Grace Lutheran Church

The first Sunday in Advent - how did that happen?  Where did the time go?  Well, at least it’s comforting to know that this afternoon all you need to do now is go home, dish out some snacks, grab something refreshing to drink, perhaps a Lutheran beverage, put your feet up, sit back, and relax as you watch the big game – since you’re ready for Christmas - already.  It’s such a relief – to have everything done.  The lights are up.  You thought ahead and did it on one of the warmer fall days.  Your shopping is finished right down to the stocking stuffers.  There’ll be no last minute mad dash for you come Christmas Eve.  The presents are all wrapped and securely hidden away from those who would shake, rattle, or sniff.  Your baking is all done – and a mighty fine job you did this year too – even if you do say so yourself.  What a relief – ready for Christmas – already and it’s only November 29^th.

 

You’re looking a little doubtful.  And you may just be wondering if the pastor hasn’t gotten into a little of the Christmas eggnog for breakfast or perhaps the air up in the pulpit’s a little thinner.  Well I’d just like to remind you, or encourage you to recognize that in your heart you are indeed ready for Christmas already, but not because of your careful planning and frenzied preparations, rather because the Lord took care of Christmas a long time ago.  The branch has sprung up from the line of David.  It has come to full blossom in Jesus, who if you can get your mind around it, was the highlight of the very first Christmas parade – one that He carefully prepared for, but one that just happened to fall on Palm Sunday when He rode into Jerusalem not in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer but riding on a colt to the cheers of thousands or maybe it was only hundreds who lined the way.

As Advent begins it’s important to remember and to celebrate the truth that the Lord created Christmas, not you or me.  The good news is that when everything was ready God made Christmas happen.  The baby of the manger became the star of a parade that appeared to go awfully astray just five days later, but a parade from manger to cross to empty tomb that we continue to celebrate with eager anticipation, excitement, hope and joy.  Remember that truth each day in Advent through the weeks to come and in doing so, put your preparations and any pre-Christmas stress in perspective.

In a perfect world the days of Advent would only be filled with all sorts of good stuff but in this real world they are still filled with news of terrorist threats, the reality of family or friends who battle cancer, of a mother abandoning her new born baby in a manger in New York City.  Even as Christmas approaches, peace and love may be far from the experience of many as some relationships are strained between spouses, between parents and children or grandparents, or between close friends.  They may be struggling with hurt, bitterness, betrayal and disappointment while still other people battle the dark clouds of grief – often intensified with the coming holiday.  All of this against a backdrop of blatant ads like one I heard the other day about how you needed to go out and shop because you’d lose money if you dared to stay at home on Black Friday.  There’s something off about that.  Behind all the hype and glitter of the season, Advent can be a stressful time – one often filled with misplaced hope that everything will just somehow get better.  I suspect the crowds outside of Jerusalem that lined the parade route of Jesus that day had some misplaced hope as they cheered and celebrated thinking that just maybe; here at last was the one who would reestablish the glory of Judah and free her from the rule of Rome.

We may not be waving palm branches in hope and expectation but we do decorate trees.  We string lights, buy gifts, bake or buy up a storm, and often as we do we get increasingly stressed.  Even if our list of things to do is not as big as it once was, we often place unrealistic expectations on ourselves as we yearn to experience that illusive Christmas spirit – to feel like it’s Christmas.  Sadly, I wonder have we made Christmas all about us and what we do?  Do we measure its success by how ready we think we are when it finally arrives - forgetting that Christmas is all about what God did to be ready?  It is His planning that brought it to pass – His promises beginning in the garden and continuing with the prophets.  It is not our preparations that make Christmas merry and bright but the Lord of heaven and earth, the baby of the manger, the boy in the temple, the man who rode on a colt, the foal of a donkey, who died on a cross, and walked out of a tomb - He is the Light and in Him our hearts can be merry.

Adding to the stress, sadly we sometimes allow the expectations of others to dictate to us our celebration of Christmas.  That’s a sure way to make it less about His birth and more about us, our family’s wishes or the opinion of friends.  We arrange our schedules to please others, allowing parties and dinners to take precedence over worship and devotion.  As we do, we lose focus on central truth about Christmas, and the King who once came in the name of the Lord bringing peace, light, and life to all who believe.  Allowing others to dictate how we celebrate, in the end, places us in danger of devaluing the true gift of Christmas.  

In a way, I find it sad, even perplexing that there is so much concern being expressed by many about the sudden influx of refugees and how they might endanger our culture and values – sad because many who claim to be Christian, and are so concerned about those values, daily fail to live and actually practice the faith they claim they hold.  We won’t lose the meaning Christmas because of what others may do or may not do but rather because of what we don’t do.  Sad as well, in some twisted sort of way, is the temptation to go all bah humbug on the secularization of Christmas while doing precious little to mark its celebration by what we say and do.  We’d do much better by protesting less and openly celebrating Christ’s birth more and more with customs that put Him at the center of the holiday in our homes and in our hearts – daily sharing with our children the excitement of Jesus’ birthday.  How many comment repeatedly about keeping Christ in Christmas but fail to even have one nativity scene visibly present in their homes though there may have numerous interpretations of Santa or snowmen decorating their halls?   How many “Christians” don’t take time at Christmas to actually read aloud the Christmas story for their family and then complain about how commercial Christmas has become?  And just who, but Christians have let that happen - who have taken their freedom for granted and celebrated Christmas in name only as they indulged in partying, in feasting, in every way except in praise and thanksgiving to God for His gift of the Baby of Bethlehem’s manger – the same one of whom the very stones along the road would have cried out in homage to their creator and coming King?

Well in spite of our repeated failures as individuals and families to put our money where our mouth is – to have our positive actions surpass our whining – we are ready for Christmas already because God has made us so in Jesus.  Yes, we can truly look forward to His coming birthday observance as we recall that He did in historic fact come once long ago to be our Saviour.  His whole life was presented to us a gift wrapped in swaddling clothes.  He came that we might know what it is to have the scarlet stain our sins forgiven – to have the horrific record of our life’s words, actions, and thoughts with all their guilt washed away by His crimson blood making us as clean as freshly fallen snow, and so presenting us blameless and holy before God the Father.

Since in Jesus you are ready for Christmas, I invite you to take a deep breath, relax just a little, and remember this week it’s the Lord that has made you ready.  I shall try to do the same though it won’t be easy.  It’s not in my nature – but daily turning it all over to the Lord it is doable.  When it comes to Christmas, He’s been there and done that, from cradle to cross and tomb, and nothing we can do could ever come close to matching it.  All that remains now in the weeks to come is to wrap up our preparations in love, giving of ourselves genuinely, unselfishly in His name as we take time to care and pray for others – serving as His hands, His feet, and His mouth, echoing the cry of the crowds, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Amen