Happy New Year!
Yes, that’s right. I said Happy New Year!
Today is the first Sunday in Advent, a time when we prepare ourselves for the birth of the Christ child; and it is also the first day of the Christian Calendar. So, while the rest of the world begins their countdown towards Christmas and the end of the calendar year, we begin to count up towards Christmas and the rebirth of all things.
It also doesn’t help that today’s Advent reading comes from a Jesus who is facing the end of his days here on earth. As United Church of Christ Theologian Kathryn Matthews puts it, “While we set up Nativity scenes with a sweet baby Jesus lying in a manger, we hear from the grown-up, just-about-to-die Jesus, standing in the Temple, teaching about the coming catastrophe – the destruction of [the] Temple by the Romans” She goes on to add, “But Jesus seems to be talking about even more than that: the end of all things, the End of Time itself.”
It is in this place we find ourselves this morning; at the beginning, yet contemplating the end. In a place where Jesus speaks of all things coming to an end, and the Christian calendar reminding us that we are at the beginning of all things yet to come.
The intent of The Gospel of Luke in today’s passage is not meant to confuse us, rather it is to remind us that before there can be a beginning, there must be an end. Luke’s purpose, as well as that of the Christian calendar, is to remind us that with new beginnings come change. We are also shown through the words of Jesus that with change comes the message of hope.
As we heard earlier with the lighting of our wreath, Advent means “coming.” It’s more than that, however. Advent is the coming of a special event or the visit of a high dignitary or person of importance. To Christians, Advent is the time when we look towards the coming of the Christ child.
Sometimes it seems that as the years go by it gets more and more difficult to look towards Christmas as the celebration of when the Christ child is born. Our lives become busier, our jobs become more challenging, there seems to be more and more demands placed on our time. Not to mention how overly-commercialized that day has become. The stores and television commercials remind us that Christmas is a time to celebrate by making sure we get that perfect gift for that special person, and it is right after Thanksgiving when that message goes into high gear.
How are we supposed to find time to focus on our own well-being, let alone focus on the coming of the one who changes and renews our lives?
World events are also taking a toll on the message of the coming of the Christ child. Terrorist bombings, escalating violence around the world, and politics that seem out of touch with the basic needs of our country all compete for our worries about the world in which we live.
How are we supposed to find the time to focus on the peaceful joys of this world, let alone focus on the promises of God the Christ child fulfills?
By not being a part of that world, that’s how.
Jesus is telling those who are listening that the world which will be falling apart, the world which will be coming to the end of its time, is that of those who live in a world consumed by power and money. Jesus is warning the people of his time that everything they hold dear to them, which unfortunately has become not the things of God, will be destroyed.
Yet, Jesus tells those who are gathered that when those things begin to happen, they should stand up straight and raise their heads, because their redemption, their liberation, is near.
We also look towards our redemption, our deliverance, our liberation from the things which cause us to lose focus on what the birth of the Christ within us is supposed to be. All we need to do is stop and look for the signs of hope which surround us every day. Just as Jesus reminds us in verses 29-31.
Jesus says, “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you know that God’s kingdom is near.” Jesus points out that the things which show us a glimmer of hope may be as small as new buds on a tree, but if we know to look for them and we allow the bud of new life to sprout within us, surely the hope that Christ brought into this world will fill us to overflowing – so much so that the light of hope from our Savior will overcome all that tries to extinguish it.
About 2001 I took part in a Youth mission trip to Washington, DC. It was during the spring break, sometime in March when the weather is still cold, at least for us Hawaiians. The purpose of the mission trip was to work closely with the homeless people in DC, while at the same time do some self-discovery on where we were in our relationship with God through Christ.
We walked the streets to meet homeless people and learn their stories. We worked in a soup kitchen and met a few homeless people in more intimate settings so we could ask questions about how they became homeless and what being homeless was about to them. It was a view into lives we’ve never experienced before that trip.
It was on this walk we experienced what a reborn relationship with God could be like.
Before we walked along the path, most of us noticed that the trees and bushes were very bare and asked why. Being from Hawaii we hadn’t experienced how plant-life faded away during the winter, so to see empty branches of trees that were still alive intrigued us. Instead of telling us of the bleak winter conditions, our guide told us to focus on the blossoming of new life and the budding of new leaves along the path as that is what spring is about.
Halfway through the walk one of our young men began to cry, which quickly became a sob. Because our main instruction for the walk was that nobody talk to or touch or in any way communicate with our fellow walkers, we could do nothing but watch and listen as this man bared his soul.
When we reached the end of the walk, and were able to speak and touch and interact with our fellow travelers, the young man was surrounded with so much love. Hugs and whispers of how things are okay filled the space we were in. It was enough to bring everyone to tears.
When asked why he cried so hard, his response brought the Spirit of God into our group with a message that still carries to this day. He said to us, “I realized that our world is like this path. It’s filled with so much death, so little beauty. But then, out of nowhere, I could feel God say to me that there is more to this path than I was letting myself see.” He paused to cry for a moment then continued, “I looked closer at the plants along the path and I noticed one tree in particular, a tree that had a very small green leaf coming through its dead, brown branch. It was then I realized that God’s presence is like that leaf – It’s there if we just look for it.”
Amid the turmoil of simply being a teenager and witnessing for the first time the hardships of others, this young man realized that the hope of God can sometimes be as small as the new leaf of spring, but is always present nonetheless.
That, my friends, is what the promised hope of the Christ child brings; new life amid the turmoil of that which surrounds our lives in other ways. Such is the redemption of the Christ child; that we are freed from that which holds us captive to the love of power and money. Such is what Advent and its promise of hope brings; a life reborn within us where instead of being consumed with the politics and economics of this world we are consumed with the never-ending, all-encompassing, all-inclusive love of God.
God is always with us. Amen.
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