Tis The Season

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 27, 2011

First Sunday in Advent

Tis the Season

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Grace to you and peace

from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you

because of the grace of God

that has been given you in Christ Jesus,

for in every way you have been enriched in him,

in speech and knowledge of every kind—

just as the testimony of Christ

has been strengthened among you—

so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift

as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He will also strengthen you to the end,

so that you may be blameless

on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful;

by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord.

The season of Advent begins today.

Advent, the season of preparation,

the season of anticipation,

the season of watching,

of waiting.

But preparation – for what?

anticipation of what?

watching – for what?

Waiting – for what?

Christmas Day?

Presents under the tree?

The sound of Santa Claus gliding his sleigh across the roof?

A few days off from work and school for the holidays?

The weeks ahead will be filled with a hurricane of activities

for every one of us: shopping for presents,

sending out cards,

visiting with family and friends,

traveling.

We’ll decorate homes indoors and out.

We’ll go to parties, we’ll sing carols,

all as part of the festive Christmas season

that we all love so much,

even as we grumble about the obvious excesses

that are part of the season.

The weeks that lead from Thanksgiving to Christmas

are hectic;

they are noisy,

they are tinseled, sparkling,

exhausting.

For most of us they are anything but weeks of anticipation,

weeks of watching,

weeks of waiting.

Advent calls us to walk a different path through the month;

A path that still leads us to Christmas,

to the joy of celebrating the birth of our Lord,

but a path that calls us to walk quietly,

a path that calls us to contemplative watching and waiting,

to prayerful stillness,

to silent nights more than Jingle Bells.

Advent calls us to begin the journey

by remembering what the word advent means:

it means, “coming”.

It is word that reminds us that the Christ who came,

our Savior born so long ago in that stable in Bethlehem,

is the Christ who will come again in glory,

come again to make all things new,

come again to usher in the Kingdom of God.

The silent moments Advent calls us to create,

the watchfulness,

the waiting,

all help us to remember that Jesus will come again,

and, as Jesus reminds us,

when he comes, he will come “like a thief in the night.”

And if Jesus comes like a thief in the night

then that means we will either be ready for that day

or we won’t.

Read through gospels and count the number of times

Jesus calls us to Advent lives,

telling us to be watchful,         

to be ready,

to be waiting,

not to be complacent,

not to let our attention drift:

“Be aware”, our Lord tells us;

“Keep alert,

for we do not know when the time will come.”

(Mark 13:32ff)

“Be dressed for action”, Jesus says.

“have your lamps lit,

 say to all: keep awake, keep alert;…

[for] blessed are those whom the master finds alert

when he comes.”

(Luke 12:35ff)

Blessed are those whom the master finds alert       

when he comes.

Blessed are those dressed for action,

Blessed are those whose lamps are filled with oil,

lit,

the light chasing away every shadow of darkness.

                                   

Blessed are those who live Advent lives:

waiting, watchful,

aware, alert.

And yet, how hard it is to live Advent lives

during the month of December,

a month in which we find it hard to be alert to much more

than where the best bargains are to be had,

a month in which we are all so eager to sing,

to decorate,

to let the joyfulness that comes with

planning for a birthday party carry us away.

If there was any month in the year that calls for

a symphony of joyful sounds to fill each day of the week,

it is December.

But Advent living isn’t dour or joyless;

it  doesn’t call us to put away the tinsel,

or stop singing Jingle Bell Rock.

What Advent does is helps us to know the true joy

that is found only in Christ,

through Christ,

and with Christ.

        

To live in Advent is to live in Christ;

We can still look forward to shiny packages

under twinkling, sparkling Christmas trees,

but our minds, our hearts, our focus

all will be firmly, fully on Christ:

on the Christ who came,

and on the Christ who will come again.

It isn’t as hard as we might think,

to turn from the cacophony that fills the month,

to make space for Advent in our hearts and minds.

Did you hear what Paul said?

We are “not lacking in any spiritual gift

as [we] wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are not lacking in any spiritual gift

because the grace of God has been given us in Christ Jesus,

[and] in every way [we] have been enriched in him,

in speech and knowledge of every kind—

This is the Advent gift God has given us,

to help us live Advent lives.

But we do need one additional gift;

without it, God’s gift is incomplete.

It is a gift that allows us to live fully in God’s gift.

It’s a gift we each give to ourselves.

A gift we need not shop for,

a gift that is readily available,

yet maddeningly elusive;

a gift that is free,

yet precious beyond price.

It is the gift of time

The gift of time:

time for quiet,

time for reflection,

time for prayer.

Quiet time each day as you walk through Advent,

quiet time you give yourself

no matter how busy your day is;

Indeed, the busier the day,

the greater your need for this gift.

Quiet time to remind yourself that it is Advent,

Quiet time to help you remember that

the Christ whose birth you and I will joyfully celebrate

in four short, packed weeks

is the Christ who will come again.

Quiet time to remember that when he comes again

he will come like a thief in the night

and so calls us to be ready,

to be alert, dressed for action,

lamps full and lit.

Give yourself the gift of quiet time each day

over the next few weeks.

A good place to start, to help you make time for quiet,

is Psalm 46.

Let your eyes, your mind,

your being focus on the word of God

we find in verse 10:

“Be still”,

“Be still and know that I am”.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Be still and know that I am Emmanuel,

God with you, in you.

Start there

and then work on quieting your mind,

stilling the voices that are reminding you

of all that needs to be done

if you hope to be ready for Christmas,

all the voices that call you from the Advent path.

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, wrote,

“The purest faith has to be tested by silence

in which we listen for the unexpected,

in which we are open to what we do not yet know,

and in which we slowly and gradually prepare for

…a new level  of being with God.”

Advent silence gives God’s Spirit space to work within us

to realign us,

to re-tune us,

to correct our focus.

to help us move to a whole “new level of being with God.”

Realigned,

tuned,

focused,

we realize the magnificence of the gift of Emmanuel,

God with us in Jesus Christ,

God with us through Jesus Christ.

“The essence of Advent is expectancy,

it is watchfulness,

it is readiness.”

It is to join our voices with the psalmist who sang,

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits

and in his word I hope.”

(Psalm 130:5)

Tis the Season of waiting

the season of watchfulness,

the season of anticipation

we begin today,

today as we take our first step down Advent’s path.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel!

AMEN