Advent Reflection Service
Dc. Larry Brockman
It started way before Thanksgiving this year! My neighbor put up his lights a week before Thanksgiving; and the stores started pushing “Pre-Black Friday” sales, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Green Monday- you name it. Every year it starts earlier and earlier, the Frenzy that has become “The Holidays”.
But you know what? We used to call it the Christmas Season, because as Christians say “Jesus is the reason for the season”. Nowt it seems that Jesus’ coming has been hijacked. Instead, we celebrate a secular “Holiday Season” where buying lots of stuff and secular joy take precedence. Even Santa says “Happy Holidays” and not Merry Christmas. At one local hospital, there’s a beautiful “Holiday Tree” in the lobby- Yep, they call it a holiday tree, not a Christmas Tree. And there’s a table with Hanukah Candles and Kwanzaa candles on it right next to the tree, but there’s no Advent Wreath there. Boy, have they got their priorities wrong- political correctness trumps Christmas Joy.
And so tonight, we want to set the priorities straight. That Jesus is the reason for the season and talk about why we spend the 4 weeks of Advent getting ready for Christmas. It’s not because we need the time for cards and cooking and buying gifts; and not to give time for all the parties and get-togethers; but rather, we need the 4 weeks to get ready for the coming of Christ. In fact, we are going to consider a few things that were highlighted by the readings To help us to see how God intends for us to get ready for His coming.
Imagine for a moment what it must have been like in Ahaz’s time in the setting of our first reading, thousands of years ago. King Ahaz was content with life and had made political deals that preserved his country, Judah. But he made those deals at the expense of keeping the Faith. Despite many warnings from the prophets of his time, Ahaz and the people were ignoring God’s law and his commandments. Ahaz wasn’t looking for a sign- he was content.
Isn’t the same thing happening today? A lot of people don’t even call it Christmas any more, as we just mentioned. It’s the Holidays for these people. And aren’t most of us putting our spiritual preparation to the side so we can get all the other things done; all the secular things done, that we are expected to do? Indeed, we do need time for our spiritual preparation- that’s the first message, that’s the first priority.
In the second reading, we are told to rejoice over the coming of the King- a King who will exact “Judgment and Justice”. Is that what we are looking for, judgment and justice? Or are we looking at the long list of gifts on our shopping lists; and worried about how we are going to pay all the bills. Indeed, our spiritual preparation demands that we look for a different kind of longing. Not a longing for “happiness” that is a short term high based on things and fleeting pleasures; but rather a long term joy, a joy inside that is immune to the trials and tribulations of life.
In fact, some of the things that we should be looking for are listed in the third reading: “A spirit of wisdom and understanding; a spirit of counsel and strength, and a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.” That’s what our spiritual preparation should lead us to seek; qualities that will last in the long term in our spiritual lives- Spiritual Gifts that will last forever.
And if you seek out and nurture those spiritual gifts; those abilities to understand and discern, to cut through the chaff that the devil throws at us through secular society; then you will recognize the real savior of the world at his coming. And not only that, you will welcome him with joy. You will recognize that God so loved us that he sent his only Son, born of a woman, to dwell amongst us and show us the way; and that this God-become-man lived and ate and worked amongst us, living as all of us do, living a humble and regular life for 30 of his 33 years.
That’s what the Nativity Stories we read really tell us. That Jesus was of humble origins; that he lived an ordinary, not privileged life; and that he was obedient to his earthly parents and heavenly Father; and that he ate, slept, worked, and related socially to his family and friends, just like we do; yet he did all of that without sin.
All of us have the same calling- to live like Jesus did. That’s the essence of the good news- the Gospel. And woven into these Nativity stories are the stories of Mary and the Shepherds- Mary, who is the example of how all of us are to live life; Mary, who was fully human, yet never sinned; Mary who accepted God’s will for her, despite the mental and physical pain and anguish that accompanied it; and Mary who celebrated the joy of her first-born son’s coming. Are we all ready for that? Are we prepared to accept God’s way and live it, relishing the joyful moments of life; yet accepting the trials with dignity and grace?
Likewise the shepherd’s story is insightful. These humble, simple people of the time accepted the story of Jesus at the word of the Angels. They came, they worshiped, and they left. They did not understand. There are things we will never be capable of understanding. But what was revealed to them, they accepted on Faith. That is our challenge as well, to accept that Jesus is God become man, that he is our savior and that he promised all who believe and follow him, eternal life in heaven with his Father.
And then there is the last reading, the one about the Word of God. It summarizes what we believe about the relationship between the Father and the Son and the doctrine we call the “Incarnation”. The Incarnation is at the core of what makes us Christian because it says that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine.
That’s something all of us can relate to, that Jesus humbled himself by coming down and becoming intimate with us. He is not some distant, unapproachable God. God is with us (Emmanuel)- and we take him in the Eucharist every week. If we think about that in our spiritual preparation, we cannot help but feel the joy. It is the New Covenant joy that Jesus brings- through his sacrifice of self, He saves us and offers us everlasting life. That is what the joy of Christmas is all about- that believers will live forever in peace and joy.
The devil has attacked the Incarnation in many and varied ways- And the result has been the emergence of sects- Moslems, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, and other religions that believe in one God, but sadly, don’t believe in the Divinity of Jesus Christ or the Trinity. It is easy to be misled by people from these other faiths. Don’t let that happen to you. Know your faith and be zealous in its defense.
Indeed, Jesus is coming soon. He comes symbolically every year as baby Jesus. We celebrate the joy that God’s Incarnation and New Covenant brings on that day. But Advent also reminds us of another coming- the second Coming of Christ. All of us will experience that coming as well when we die. Will we be ready for that? Will we welcome the second coming of Jesus with joy? Indeed we will- if we are ready. So use Advent wisely, get ready spiritually for the coming of Christ! It could happen at any time.
Tags: Understanding the Incarnation; Fighting Political Correctness; The Real Gifts for Christmas