December 12, 2010
(Third Sunday of Advent)
(From The Lectionary Page)
Here is Your God
“Can anyone point me in the direction of a soup kitchen that will need volunteers on Thanksgiving?” A Washington, DC, mother asked this question on a blog that addresses various concerns shared by mothers. A number of posts followed her question, suggesting kitchens that she might contact. One post, however, challenged this mother’s assumptions in a way that may have surprised her. “One thing I'd suggest to the Moms is to spread your giving throughout the year -- homeless shelters and soup kitchens always say they're flooded for Thanksgiving & Christmas, but forgotten much of the rest of the year. Maybe,” this mother writes, “we can start a giving effort throughout the year!”[1] I wonder if this desire that people seem to have, to give of themselves at this time of year, speaks to the fact that deep down, the world has the capacity, to hear and act on the promise that God will be with us.
I believe that we live in a world that longs for God’s presence in its midst. When people are reminded that they have much to be thankful for, and when they are told to prepare for God to come among them, most people want badly to believe it. Many are unaware that this desire to believe brings them close to the root, the source, of their deepest longing. Augustine said nearly 1600 years ago that all longing, all desire, no matter how wrong that desire may have gone, is, most fundamentally, a longing for God. You can see this in the way that nearly all of secular society, regardless of what beliefs they may or may not claim, clings to the notion of Christmas. The chaotic energy around parties and gift buying may be that longing being expressed in some way. But as Christmas draws closer, and the parties are over and the gifts purchased, the world seems to inhale deeply, and hold. The world feels itself coming near to the mystery, and quietly wonders, if only briefly, whether perhaps more is going on then they know. It wants so badly for today’s promise from Isaiah to be true. You can feel all the earth sort of holding its breath[2], anticipating and hoping for something it can’t name and doesn’t understand, but hopes for all the same.
The problem is that they have felt this before. They have seen such hope, followed by nothing. The very day after Christmas, their lives will continue as they were, with little visible change. Most of them have learned to insulate themselves from such hopes in the first place. They tell themselves that it is no more than childish fantasy, a fantasy that they may toy with in the moment, but also one that they will not allow to reach them too deeply, lest they be disappointed yet again.
The world needs a sign that these things are indeed coming to pass. We have seen these signs. We know, along with Isaiah, that the air is changing. Our task this Advent season is to become a sign ourselves, that all the world can read.
They need for us, to believe the promise ourselves. They need for us to live lives that reflect the truth of this promise. They need us to cling desperately to this promise, as if it is the only thing that matters to us. Our life itself must proclaim boldly that their hope of long ago was never in vain. Our life together, consecrated for the sole purpose of loving God and loving our neighbors, will announce to the world that it may take hold once again of their hope in God. We must shout to them with one voice, “Be strong, and do not fear. Here is your God! He will come and save you.”
All the earth will be redeemed at that time, “…the ransomed of the Lord shall return.” And they will look upon what they had seen before, but see it differently now. They will realize that they stand unexpectedly before the faith they abandoned so long ago. And they will cry tears of joy to realize that this faith they perhaps buried beneath years of callous cynicism, now rises before them, not simply as hope but as reality. “…everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
Nearly the last thing we’ll do together this morning is to receive God’s blessing together. Let this blessing be the sign that God is indeed coming among us, and let us continue to live lives that are dedicated to revealing to the world the promise of God’s presence among us.
Amen.
[1] This discussion taken from the MomsLikeMe.com website: http://dc.momslikeme.com/members/JournalActions.aspx?g=190020&m=2391164 . 2nd Quote from Amy Smith, Founder, www.BusinessofMotherhood.com website and www.MomTiniLounge.com. President, www.WriteIdeas.com PR firm.
[2] Buechner, Frederick. Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith (San Francisco: Harper-Collins Publishing, 2004) p. 8