“Is Advent Possible For You?”

December 8, 2024: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.

Well, we have made the annual Advent turn. You know, the turn our gospel just took for us. Today, we are not hearing about the second Advent, but the first. After weeks of his return, we are heading into weeks of preparing the way for his birth. We have made a turn toward Bethlehem.

And this gospel author does set a scene for us – one that has deep meaning too. There is a reason he names all those political and religious leaders. It isn’t just to set the story in the context of time. The author name drops all the rulers and religious leaders of the places of the life and death of Jesus.

The Emperor Tiberius ruled during the time in which Jesus was active in ministry, arrested, and crucified. Pontius Pilate was governor and a principal at his trial and execution.

Herod Antipas is the “Herod” who engages Jesus most in the Gospels. And this gospel author is the only one to include Herod Antipas in Jesus’ trial. He should not be confused with his dad, Herod the Great, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, who encountered the wise men, and ordered the massacre of the innocents. Nice guy, right?

Although Caiaphas was high priest at the time of the arrest of Jesus, Annas’ presence still loomed large, which meant both had a big role in the proceedings that led to his being turned over to Pilate.[1]

All this to say that the author of Luke wanted very much for us to see the ending at the beginning. Sound familiar? It is an Advent theme isn’t it. We are again in that scriptural cycle we have been in these past few weeks of the ending and the beginning being interwined.

This litany of rulers also reminds us that God is at work in the real world, not some sort of fantasy land beyond our reach. God’s plan of salvation, God’s vision of peace and wholeness, that is played out in the context of human history. It is the thing of mortals, even if angels are involved in announcing what is to come.

After all, the coming of God into the world was as one of us, Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh. And this birth into our human sphere is proclaimed by a locust eating, camel hair wearing, miracle child, John, the flesh and blood cousin of Jesus. He takes this good news out into the wilderness – a place where spiritual seekers mix with those on the margins – and where one hopes to encounter God in the stillness of a barren land.

This is what we wait for in Advent – when God breaks into the very real human world, announced by angels, proclaimed by human prophets, and into the fragility of human existence in the form of a child, born to us at Christmas by an young unwed mother.

Yet as the pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, preached in one of his sermons for this season:

“Not all can wait – certainly not those who are satisfied, contented, and feel that they live in the best of all possible worlds! Those who learn to wait are uneasy about their way of life, but yet have seen a vision of greatness in the world of the future and are patiently expecting its fulfillment. The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.”

In other words – Advent may be a time of expectancy and hope, but to understand it, you must be troubled by what is happening to children of God and God’s creation, and to be sure, Advent is deeply troubling for some, because what it portends is going to shake the foundation of the world, rock your life, and scare the crap out of any earthly authorities who wield power without compassion – those the author of this gospel names, or those now.

Advent should not be tamed into some sweet prelude to a joyous miracle birth at Christmas. It is an announcement that change is coming – transformational change that, if we are prepared for it, will be revolutionary for ourselves and for all the world.

Remember the words of Isaiah, as John proclaimed, that “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

“All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” That is the promise of Advent – that is the promise of our God – that God’s salvation is for everybody. It doesn’t matter what walls we humans build, who we try to push aside, who we desire to exclude – because God will not be boxed in by our smallness. God destroys those very walls and replaces them with bridges of love – unconditional love. All people shall see! All people!!!

The word of God is coming to unexpected people and unexpected places, and that Word of grace and love is for everyone – no matter how much money you have, who you love, what language you speak, what gender you claim, or what faith you profess – everyone – all flesh – all of humanity – but most especially to those others have cast aside.

Or, in the words of John’s dad Zachariah that we heard today “In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

God’s dawn is near.

Christ’s light will break into our dark land.

The Holy Spirit will guide our feet into the way of peace – for ourselves, and for all the world.

So, as John tells us, prepare for what is to come, which always reminds me a bit of the scouting motto: “Be prepared!”

I come from a big scouting family. My dad was a scoutmaster, my mom a Den mother, my brother a life scout, I was the President of Law Enforcement Explorers, all three nephews are Eagle scouts, and perhaps the biggest scout of all is my sister-in-law, who even received the prestigious Silver Beaver award (and just about every other one too) as a long time scouting leader. About that Silver Beaver award, it is given to those “who implement the Scouting program and perform community service through hard work, self-sacrifice, dedication, and many years of service. But most importantly, it is given to those who do not seek it.”[2]

So, as you might guess, this motto is big in our family. But the motto is about more than just being ready.

As noted in Scouting Magazine, Lord Baden-Powell “…wanted young people equipped to react quickly to an emergency. The Great War loomed, and soon the …Scouts — not a military organization but a service-minded one — would be called upon to play their part. “Their keen eyes were added to the watchers along the coasts,” Winston Churchill wrote in a piece published in Scouting magazine in 1955. “In the air raids we saw the spectacle of children of 12 and 14 performing with perfect coolness and composure the useful function assigned to them in the streets and public offices.”

But Baden-Powell wasn’t just thinking about first aid and wartime emergencies when he coined the motto. This is from the Scout Handbook: “His idea was that Scouts should prepare themselves to become productive citizens and strong leaders and to bring joy to other people. He wanted each Scout to be ready in mind and body and to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges await.”[3]

Think about that: “Be ready in mind and body to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges await.”

I think John, cousin of Jesus, and prophetic witness, is also telling everyone to “Be prepared,” too – because we truly cannot know what is to come about in the days ahead.

And so it is here, in this place, that we prepare.

Here were we ready ourselves in mind and heart to receive Him.

While those who prepare well for what is to come won’t receive a medal of any kind, nor, like recipients of the Silver Beaver, would we ever seek it, we do receive something far greater:

Hope to quiet our minds in times of fear.

Light to guide us in times of darkness.

And love to cast away all hate.

Which makes us all the more ready in mind and body to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges await.

And while what we, together with Christ, will do in the days ahead is not yet fully known, one thing we can be sure of – it won’t be good news to those who use power to oppress the vulnerable, build up wealth to the neglect of the poor, abuse God’s creation, or deny the dignity of any child of God.

It will, however, be good news to the rest of the world.

So, be prepared – that you may be the ones for whom Advent is meant. Remember what Bonhoffer’s said – “The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come,”

As part of our preparation, let us acknowledge our own troubled souls and those of others – For so many live in fear of what is to come. So many are already suffering and dying by the acts of the powerful.

It is to these for whom Advent is truly possible.

And to we, troubled in our souls, Advent comes too.

For then we will be the broken in whom Christ yearns to be born.

Through our cracks, his light will shine, and the world will be changed, because we have prepared well to welcome him.

Amen.

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