Sermon: Look Up

          It takes all of the lessons today to describe the season of Advent.  The apocalyptic nature of the Gospel provides rather disturbing images and warnings during what we always think of as a joyful time of year.  But the candle that we lit this morning was the candle of hope.  And that's where we will be focusing during Advent.  

          I've always heard of Advent as being one of the two main penitential times of year, the other, of course, being Lent.  And we did begin today's service with the Penitential Order.  Let's look, however, at the differences.  Advent is a season of anticipation and preparation – we are looking forward to the coming of the King, and by that, we mean both the celebration of His birth, and His return to us.  For both, we must be prepared, and the Decalogue is a reminder of God's laws and a request that God help us to fulfill His laws in their fullness. 

          In the Gospel lesson today, Christ tells us that the signs of His return will be open and obvious.  He warns that people will "faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world."  We certainly have examples of disasters taking place – most recently the earthquake in Alaska with its multitude of aftershocks that spawned fears of a tsunami, certain qualifies as an example of the distress Christ describes.  The winds of Oklahoma generated a tornado in December that touched down in two places, and put my son in a tornado shelter for a couple of hours as they prayed it would dissipate.  We've had epic fires that have killed hundreds and decimated whole towns.  In California, those fires are inevitably followed by winter rains and mudslides, creating more destruction. 

          In all of this news of doom and gloom, Christ tells us to look up.  Look up – not just to the heavens in anticipation of His coming, but truly look up, and see those around you.  Open your heart with the love of Christ, and see what reality has wrought.  Set aside the apathy we all have developed to the bad news we hear now so often that it has brought an insensitivity to each of us.  Look up, and see individuals.  Make each "bad news" story personal, by getting to know more about just one individual.  We probably can't do much about the entirety of a disaster, but if each person looked up, and focused with God's love on one other person, we could certainly make a sizeable dent in helping our fellow man. 

          In September 1995 Caryl and Charlie Harvey answered an early morning knock upon their front door. Two policemen stood there grimly, passing on the terrible news that their 20 year old son Chad had been found murdered.

          Grief stricken they went through the motions of the funeral and life. But as Christmas approached Caryl found herself giving vent to her disappointment and anger with God. He had failed her. Why hadn’t he protected her son as she had so often prayed?

          In desperation she prayed, “God, if you care about me, I need a miracle. Otherwise, I think I’ll probably die.” She waited, and that Christmas her miracle came.

          One night the doorbell rang. When Caryl’s 13 year old daughter answered it she found a gift but no giver, nor any mark identifying the giver. The gift was a tree branch with apples planted in it and a blue plastic nightingale perched on top. Attached was a piece of paper which read:

          “On the first day of Christmas, My true love gave to me, A partridge in a pear tree.  We couldn’t find a partridge, And our pear tree died, So you have to settle for a Bluebird in an apple tree.”

          Also attached was a bible verse describing the birth of John the Baptist.

          The next evening there was another ring of the doorbell and another gift. Though Sarah, Cheryl’s daughter, raced to the door, she wasn’t fast enough to discover who the mystery giver was. This time there was a box containing “turtle” brand lollies and two Dove brand chocolate bars. The note read “On the second day of Christmas, My true love sent to me, Two turtledoves….” and included a bible verse about the angel Gabriel appearing to the virgin Mary.

          And on it went for the next ten days. The third day were three Cornish hens (the French hens had lost their passport the note said); the fourth day there was a cassette tape with songs which had the word “bird” in the title, and a calling card – “four calling birds”; on the fifth day five golden rings were freshly cooked doughnuts; on the sixth day six geese-a-laying were pastel chalk eggs; on the seventh day, seven swans swam across the top of a blue-frosted cake; on the eighth day eight maids-a-milking was a cow candle; on the ninth day nine ladies dancing were 18 gingerbread people decorated as dancers (the Equal Opportunity Employment Act wouldn’t allow them to send just nine ladies); on the tenth day there were ten wooden leaping puppets; on the eleventh day a James Galway tape did for eleven pipers piping; on the twelfth day of Christmas there were twelve drums made out of iced biscuits. And each day there was a Scripture verse preparing them for the approaching holiday.

          Caryl found that this was her miracle. For the first time since Chad’s death she had begun looking forward to the next day, wanting to know what would come next.  Thinking of that time she says “My miracle. When I couldn’t talk to God, when I didn’t even want to talk to him, he sent my miracle through someone else. God used earthly hands to send it to me, but his fingerprints were all over it.”

          Caryl’s experience reminds us that when people are wounded our action can be a miracle to them, helping them find healing and recovery. Indeed, often like Caryl, they are unable to seek God out, but we can become a vehicle of God’s grace to them.  (Based on Caryl’s story as self reported in Christianity Today Magazine, November/ December 2001, Vol. 39, No. 6.)

          Christ tells us to "be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with … the worries of this life.  For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth."  Look up, "be alert" to what is coming – and the timing of Christ's return will happen in God's time, which is unfortunately beyond our understanding.  If God lives outside of time, what in our timeline seems like forever, is something that will happen, is happening, and has happened for Him.  Think about the enormity of that the next time you say the Gloria patri.

          But with that statement, let's look at the New Testament reading where Paul rejoiced in the faith of the believers in Thessalonica, despite the hardships and opposition they experienced.  Even as he longs to be with the community again, he encourages them to strengthen their hearts, to pray always that they may be better people when Christ returns.

          And our Old Testament reading reminds us of the faithfulness of God.  I think I'm always most heartened by that.  God, a Being outside of linear time, has so much faith in humanity, I have to believe that we'll get it right at some point in our linear time, remembering to look up, to engage our fellow man as individuals with whom we share God's love, anticipating the Advent, the coming of Christ – whether in the guise of a baby at His birth, or in glory at His return.  Even the Psalm today gives us hope that we will follow the precepts provided by God for us to live, with His help. 

          Let us pray:  When evil darkens our world, give us light. When despair numbs our souls, give us hope. When we stumble and fall, lift us up. When doubts assail us, give us faith. When nothing seems sure, give us trust. When ideals fade, give us vision. When we lose our way, be our guide! That we may find serenity in Your presence, and purpose in doing Your will.  Amen.