Good morning
good folk of St. David’s. Welcome to the second Sunday of Advent. I’ve been told
to observe strict time boundaries around my homily in order to keep us on schedule
with all three services this morning, so let’s dive right into one of the main
themes this morning. Repent!
This morning’s
lectionary readings are words written to people in exile and captivity… people
who suffer under oppressive regimes and who are yearning for comfort, restoration
and justice. They called our ancestors,
and call us still, among other things, to prepare for the coming of the messiah
by essentially changing our mind and our course in life: making straight and
level any crooked and uneven pathways (Isaiah 40:3-4); turning our hearts
toward God (Psalm 85:8); cleaning away blemishes and striving for peace (2
Peter 3:9,14); and confessing our sins, repenting, and being baptized into new
life (Mark 1:4-5).
Why, in this
season of generally giddy and hopeful anticipation about the birth of Christ
are we called to repent in preparation for our Lord’s coming?
Advent is a
season when we’re both looking back to remember God coming down from heaven and
by the power of the Holy Spirit becoming incarnate from the Virgin Mary (tender
and vulnerable in a feeding trough) as
well as looking forward to anticipate his coming again in glory to judge
the living and the dead (the heaven’s breaking open and our King coming again
in great glory) (ref also: Nicene Creed). In recent weeks as well as this week, our
Gospel readings draw our attention forward to new time with clear instructions
to remain awake and prepare for the second coming of our Lord… and in today’s
lesson, to repent!
REPENT
In Hebrew
scripture, the words נהם (naham) and שׁוּב
(shub) convey both a
sense of regret and “the idea of turning back, re-tracing one’s steps in order
to return to the right way.”* The
prophets used these words and concepts to address our lack of honoring our end
of the covenant with God and reminding us that God forgives those who repent.
I.e., when you’ve gone astray, get back on track – get right with God.
*(Achtemeier,
Paul J., Ed. et al. Harper Collins Bible
Dictionary Rev. Ed. (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996) p. 924)
In the
writings of the New Testament, the Greek words μετάνοια /μετανοέω (meta-noia / noiein) are used to convey the idea
that we need to be constantly changing our mind / coming to a new way of
thinking. Perhaps some of you have heard
that in the Greek word translated as ‘repent’, we can also hear the “turn
around” or “get a bigger mind about.”
According to
the American Heritage College Dictionary
(NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), repentance is “1. To feel remorse for
self-reproach for what one has done or failed to do; be contrite…” And this is
where we sometimes stop – passively just ‘feeling’ something like shame or
guilt. But the definition continues, “2.
To feel such regret for past conduct as to change one’s mind regarding it… 3.
To make a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition…”.
So, in our
call to remain awake and to repent as we prepare for the coming of our Lord, we
ought to hear that feeling sorry or regretful is necessary but not sufficient for
the full repentance that we’re called to as Christians. To repent with Christ is to TURN from evil, sin,
regret, shame, and guilt and RE-POSITION / RE-ORIENT our hearts and minds to
good, justice, and love.
This call to
repentance is the essence of John the Baptizer’s ministry. Response to this
call is how we’re told that Jesus begins his prophetic and messianic ministry
as an adult. Arguably, we could say that
repentance is one of the actions at the very core what it means to follow Jesus.
Repent! Yes, I know.
Repentance can be a hard candy to swallow in this season when we’re more
often encouraged to indulge our desires and wants and to focus only on the
warm-n-fuzzy images of gentle folk ohhh’ing and ahhh’ing at a happy little baby
in a Hallmark Christmas scene. What are
we to do? Going around yelling ‘repent’
probably ain’t gonna move people in a constructive way.
Let me
suggest a more palatable way to engage in some repentance this season – a way
that doesn’t sound as harsh as one crying in the wilderness, but nonetheless
invites us to change our minds and re-orient ourselves toward God. Renew your curiosity about the true origins
of the symbols that we now associate with Advent and Christmas and
encourage questions among friends and family about why we use certain colors
and images this time of year. This can be an inviting, indirect way of turning
away from the commercialism and material and logistical stress of this season
(and our contemporary lives in general) and turning toward changing of our
minds about how, where, and why we devote our time, talents, and resources as
Christians.
SANTA
CLAUS:
As an
example, this week focus conversation on the origins of Santa Claus. Do you know that this week, on Wednesday (Dec
6), church tradition is to remember the Feast of Saint Nicholas, the actual
person who inspired our secular symbol of Santa (saint) Claus (an abbreviation
of Nicholas)? Nicholas was a bishop of
Myra (in modern day Turkey) in the 4th Century who might also have
participated in the Council of Nicaea, from which the Nicene Creed
emerged. Nicholas was said to been born
into wealth but spent the majority of his life exhibiting generous charity,
particularly toward children (as well as sailors), seeking to relieve suffering
and hunger and liberate young people from oppressive exploitation. He’s said to have been jailed for a time by
the Roman emperor at the time; but upon release went right back to his
charitable work. One legend has him anonymously delivering money to the family
of three young girls (through slipping it into stockings that were hung out to
dry) which was used to save them from being sold into slavery/prostitution. In parts
of central and northern Europe today you will find people still focused on this
actual saint in their celebration of Sinterklaas,
a collections of traditions that arose in the Middle Ages to honor Bishop
Nicholas. Note that it wasn’t until the
1800’s here in the U.S. that the globally popular images of Santa Claus began to
take shape when an Anglican / Episcopal seminary professor is credited with
crafting the poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (more commonly known today as
‘t’was the night before Christmas’, referring to the poem’s first line) and then
later a Harper’s magazine illustrator created the image of the robust, jolly
fellow that evolved into the secular icon that would be popularized and
promoted by commercial interests such as Macy’s and Coca-Cola.
For reference, PBS's Religion & Ethics Newsweekly offers a short video about St. Nicholas, featuring The Rev. Cn. Jim Rosenthal, an Episcopal priest and the founder of the UK/USA St. Nicholas Society. See also, resources from the Michigan-based St. Nicholas Center.
Beyond reexamining the meaning and lessons of the life of the original Saint Nicholas, what else might you, your families, and friends discover in the earlier folklore and legends about the Advent wreath, Christmas trees with lights, and the colors we associate with this season? What might start to happen in our hearts if we re-focused our minds on the deeper meanings and traditions around these images? Toward what/who would our sight be refocused?
Beyond reexamining the meaning and lessons of the life of the original Saint Nicholas, what else might you, your families, and friends discover in the earlier folklore and legends about the Advent wreath, Christmas trees with lights, and the colors we associate with this season? What might start to happen in our hearts if we re-focused our minds on the deeper meanings and traditions around these images? Toward what/who would our sight be refocused?
CONCLUSION:
Of course,
more full and faithful repentance requires more movement of our minds and
hearts than just reconsidering our points of view about Christmas imagery. And, perhaps by beginning with deeper
consideration for our beloved symbols of this season, we open ourselves to
examine other places in our lives in which our attention and focus has turned
away from God and begin the process turning ourselves around, re-orienting our
sense of direction and purpose to better prepare ‘the way’ for ourselves, our
neighbors, and God.
CLOSING
VISIONING AND PRAYER:
Advent is a
season that calls us to wake-up both to our accountability before God and our
hope in God’s coming to us then, now, and again at an unknown but much
anticipated time.
What is that
we most want to see birthed into the world / given new life?
What do we
most hope for?
What are we
called to do better as faithful parents and mindful midwives in this meantime
of expectant pregnancy as we prepare for the second Advent / the coming again
of Christ?
Where and how
this season will you repent… pause and ponder with a bigger mind… prepare the
way… turn-around, face away from your
regrets… re-consider with renewed faith
and hope… and act with more charitable love?
“We thank you
loving God, for you did not abandon us or stand far off, but came in awful
nearness with the urgency of love…. a touch of welcome for the one thrown
aside, good news of bread for the hungry and poor, a shepherd to find those who
are lost…. May we who have been touched by the Word made flesh be his body for
the world, his hands to bring blessing, his sense to glory, in the promise of
creation restored.”**
“Wild God…
whose gospel begins with a cry and a summons: take us to a pathless place where
we can start again to taste creation’s gifts anew and await the Spirit’s touch;
through Jesus Christ, the one who is to come.”**
**(Shakespeare,
Steve. Prayers for an Inclusive Church.
(NY: Church Publishing, 2009) pp. 44,147-48)
AMEN
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