A Recent Sermon at Trinity. . .
The Rev. William J. Adams
Delivered on December 2, 2007 -- Matthew 24:36-44
Title: “Christmas Isn't Just About Window Dressing"
It’s hard to separate Advent from Christmas. The church wants us to make a clear delineated distinction between the two seasons, but I’m even sure it’s possible.
The Advent wreath gently whispers, “wait.” But the rest of the world is telling us we better start thinking about presents and wrapping paper, decorations and Christmas cards.
And you know what, I’m a priest in the church. . . I’m supposed to be the holy protector of the church seasons, but I’ll confess to you that I couldn’t care less any more how blurry the lines become between the two seasons.
There line between waiting for a gift and opening the gift is a fine line indeed. Sometimes in my life, I haven’t been able to tell the difference.
I’m going to try to talk to you this morning about “waiting for the gift,” but I trust that you’ll forgive me if I spoil the surprise, and go a little to far, and maybe even rip of the ribbons and the foil wrap.
Do any of you remember what I like to call that “One Special Gift Phenomenon?”
When I was a child, every Christmas there was always ONE gift under the tree that completely captivated me. There might be might have been six or seven gifts under the tree with my name on them...... but there was always one that drew me in like a magnet...... one that charmed me more than any of the others.
Do any of your remember that gift? It's the one that you poke at and squeeze and stretch and compress and rattle and shake and smell until it almost unwraps itself.
And even though you've read the “to/from tag” on it fifty times already..... you read it again just to savor the reassurance that it is indeed for you!
You know..... I really think that of all the Christmas traditions out there..... from egg nog to sitting in Santa's lap......That gift giving is the most symbolic of Advent
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Advent is the season that comes around every winter in order to remind us that we live in a God invaded world....... it's here to remind us of the importance of expectation and anticipation..... Advent is a season that begs us to wonder what God is going to do next!
Advent is a four week season that is here to proclaim that there should be absolutely no truth at all in the bumper sticker that says tomorrow has been cancelled due to lack of enthusiasm.
-----This season reminds us that there is a package waiting for us...........The to/from tag will come next week in the form of one John the Baptist heralding in the desert.
It's a package that is wrapped in the most beautiful way...... a package wrapped in the beauty of intense and passionate love.......For God so loved the world!
It is, however a gift that requires each of us to go through the preparatory waiting period lest we fail to treasure it's magnificence. It's a gift that should be closely examined these four weeks before Christmas. It should be pinched and shaken with all the excitement and wonder and anticipation of a miracle.
When I was about eight or nine years old, I was board one day in early December, and I began to rummage around in the garage.
Lo and behold, I stumbled on something marvelous. .It was in a box. It was a shiny silver airplane. It was so big I could barely hold it with both hands.
When you turned it on lights flashed inside and out, and the propellers.... all four of them..... began to spin, and the landing wheels turned and the motors roared. I couldn’t believe that I had found something so wonderful in what was probably the most cluttered garage in our neighborhood.
Where did this come from..... I had to know........ I ran into the house and I asked my mother about this wonderful find of mine. I know now what I didn't know then.
She and my father had hidden that giant silver airplane in the garage, and it was to be a Christmas present for me.
My mother was fast on her feet, however, she said that it was for one of my cousins, and she was hiding it for my Uncle until Christmas...... I bought the whole story.
I was instructed to not touch it again and to stay out of the garage, but my mind would always wander there in awe of what was inside and to that box on the shelf in there.
Can you imagine my surprise when I found out on Christmas Day that the beautiful silver airplane was for me?
It may appear that this sermon is now slipping over that fine line between Advent and Christmas, and maybe it is, but my intention was to offer you that story not to call your attention to Christmas, but to deliver you right into the heart of Advent!
You see, I got to lay my eyes on that gift and to relish it....... but it wasn't until Christmas that I discovered that it indeed was mine!
In today's Gospel, Jesus says he’s going to come to us, and when he says that we don’t know the hour, he doesn’t mean that sometimes he’s here and sometimes he isn’t. He means that we will sometimes discover the Christ in our midst at the most unexpected hour.
I have always thought that rectors were unilaterally responsible for holding 300 people together in a bond of love, and still run the business as CEO and Development Director in charge of fund raising.
I actually thought that we were supposed to be impenetrable and indestructible. Most of us carry around a window dressing that is designed to display a kind of super hero who is needed by everybody, but never needs anything himself.
Only after the very aggressive mentoring on the part of my Associate Rector and my Senior Warden did this rector finally made a decision this past week to tell the troops that he was hurting and exhausted and vulnerable.
It wasn’t five minutes after I sent out that E-mail that I began to question the decision. “Oh my God,” I thought, “What have I done?” Have I actually admitted that I need the people I serve every bit as much as they have ever needed me?
How did this happen? I was certain that I was doing a good job of arranging my window dressing, and that people really did believe that I could still leap over tall buildings in a single bound.
Now you know why someone once said, the only insufferable people in the world are people who pretend they never suffer!
My point of bringing this up again is two-fold. Firstly if you are carrying a similar window dressing around with you, dump it. It’s cumbersome, it’s heavy and it’s a burden.
But mainly I wanted to tell you that in all of this, the last person I expected to meet was Christ. I felt weak and unreliable, and there couldn’t possibly be any reward for that, especially for a weak and unreliable priest!
But I met Jesus Christ face to face at an hour I least expected. I met Christ in you. In the heartfelt words that came in cards and letters and E-mails. In the looks of compassion on your face, and the sincerity of your embrace. . . AND in the vestry that spent most of our November meeting doing pastoral care for the pastor.
In the Cursillo Movement there is a question that is often asked? What was your closest moment to Christ this week? Well I would have no trouble answering that question if it were asked of me today? Never have I understood what the phrase, “The body of Christ,” means than I have these past few days.
Each and every one of you is like that gift in the box on the shelf. Unfortunately I bought into the idea that the gift wasn’t really meant for me, and that I should never take the lid off that box. Well the lid is off, and Advent gave way to Christmas, and if it weren’t for my ordination vows, I’d sing “Silent Night” right now. Jesus Christ is the gift under our tree during Advent...... and Advent is here so that on Christmas we will know....beyond a shadow of any doubt that the gift of Jesus is indeed ours, but also that we ARE the gift! Advent is not here to tell us WHEN Jesus will come, for he will come many times.....he will come today in the Sacrament we share together..... He will come in the love of a mother or the hug of a friend.......He will come in the most unlikely of moments.......some of them even more unlikely than the little town of Bethlehem during a Roman occupation.
My beloved friends in Christ, the church has given us a four week moment to squeeze and compress the package...... And it's O.K.....go ahead.... go into that garage and take a good look at the gift and get used to the idea that the gift is indeed FOR YOU! And that gift IS YOU! Thank you so much.
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