.  We still recall the original penitential focus intended for this season by clothing the altar in purple and wearing purple vestments—the same color we use during Lent—the color of penitence. 

Now perhaps it would be helpful for those who want to make Advent a time of preparation if we recovered just a little of the original intentions of Winter Lent.  You see penitence is not about punishment, it is about reorientation.  That is reorienting our lives so that they focus on God and God’s people rather than ourselves.  So, again, how do we prepare our hearts and minds during the season of Advent to meet the Christ Child who comes to us in our Christmas celebration?  Well, we begin by reorienting our lives so that rather than looking always to ourselves and our own needs, we look outward to see God particularly in the lives of those who are underserved, forgotten, unloved.  You see an Advent attitude toward the coming Christmas celebration is not focused on me, at all, but on the very real need and suffering that surround us on all sides—often even in our own homes and among our own loved ones.  As I often say, it is the little things in life that matter most.  You see even the smallest gesture of care and concern in this season can make an incredible difference in someone’s life—whether friend, family, or stranger.

One such small tradition that I began many years ago is writing Advent letters.  This was not my idea originally.  I actually received an Advent letter and was so blessed that I began writing them myself.  An Advent letter is simply a letter of blessing, appreciation, and love written to someone you care for.  Each Advent I sit down and think of one or more people who have been extraordinarily good to me (and there are many) and I simply write them and tell them how grateful I am for their presence in my life.  We so rarely say thank you and I love to the people who care for us, and the recipients often tell me that it was the greatest gift I could have given them.  Or perhaps, if letter writing is not your thing, you can adopt an underserved family for Christmas, or write an extra check to our loaves and fishes program.  If you will only use your imagination, I know you will think of countless ways, in this season of Advent, to prepare…to prepare your hearts and minds for the coming of a holy Christmas.

Several years ago during Advent, I spent a weekend in New York City, and while there I was invited to go with some friends to the Radio Music Hall Christmas spectacular.  As I mentioned earlier, being a sucker for all things Christmas I readily welcomed the invitation.  Well, truth be told I spent the vast majority of the show thinking it was all really quite silly—the Rockets high kicking in sexy Santa suits to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas and love struck couples dancing in and out of department stores with their hands full of Macy’s shopping bags overflowing with presents.  I sort of welcomed the end when it finally came…or at least I thought it had. 

The stage seemed silent and empty when words appeared in the darkness as if floating in space.  I don’t remember most of the words but I do remember the last.  They read, “Nothing in history that has existed has ever changed this world more than this one solitary life.”  Then a light came on and a man and a woman appeared sitting in straw starring lovingly into a manger in which was peacefully lying a baby—who is the Christ.  Soon the Holy family was joined by other familiar faces—shepherds and sheep and camels and kings.  And at the center was the child being silently adored by the rest.  And I…who happened to be sitting between strangers…had tears streaming down my face.  I was weeping uncontrollably using my scarf to wipe away my tears.  I am pretty sure the strangers sitting next me thought I was completely losing it.  But for just a moment, I was really there…I really got to be present in that moment when Christ was born.  I too was able to give adoration and praise through silent tears to the one who came as a vulnerable child to change the world with his love forever.  And truly nothing in our world has ever been the same.  Our Lord’s Nativity is well worth a time of preparation. 

And even though at this moment we can hear in the distance the sound of the angels’ song praising God and promising peace on earth, we must wait a little longer.  Christmas is still in the distance.  It is still time to be prepared for that holy day when Christ will come—again.  Amen.                   

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