December 2, 2007 First Sunday of Advent
First Congregational Church in Thetford, Vermont, UCC
Luke 1:68-79
This reflection is entitled Advent Orientation. I decided on that title a while
ago, but what Advent Orientation means has changed. My plan was to kick off
Advent with an overview of all its interweaving themes and traditions—the
threads of warp and woof that form the beautiful fabric of this season.
My orientation was going to begin with the meaning of the five wreath
candles, and then cover the three different forms of Christ’s coming that Advent
prepares for, and the four voices of Isaiah, Zechariah, Mary and John the Baptist
that we traditionally hear during Advent. I was going to go on to mention the
greens and the role of the children, and the rituals we can do at home like Advent
calendars and candles. I was going to talk about the traditional music, like
Handel’s Messiah, so brilliantly performed this week in Hanover, and like Bach’s
Cantata140 based on the hymn Wachet Auf, or “Wake, Awake for Night is
Flying,” that Patricia played as the prelude today. I was going to talk about
singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” which is an Advent orientation in itself.
And of course no Advent Orientation would be complete without the
images of darkness and light that are at the heart of Advent’s beauty and longing
and message to stay awake and watch. I would have concluded the orientation
with a reminder that Advent is every bit as much about peace in the world as peace
in the heart. Advent is inescapably about politics, about creating peace through
social justice and governmental mercy. We hear this ringing from Isaiah’s
prophecies and Mary’s Magnificat. Advent is a season for helping those who are
oppressed and suffering from poverty or war or hardship of any kind, and doing
what we can do to change the society that oppresses them.
This reflection would have been about all these things, but as I immersed
myself in them, and as I listened to the prophetic voices of Isaiah and Zechariah
and Mary and John the Baptist and Jesus himself, the meaning of Advent
orientation began to shift. I saw that with all its beauty, and with all is symbols
and rituals, and with all its pure and high ideals, Advent calls us and coaxes us to
change our own mental and spiritual orientation. It asks us to replace the world-
view of adult complexities and compromises with the simple wonder and pure
openness of a child. It asks us to silence the jaded voices in us that say no: no,
peace is not possible; no, hope must be tempered by what is reasonable to expect;
no, joy must be always fleeting and always overshadowed by sorrow or stress; no,
love must be careful and conditional, based on shrewd judgment and narrowly
defined self-interest. Advent orientation asks us to say a resounding yes instead of
all those nos—yes to unconditional hope, peace, love and joy.
Zechariah spoke from and Advent orientation when he said, “By the tender
mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those
who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of
peace.” Mary spoke from an Advent orientation when she said to the angel
Gabriel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your
word.” And even before she gave birth to Jesus, already she declared, “God has
scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. God has brought down the
powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. God has fed the hungry with
good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in
remembrance of his mercy.” (Luke 1:26-55)
How can Mary say all these things as if they have already come to pass?
Because Advent orientation does not draw its hope, peace, love or joy from things
that have happened or even things that will happen. Advent orientation is
grounded firmly in the present. Advent orientation means to be present to and
watchful for what is eternal, what is of God in every present moment. Advent
orientation looks for the coming of the Spirit and Christ and God right now, and
again right now, and so on forever. The miracle of Advent is that when we look in
our deepest soul and we look deeply into every moment of our life, we find pure
unconditional and infinite hope, peace love and joy are already here, not because
the world is pure or ideal, but because their source is always here, right now, and
right now. Advent Orientation means to learn to see the truth, the reality, of God’s
presence within and around us and within all people and all creation in every
moment. Once we see that way, we know how Mary could speak as if God’s
realm had already come.
The prophet Isaiah said, “God keeps in perfect peace those whose minds are
stayed on God because they trust in God.” (Isaiah 26:3) If we go through Advent
and Christmas with our minds stayed on the busy demands of our lives and the
season, if we keep our minds stayed on our stress and desires, or even on the
surface pleasures of candles and greens or carols and cookies, that orientation will
guarantee that we experience only fleeting Advent hope, peace, love and joy—if
we experience them at all.
It is good, but not good enough to be mindful and awake merely to the
surface of things. If we let go of the surface, if we do not ask for a perfect or
successful season, if we keep our mind stayed on the coming of something deeper
within every moment, on the coming of Christ within every detail or deadline,
within every candle or carol, then that Advent orientation will open us to receive
the gifts of grace that can come regardless of what is happening around us.
Advent orientation is the practice of the presence of God, coming to us through
every moment and every encounter with this world. Through that one gift flow all
the other gifts of the Spirit.
As with all gifts from God, we need to pass on our Advent gifts to others.
The reason it is so important for us to keep our mind stayed on God and to trust in
God is that we live in a world starving for hope, peace, love and joy. Like Mary,
our task is to bear to the world the light that God shines within us—the light that
can guide the world into the ways of mercy, justice and peace.
To have an Advent orientation is a counter-cultural, revolutionary thing to
do. So let us join that revolution now with the radical act of praying in silence.
The way to develop an Advent orientation is to practice letting go all our other
thoughts, returning again and again to the one thought of God or Christ or Spirit.
So as you pray now, every time you catch yourself thinking of anything else, let it
go and return to the wakeful watching for the coming of God’s light within the
dark silence of your soul.
Let us pray…
Sermon 12/02/2007