Sermon 12/02/07 (Matthew 24:36-44)

“A Merry Christmas?!”
Matthew 24:36-44
Rev. Désirée H. Gold
St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, Baltimore, MD
Sunday, 2 December, 2007
First Sunday of Advent

I have finally come to terms with the fact that December is here (for most of November I refused to believe that Advent was on its way). I avoided “Black Friday” like the plague, but I do that every year. I haven’t put up my Christmas decorations or begun sending my Christmas cards, but I always wait until the first Sunday in Advent.

Of course, for much of the country the “holiday season” has been in full swing since the day after Thanksgiving, or maybe even before that. (I saw Christmas decorations pop up on a few houses right after Halloween.) Thanksgiving week marked the advent of Santa Claus into shopping malls, and those of us who have not yet begun our holiday decorating or finished our Christmas shopping are considered “a little slow” by many. The baby Jesus is born the minute after the Thanksgiving turkey is carved... if “the baby Jesus” even comes to mind amidst the Santa Clauses, toy stores, and Christmas parties of “the holiday season.”

It seems we church people are rather behind on the Christmas rush. It is a whole ten days after Thanksgiving, and we’re only just now getting started with the season of Advent! ...And where on earth is the baby Jesus?!

As individual church members, and even as a congregation, we may be well-immersed in the holiday spirit already. I’m sure Alta isn’t the only one of you who went out on Black Friday, and I’m guessing many of you have already put up your decorations. But in terms of the liturgical year, the season of Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas) begins today. And as we can see from this morning’s scripture lesson, this Advent season may not be particularly merry.

The “Christmas season,” as we have come to call it, is the one season in which we Protestants feel fairly comfortable with the person of Mary, the mother of Jesus. We sing songs about the faithful Mary, and I still remember my excitement at getting to play Mary in the Christmas play at my church many years ago. But where’s Mary in this morning’s scripture? Nonexistent. No baby Jesus, and no Mary. Instead, we have an eery telling about “the coming of the Son of Man”: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ...Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” This gospel lesson is hardly dangling with glittering Christmas lights, and I can’t see children rehearsing lines for a Christmas play based on this text.

...Um, wait a second. Did I read the wrong scripture lesson for this morning? This is the scripture lesson for the first Sunday of Advent, isn’t it? It doesn’t really sound right. ...No, okay, I checked my lectionary, and this is, indeed, the correct scripture for today.

So, what gives? Where’s the baby? Where’s Mother Mary? Where are the shepherds and the Christmas star and the three wise men and the camels and the Christmas presents and the Christmas tree... and...and all that Christmas stuff?! Why these creepy words that tell us, “if the owner of the house had known in what part of the house the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready.” Aaack! What?! Thieves may be more prevalent during the holiday season, when we go on vacation, etc., but the cute baby Jesus is not a thief, and we want him to come, don’t we?! What is this weird stuff doing in Advent?!

This morning’s scripture does, indeed, sound more like the end of the world (like the “Left Behind” series of books, perhaps) than like the incarnation of Christ into our world. ...But, wait just one more minute. What is it that we celebrate at Christmas time? Please don’t tell me it’s bargains the day after Thanksgiving, or Christmas hams or twinkling lights. Christmas is when we remember God’s marvelous coming into the world, in the human, yet divine, person of Jesus. And Advent is the season when we prepare for God’s coming into the world.

This morning’s scripture does sound more like it’s about the Second Coming than about the baby in the manger, but I believe the point of the passage has less to do with “first coming” or “second coming” or any particular coming of God into our world. Instead, as famed preacher Fred Craddock puts it,

"This morning’s gospel reading proclaims, once again, that our God is the one who comes to the world. The question is, How shall the day of the Lord be? Will it be darkness or light, joy or dread, judgment or redemption? It is this thought that stirs the people of God and reminds us that not only joy and anticipation but also repentance mark the observance of Advent."1

We know that Advent is a time of preparation ...and not just the preparation of our holiday decorations or Christmas lists. This morning’s gospel from Matthew reminds us that we are not just preparing for a sweet baby, born of a young girl in the city of Bethlehem. We are preparing for the incarnation of God into our world, which happens continually and powerfully. We know, from the tradition of our scriptures, that Jesus was not “a cute baby in the manger” for long. He soon became a dynamic preacher and prophet, who taught a new kind of justice, a new kind of peace, and who faced persecution as one who proclaimed an end to oppression.

We are called, then, to prepare not for the baby in the manger, but for the message that Jesus brought and brings. The season of Advent is not about taking a little trip out to Babies R’ Us for a few presents for the newborn. It is about preparing ourselves (over and over again) to live lives as close to Christ’s message as we are humanly able.

We “church folks” are not exempt from this preparation. We may like to think of ourselves as outside the secular world of consumerism and overindulgence, but we, too, are a part of this world in which we live. While we are never lost from the grace of God, let’s make good use of this Advent season.

What are some ways in which you can prepare yourselves for the coming of God -- in the form of the baby Jesus or otherwise -- into the world? Who is Christ to you, and how can you get ready for Christ? What are the actions you need to take this Advent season in order to become more faithful to the message of Christ, whose incarnation we prepare to celebrate?

During this season of Advent, I invite you to try a few things: reach out to those who are less fortunate than you, whether they are members of your own earthly family or people on the street. Reach for reconciliation with those people in your own circle of acquaintances and loved ones, as well as those from whom you feel divided in the wider world (Democrats vs. Republicans, anyone?) Find as many ways as you can to prepare yourself for the God who enters our world over and over again. And pray. Now let us pray.


1 Craddock, Fred B., John H. Hayes, Carl R. Holladay, and Gene M. Tucker, Preaching Through the Christian Year : Year A (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1992), pg. 9.