Expecting

When Mary and Elizabeth, her cousin, were pregnant, the whole town must have talked about it. After all, "expecting" encourages all of us to talk about what might happen...

What do you suppose the folks who knew Mary and Elizabeth said when they found out that the women were expecting (Luke 1:26-38)? I imagine that there were quite a few conversations about it in the town square! Let’s listen in to one of their friends who has just heard the news.

“Have you heard? Elizabeth is expecting!

Yes, Elizabeth! Old Zechariah’s wife!

No, I haven’t seen her myself. She won’t let anybody see her. But she sends Zechariah to the store with lists of things to buy.

Oh, she wants their usual groceries – milk and bread and peanut butter – but she wants other things, too… things like pickles and ice cream. Pickles and ice cream! And I saw the delivery truck from the furniture store at their house just last week. They carried in a crib. A crib! Now, I don’t think that she’s going to plant flowers in that crib, do you? Of course, she’s pregnant.

Well, you don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to. I guess I can’t blame you for that. As old as she is, that baby is a miracle!

And have you heard that Mary is expecting, too?

Yes, Mary… Joseph’s fiancée. But she says that Joseph isn’t the father. She claims that an angel visited her and told her that God would be the father!

I don’t know if she’s delusional. She seems sane enough to me! But that’s quite a story, isn’t it? God fathering a baby. That’s as unbelievable as Elizabeth getting pregnant at her age!

You don’t think that baby will be the Messiah, do you? That would be a miracle, too! I’ve seen a lot in my day, but these pregnancies make me wonder whether I’ve seen anything at all. Elizabeth and Mary are expecting. Will wonders never cease?!”

Well, I don’t know if anyone said exactly those things, but they might have! We all like to discuss it when someone that we know is expecting. That’s because when someone is expecting, the world is full of possibility! “Expecting” moves us beyond hope to preparation. After all, when we hope, we’re not really sure of anything. When we hope for something, we trust that it will happen someday; but the details aren’t clear. When will it happen? Where will it happen; and how? Hope looks forward into the future; but it can’t see clearly. But expectation – that’s a different kettle of fish! Expectation has a face, a name, sometimes even a timetable! We can actually do some things when we are expecting. We may hope for snow and dream about walking through a winter wonderland; but when we expect snow, we get out the snow shovel.

When parents are expecting a baby, like Elizabeth and Mary were, they know what kinds of preparations need to be made. They need to provide a crib for the new baby so that she can sleep safely, clothing to keep him warm, and opportunities for play so that she can grow and learn and mature. Nine months pass quickly with all the preparation that accompanies expecting a child. But new parents also need to prepare to be flexible. They need to prepare for the unexpected. After all, each baby is different. Some are quiet, and some are… not so quiet. Some babies are shy, while others are outgoing. Some babies are easy to care for; while others will push every limit that you try to set for them. Any new parents who believe that they are absolutely ready for that new baby are kidding themselves!

As we expect the birth of the Messiah, we’re just like new parents. We know that he’s coming; and we’re getting everything ready. The sanctuary is decorated; the candles are in the windows; many of us are reading Advent meditations each day. But exactly what will happen when he gets here… We don’t know that just yet. Just like new parents, we only know what’s going to happen in very general terms. We know that the Messiah is coming to save us; to bring us good news of God’s love; and to offer us peace beyond our wildest expectations. But exactly how we will experience those things… Well, that’s usually a big surprise.

This baby turned out to be a big surprise to the people who lived in his day. When he grew up and told them that he was the Messiah, they expected him to set up the Kingdom of God by force. They expected him to become a king just like the kings that they had known in the past. They expected him to dress in royal robes, eliminate all his enemies, and judge from a golden throne. Instead, he dressed in what the common people wore, he loved his enemies, and he told us not to judge at all, but to show mercy. Oh, this Messiah conquered, all right, but not by making war. He conquered by rising from the dead after he had allowed his enemies to kill him. Sometimes – especially where God is concerned – our expectations don’t match the reality that God has planned for us.

As we expect the birth of the Christ child again this year, maybe we should add something to our preparations of greenery, wreaths, trees, and candles. Maybe we should get ready for something else: something new that will change our lives. Maybe we should get ready to be encountered by a Messiah that defies our expectations. Maybe we should get ready not only to be comforted, but also to be challenged. Maybe we should get ready not only to receive God’s love, but also to show it to others. Maybe we should get ready not only to talk about the peace that Jesus offers us as citizens of the Kingdom of God, but also to live it.

“Have you heard? We’re expecting – expecting, just like Mary and Elizabeth! Oh, I know that it’s unbelievable; but it’s true! Will wonders never cease?!”

Turning

What are we supposed to do during the season of Advent? Oh, I know, it's a time of waiting. But is waiting all we're supposed to do? Isn't there something else? John the Baptist tells us to repent. Maybe we should take him more seriously than we usually do.

Repent! Repent!

I don’t know what image the word “repent” brings to your mind, but I can tell you what it brings to mine. I imagine a Bible-waving, pulpit-thumping, hellfire and damnation preacher who reminds his congregation week after week how terrible they are, and how they need to change their ways if they want to escape the wrath of God. John the Baptist from this morning’s reading (Matthew 3:1-6) fits that image very nicely. Wearing clothing made of camel’s hair and eating nothing but locusts and wild honey, he is the very picture of one of those Bible-thumpers. “Repent!” he tells his audience. “The kingdom of heaven is nearly here!”

So, what is this text doing in Advent? It seems to fit much better into Lent than into Advent! Lent is, after all, the time to examine our lives; to discover how far we have strayed from what God wants of us. Advent isn’t the time for that, is it? Advent is the time of waiting for the Messiah to arrive, the One who will heal the sick, mend the broken, and bring hope to the hopeless. So… what does repentance have to do with Advent?

Before I can answer that question, we need to take a closer look at what repentance really is. Many people understand “repentance” as being sorry for something. If Chuck whacks little Susie because she made fun of him, and Chuck’s mother finds out, she will certainly make sure that he is sorry for what he did! But Chuck hasn’t necessarily repented. Chuck only repents if he vows not to hit Susie again in the future, no matter how obnoxious she may be! Repentance isn’t merely being sorry; it’s changing our behavior. The New Testament Greek word that we translate into English as “repent” actually means “to change your mind.” That’s what John the Baptist is telling his audience to do: change their minds! Change your mind, Chuck, about what to do when Susie is her little obnoxious self! Don’t just be sorry about hitting her; do things differently in the future! Looking back even farther, the Old Testament Hebrew word that we translate as “repent” means “to turn.” When we truly repent, we go in a different direction. Don’t keep following the path of violence, Chuck! You don’t even have to be sorry about hitting Susie in the past; it’s avoiding that path in the future that really counts.

Now I can start to answer the question: “What does repentance have to do with Advent?” We know that Advent is the time that we recognize that the world is broken, and that we need a Messiah to help us fix things. It should be painfully obvious that the way we live isn’t working! Like little Chuck, we are violent; and we are jealous, greedy, and hateful, too. Oh, we may not have murdered anybody recently; but didn’t you want to smack that guy who cut you off in traffic this morning? But all the while, in our heart of hearts, we know that kind of behavior is counter-productive! Jealously breeds greed; greed breeds hate; hate breeds violence; and violence breeds death. Surely, no one wants to live that way! But to be able to welcome the Messiah, we need to turn from those paths onto a new path. We need to repent.

And there is another, even more deadly consequence if we insist on walking in these ancient paths. If we don’t turn from our ways, we won’t even see the Messiah; because he isn’t arriving on the path of power or violence or greed or hate. the path of power is ultimately futile, so he comes walking on the path of humility; the path of greed leads nowhere, so he comes walking on the path of generosity; the path of hate isn’t in God’s nature, so he comes walking on the path of love; and the path of violence is evil, so he comes walking on the path of peace. If we continue to look for him where he will never be, we aren’t likely to see him, let alone recognize him, when he breaks into our lives!

“But pastor,” you may say, “when the Messiah comes, he will bring us all those things: humility, generosity, love, and peace. Why does it matter which path we are on now?” Early in the last century, A. J. Muste, a Congregationalist clergyman, gave the answer to that question briefly and honestly. “There is no way to peace,” he said. “Peace is the way.” We will only be able to receive what the Messiah has to offer us if we turn to the paths that he walks himself. “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.” We might have also add: there is no way to humility; humility is the way. There is no way to generosity; generosity is the way. And there is no way to love; love is the way. If we focus only on the place that we want to end up, we will miss the truth that the Messiah’s healing takes place on our journey.

So, during this Advent season, repent! Change your mind! As we wait for the Messiah to arrive among us, turn away from the paths of death toward the paths of life! And when our humble, generous, loving, peaceful Messiah is born in a barn to peasant parents, you will recognize him right away for the Savior that he is.

Afraid

Afraid. That's pretty much how we all feel right now. Whether it's politics, our medical condition, or climate change, we're all afraid of something! That's what Advent is all about. It gives us a reason to move past fear to hope!

It’s dark. It’s dark all around us. It’s even dark within us. And we’re afraid of that dark.

Oh, it doesn’t look like it’s dark! We’re surrounded by all kinds of colorful lights now that we’re in what our culture calls “the Christmas season.” There are lights in the stores, lights on the public square, and lights in our own homes. But those lights disguise the fact that it’s really very dark.

The lights in the stores disguise the fact that our economy is built on buying things that we don’t need, that just a few people have most of the wealth, and that many people can’t afford even the basic necessities of life.

The lights in the public square disguise the darkness that swallows us up in racism, sexism, violence, and poverty.

Even the lights in our homes are an attempt to disguise our interior darkness that eats at us like a cancer: greed, resentment, and hatred.

Only last week, we celebrated the end of the Christian year with the Reign of Christ Sunday; and we looked forward to the time when God’s gracious kingdom will arrive in fullness. When it arrives, there will be no more death, no more violence, no more weeping, and no more broken relationships. But even as we look forward to that time, we realize that God’s kingdom isn’t here yet. Between last Sunday and today, we have slid down a long slide all the way from the end of the Christian year back to its beginning; and now the Messiah is only a promised dream. While Walmart and Kohl’s might already be in “the Christmas season,” we Christians are just beginning Advent, waiting for the Messiah to arrive. While we wait, it’s dark; and we’re afraid.

Why are we so afraid? Why, all we have to do is to turn on the evening news to be reminded of the reasons. Stephen Clark, a young black man, was shot to death in his own back yard by police in Sacramento when they mistook the cell phone that he was holding for a weapon. Just yesterday, on London Bridge, two people were stabbed to death and three others wounded in an unprovoked attack by a man who has been described as a domestic terrorist. The climate around us is changing faster than we can adapt to the changes, threatening hundreds of thousands of animals with extinction – and threatening even our own human race. Afraid? Of course, we’re afraid! Who wouldn’t be afraid in a world like this? We’re like Matilda, the little three-year-old who is afraid of the dark. She curls up to sleep every night wondering if there are monsters under her bed and a bogeyman in the closet.

What do you do when darkness surrounds you, and you’re afraid? I’ll tell you what Matilda does. She calls for her daddy. Sometimes her daddy doesn’t come right away, but he always answers her sooner or later. He stands by her bed and reassures her. “Don’t be afraid! I’m right here! I won’t let anything hurt you!” Sometimes, her daddy’s promises are enough for Matilda, and she turns over and falls asleep. But on other days, when something has really frightened her, she asks her daddy to stay with her until she feels better. And then, her daddy will sit down on the bed right next to her. Sometimes, he sings quietly to her, or tells her “Goodnight Moon,” her favorite book. (He knows it by heart.) And then, Matilda’s fears don’t control her any more, and she can sleep peacefully.

We’re not that different from Matilda. We may not worry about monsters under the bed, or the bogeyman in the closet; but we have plenty of other things to worry about. And when we’re afraid, we cry to God: “Come and save us! It’s dark and cold, and we’re afraid!” God hears our cries, even when we may not think that he does. And he comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ! He sits on the bed right next to us, and he says, “Don’t be afraid! I’m right here! I won’t let anything hurt you!” Sometimes, he even gives us a little piece of himself to hold on to, so that we won’t be afraid any more.

That’s what happens when we share Holy Communion. Jesus stands right next to us and reassures us: “Don’t be afraid! This is my body that was broken for you. This is my blood that was shed for you. Whenever you eat it and drink it, I’m right here with you.” The darkness of our world won’t magically disappear. We will still fear all the brutality and oppression in our world. But we know for sure, during this Advent time of waiting, that Christ is coming! Soon, the Light of the world will arrive, and the brightness of his dawn will begin to dispel the darkness of the night. Don’t be afraid. The Messiah is on the way.