December 20, 2009 Sermon
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Advent 4 - C 2009
Micah, Hebrews, Luke Emmanuel, San Angelo
December 20, 2009 Allan Conkling
Tidings of Comfort and Joy abound at Emmanuel today. Christmas is almost here. On Wednesday we will hang the Christmas greenery and change the altar to festal white and put set out the poinsettias. Even the weather is Christmassy. Yet In our quirky way of doing things we still hold back until the very last minute. It is not Christmas yet. We still have time to stop...time to listen...time to ponder.
Our culture prides itself on being forever new and fresh. We strive to get the latest gadgets, state of the art cookware, highest tech toys and electronics, and to wear the latest fashions. Yet it is our Traditions which keep us grounded and, if you will, sane. Without a past we suffer from amnesia, like having spiritual Alzheimer's disease. Traditions function like a road map. They are like a GPS system to keep us oriented. They help us to pinpoint our location in time and space. They help us navigate and make sense of the world around us. Even more importantly help us understand our relationship to God. As corny as this season is with all its trappings, with our insistence on doing things the way they have always been done, we provide ourselves with a safety net, a sense of grounding.
I am convinced that had Luke written the Christmas story today he would have told it very differently. Most people today don’t believe that God speaks to them in dreams, or through talking angels. By the time a child is in 3rd grade they know more about how babies are made and about the movement of planets and stars than anyone alive at the time of Jesus. Without a doubt we are the most knowledgeable and sophisticated culture of all. Yet told in today's vernacular the Christmas story would not have the same impact. There is a comfort in hearing the old, old stories told in from the point of view of a time gone by: Gosh, if they can make it, so can we! This is not a call to willed ignorance, naïveté, or sentimentality. I know the world is round. I also know that that Christianity is only one of many profound universal expressions of faith. And these days, in an era of pluralism we can't help but be sensitive to other religions. But this is our story. This is how we touch upon the deeper archetypal places of our unconscious. The Traditions of Advent and Christmas are a source of continued inspiration and I would hate to lose them.
In a letter from prison during the waning days of war torn Europe of the 1940’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer said:
"It is times like these that show what it really means to have a past and an inner legacy independent of the change of the times and conditions. [It] gives one a strong sense of security in the face of all transitory distress."
I believe that same life-giving Spirit present from the foundation of the world wants nothing more than to enter our hearts today, and to fill us with the knowledge and assurance that we are all beloved of God. How important the Message of Christ can be for those who dread this time of year or are burdened.
On Fourth Advent we always read the Magnificat, the Song of Mary. Scholars today believe that Luke actually drew this hymn of praise from later Christian sources, placing it on the lips of Mary as she visited her kinswoman Elizabeth. Many of its lines and phrases borrowed from the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, betray a later authorship, making it doubtful that it was ever uttered by the young Jewish girl. But that doesn’t matter.
Bonhoeffer goes on to write in his letter from prison:
"The song of Mary...is at once the most passionate, the wildest and one might even say, the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. It is instead, a hard, strong, inexorable song about collapsing thrones and humbled lords of this world, about the power of God and the powerlessness of humankind."
In other words, God speaks loudly through our actions. How we address issues of social concern, war and inequality speak volumes about our faith. Read in this light, these old stories are nothing short of our mission statement today. Like Mary we are called to carry within us, the Christ.
By this time each year I get weary of waiting. I am ready to "get the show on the road". I want to get the greenery up and the poinsettias out. As grandparents Kelly and I have held Christmas off as long as we can. But for these last few moments we can still linger. As the Christmas rush envelops us, don’t forget that God's gift for you is greater than any that you will find under your tree. God wants to make his dwelling place in you.
"How can this be?" we might ask. Well, I won't give away the secret. That would spoil the surprise! We'll all just have to come back Christmas Eve and hear the rest of the story. That's our tradition, the way it has always been done.
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