Remember Fr. Robinson’s sermon from last week? I specifically remember what he said he said he wouldn’t say, that I think he said anyway – about Advent – about the church being different during this season?
Remember, he said: You might have expected me to say something about this being a penitential season and not the Christmas season and not decorate until the last week of Advent.
You probably thought I would mention how the liturgy is more penitential, having the confession at the beginning of the liturgy and not having the Gloria, but instead the Trisagion at the beginning: Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal one have mercy upon us.
You might have thought I might mention that the flowers are more subtle, suggesting the wilderness and the vestments purple denoting penitence.
But, he said, I am not going to do that today, even though he did; rascally fellow.
But how many of us really deep inside wished he really didn’t really say it, you know, mention all those thing that tend to throw a wet blanket over this joyous holiday time that begins not on the 1st Sunday of Advent but began this year – let’s see – before All Saints’.
This Christmas season used to start around Thanksgiving– but now it’s All Saints’ – I went into Walmart to pick up something in October and felt kind of strange; Christmas stuff was out already and Christmas music was playing. Silly me: I thought someone was going to get fired over that!
It seems so hard to think really spiritually or theologically about this time of year being bombarded by all the sales going on: two for one, three for one, holiday pancakes, car sales, holiday trees, bright colors, lights and decorations, parties, cute elves, Santa Claus. And there is so much we need to do to get ready.
This is a busy time – there is no doubt about it. We spend lots of time and energy and money, but for what? And to what end?
It may sound silly to say but maybe we spend so much time and energy preparing for the holiday we don’t have time and energy to prepare for Christmas. Maybe the culture has so captured us; our minds and imaginations, maybe even our souls, that there is very little Christ left in Christmas.
An atheist, in his website defended the secular holiday stating: Contemporary Christmas has become so secularized that it’s difficult to find the Christian elements sometimes, and this means that for most people Jesus just isn’t the reason for the season today – if he ever was. Christmas is more about a secular Santa than Jesus the Christ and Savior…….Christmas is more a commercial enterprise than a religious observance – Jesus isn’t the reason for the season, buying consumer goods is.
Consider: How many communities and organizations have banned the use of Christmas to describe this time? How many places have banned the manger scenes from public property? How many schools still sing actual Christmas carols, songs that talk about Christ?
I heard on the news that the state of Rhode Island announced that the official tree in the state capitol would now be called a holiday tree instead of a Christmas tree because of its tradition of separation of religion and government.
It would appear that Christmas without Christ is not Christmas; this season without the observation of Advent is not really Christian. The atheist argument is correct; it is merely a secular holiday.
But as such it would have no genuine claims to Santa Claus; he was a Christian Bishop. It can keep the elves, and the trees and the holly for that matter. No claim to peace on earth – that’s from the bible. No real claim to gift giving – that came as an expression of love in celebration of the Father’s gift of his son to us and the ancient tradition of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, the original Santa Claus, giving a gift of gold to a man to buy his daughter’s freedom.
So the question for us this time of year is: What are we preparing for, Christmas or a cultural holiday?
How we answer that question will dictate how we prepare; what our preparation will look like. If the latter it will consist primarily of spend, decorate, party. If the former, it will probably consider those things Fr. Robinson mentioned that he didn’t preach about last Sunday, you know, slowing down and really observing Advent; doing things to prepare that are different from what is going on around us.
Mark in the gospel this morning recounts how the prophets called to exiled Israel to be comforted, to be expectant, because a Messiah would come from God to save and restore them. He points out Jesus is that Messiah, and records the only way to prepare for that Messiah–prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths– is through what John the Baptist called for –repentance – acknowledging our sin and asking for God’s mercy, forgiveness and help to be holy.
David in the psalm proclaims: I will listen to what the Lord is saying for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him. Truly his salvation is very near to those who fear him that his glory may dwell in our land.
Peter, in his epistle, looking through the lens of Jesus’ first coming, calls for preparation for his second coming: but the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,……but according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore beloved since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
The atheist in his article said: Modern Christmas celebrations have little or nothing to do with Jesus, the feast of the nativity, or the incarnation. Consider some popular Christmas traditions: erecting and decorating a tree, hanging wreaths, sending cards, drinking eggnog, giving presents, hanging mistletoe…where is Christ in all of this?
Where is Christ indeed? Because as Christians, if we are not observing Advent, if we are not consciously preparing for Christ, if we are not focused on the miracle of what was accomplished in the incarnation: God becoming man for the purpose of sacrificing himself to break our bondage to sin; if we are not remembering and preparing for Jesus’ future coming in glory, having our lives and soul shaped by our repentance, his grace and the hammering of the Holy Spirit on our rough edges, then, most of it means nothing.
But if our focus is preparation for Christ, we will be different. We will prepare for Christmas in a different way. And thus we become salt and light into the culture. Decorating trees and wreaths celebrate the new life that Jesus has given us and the eternal life we look toward. Gifts become remembrances of Jesus’ gift of himself to us and our giving of ourselves to others. Cards become holy epistles to others celebrating the gift of Christ and inviting others into the glorious mystery of the faith. And eggnog, well….. remains eggnog, and the hanging mistletoe – well I’m an introvert and never liked that custom anyway.
The point is, for us as Christians, Christmas is about Christ – we prepare for it by focusing on him, remembering him and his work for us and preparing ourselves spiritually for his return. That makes our preparation look different; like what Fr. Robinson said he didn’t preach about last week but did. But that makes us different. So that when we shop, when we join the parties we do it differently, as salt and light: as Christians.
Let us ask ourselves: What is it that we are preparing for in this time before Christmas? Does it look like Advent; or preparation for a secular holiday? Because in the end, it really does make a difference.