St. Stephen’s only.
I have a confession to make. I’m going to start out the new church year on the right foot and make my confession. I’ve been having an affair. Lori knows about this affair. She’s not always happy with it, but she’s aware of it and mildly tolerant. I think I’ve mentioned this affair to some of you in passing but some of you don’t know about it. I’m quite sure the bishop doesn’t. I’ve been having an affair with my workshop, which I have named my ManCave. Lori actually made the affair possible. Two Christmas’ ago she gave me one of the nicest gifts she or anyone else have given me. She cleaned up and organized my shop which was really not more than storage and that’s about when the affair began. We had a long period of flirtation but I began to get very serious with my shop about six months ago and and am now fully involved and in far too deep for my own good. But that’s my problem.
Our problem is what to do with Advent. Our problem is what to do with the next four weeks, the Advent cycle of readings, and what to do when all around is us holiday, holiday, holiday, and yet we are being called to somewhat different response. Luke records Jesus as saying be “alert”. Bishop Wes use to say, “be alert, the world needs more lerts”.
Back to my shop and this issue of alertness. I have an unwritten rule-maybe I should publish it to make it more official-that I come out into the ManCave with no fewer appendages or no more holes in my body than I had when I went into it. I have several power tools and saws and it is extremely important that I maintain my alertness, my awareness when I am in there because if I lose focus and get distracted I could lose not only focus but I could lose a finger or an eye.
So, I try to maintain focus and get into the zone when I’m in there. And I find that when I go into the ManCave I need to leave my anxiety and hurriedness behind. I can’t take it with me in there because that’s how accidents happen. So, I try to slow down and pay attention to what I am doing. My ManCave has very little to do with how I make a living. I’m not in there trying to produce a product to sell or get something done for someone else for compensation. There is no pressure to move along. Only the pressure to get to bed and to be aware that sawing wood in the wee hours of the morning might wake neighbors.
But even though it’s not work, I find it does have something to teach me that is particularly helpful in this beginning of Advent Season. An important emphasis on Advent is the notion of waiting, expecting, preparing. The collect and the readings this morning all point to something coming, something expected, something anticipated. The collect asks us to anticipate the coming of Christ, to prepare ourselves by shedding off the works of darkness and putting on the works of light.
Jeremiah writes that God will remember Israel and raise up someone from King David’s lineage to rule. Jeremiah the prophet encourages the reader to remember their sense of God’s purpose for them, to hold out hope, and, in waiting, to prepare, to be alert.
Luke has a similar theme in presenting Jesus as the announcer of the End Times. Jesus tells his disciples what to look for, how to recognize the Parousia, and what to do as they wait. He’s clear to them: be alert, be prepared, get ready.
Now, I am not a doomsday prophet or all that tuned in to the Rapture, the craze surrounding the “Left Behind” book series, or particularly clear what the end of time is going to look like, or, in fact, if it is even going to happen at all. I have a pretty good idea that Dec 25 is going to arrive and probably the next one after that and the next one after that, for a pretty good while.
That doesn’t let us off the hook though. Advent is real. Preparing is real. Working on attentiveness, being alert, being ready, all that is real. We have the opportunity, and are especially encouraged by our tradition at this time of year to prepare, expect, and wait. This is a very distinct posture compared to what is asked of us in Lent. Lent is more active, requiring self-examination, an active searching that leads to an even more active repentance and turning away from.
Advent is more passive, if you will, than Lent. I don’t like the term “passive” and we don’t have a great appreciation of that word in our language or culture, but passive is not bad. Think of the phrases, “let it go” , “let it be”, or “let it pass”. Good fruit from those postures can come, and they are not as passive as the word, or at least our appropriation of the word suggest, but good can come from waiting, preparing, expecting.
I have an example that illustrates, I hope, the Advent posture I’m trying to get across. I realize I’m milking this shop thing for all it’s worth, but I think my example pertains. About 6 years ago I bought a used Sears Craftsman Radial Arm Saw from a guy who himself bought it used and just let it sit around. I had visions of woodworking then but really never touched the thing, except to move it several times, untill just these past few months. I almost even gave it away.
Well, thinking I’d finally get to work on learning how to use this very versatile, and, consequently, owing to its versatility, extremely dangerous tool, I got online to discover that it’s blade protector was under recall and I ordered the parts to make my saw safer. Sears said they would send me a large box, about 40-50 lbs. with the necessary equipment to retrofit the saw and make it safer. And they said they would send it for free. As you might imagine, I was very excited for the new gadgets coming and looked forward to the arrival of the package. I didn’t know quite when it would arrive-and new that Sears wasnt’ going to be in any hurry getting it to me-but did have a sense of expectation and anticipation, thinking this package would be of benefit to me and my ManCave.
The package did arrive, much to my satisfaction, and when it got to the house I picked it up, took it toward the shop, and opened the garage door to put it in the ManCave. Much to my surprise, the ManCave was uncharacteristically clean and pretty well-organized. My work table had been cleaned up, the tools put in their place, and the dust-a constant challenge- swept away. I had cleaned the ManCave a day or two before, not precisely because I was expecting the package from Sears, but having that thought in the back of my mind, I spent some time, without really knowing I was doing so, getting ready for the arrival of the package that I didn’t know when or if would arrive.
I have to say that when I opened that door to the shop and saw that there was room and a place to put this large box, and the concomitant realization tha opening it and unpacking the free gadgets would be easier and more enjoyable, a sense of satisfaction came over me that I had done my part in getting ready for the package, yet without really knowing I was doing so.
Now, ramp up that little example to our Advent season and posture-I think I like the idea of posture better than practice, because it suggests that Advent maybe something done to us rather than something we do-and hopefully we get a better idea of what I am getting at. We all know that 25 December looks like. We have plans, we’ve been here before, there is much to remind us that we are in the holiday season. But what we can gain from our time together this morning, which is about the only reminder that we will have (and the Advent Film Series) is that we are in the Advent Season. And the liturgical help is that lovely Advent Candle that will grow brighter each week and remind us that our hope is not in vain.
Please be alert today and for the next 25-26 days. Don’t do anything different. Don’t give up anything. Don’t repent. Don’t do anything different. But please, please be alert. Pay attention to what is going on in your life. Take notice of what’s important to you, what you spend your time on, what do you think about most. Be alert to those things. Pay attention and let God do the rest.
For me, the beginning of my Advent, I notice that I spend a lot of time thinking about what I could lose: my job, my family, my health. I worry about that stuff a lot and it keeps me from focusing on what I do have which is so much more real than my worry or my anxiety. And what I have is my job, my family, and my health. If I pay attention, if I’m alert to those good things that God has given me, then there is less room for fear. Maybe that’s even what the collect alludes to when it asks God to remove from us the “works of darkness” and put on “the armor of light”. For me fear is darkness and thankfulness and gratitude are light.
Let us be alert together in this season. Let us pay attention and give thanks for what we have. Let us, even in the midst of holiday busyness and work, let the spirit prepare us and make room for the wonderful gift to come. We will be surprised. We will be satisfied. We will know God’s presence in a newer and different way than we have in the past. Don’t confuse Advent with holiday. One will wear us out and wear us down. The other of which I speak will build us up, bring us to life anew, and remind us once again, but in a completely unexpected manner, that God is near, God comes. God comes soon.
Amen