In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A few years ago, I was working at the Kmart in my hometown of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. It was the first week of October, and I was given the job of putting out all of the Christmas Bears. The assistant manager said that I wasn't allowed to leave the store that day until I had put them all out.
I couldn't believe it. I wasn't allowed to leave until I had them all out! In the first week of October! I shared this with another manager who replied, "You'd be surprised at the number of Christmas bears that we can sell at this time of year."" To which I replied, "I don't care how many Christmas bears we can sell at this time of the year, it's too early."
My coworkers at Kmart hated Christmas. After nearly two months of listening to Christmas "musak" and wearing personalized red and white Santa caps with their names spelled out in glitter, who could blame them. They just couldn't wait for it all to be over.
I wasn't particularly thrilled with any of this myself, but I still loved Christmas. I hadn't succumbed to the "Scrooge Syndrome" because of the saving grace the Church has given me, and I found this grace in the season of advent.
We are inescapably a part of the retail world, which has been preparing us for Christmas since at least the first week in October, probably even Labor Day. We are now set on the task of preparing for Christmas in a different way, through the season of advent. Here are some of the differences.
Round about this time of the year we begin to talk about this thing that we call "The Christmas spirit." This spirit seems to float around like something from the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and inhabit people's bodies, transforming them into givers of gifts and filling them with Christmas cheer.
We spend hours searching for that perfect gift for those "special someone's" in our lives, only to be frustrated by trying to find a parking space in a crowed parking lot, empty shelves where the item that we wanted used to be, and check-out lines that seem to go on forever. Doesn't the whole process just make you tired?
On the other hand, there's Advent. In advent we are searching for gifts in a different way. Rather than preparing to give gifts, we are preparing to receive the gift of Christ.
I'm someone who constantly has a tune or a song playing in my head, and as I was thinking about advent, ironically the hymn "O little town of Bethlehem" came to mind.
Now, Fr. Bob, I know that in the Episcopal Church we don't sing Christmas hymns during advent, but I think that the words of this hymn have the advent theme of preparation just about right. So, with your permission, I thought that I would intersperse words from this hymn as I talk about our advent preparation.
We prepare for Christmas in three ways during advent. First, we are preparing for Christ as he comes to us as the gift of the child in a manger in Bethlehem. We are preparaing to remember the historical event of the incarnation of the Son of God. Many of us remember this gift just like St. Francis of Assisi - by putting up a small creche in our homes.
This year try putting out one figure of your creche each day. Maybe start with Mary and Joseph or the three kings in the kitchen preparing for their journeys. A friend of mine in Pennsylvania used this idea with the three kings, and it's a fun thing to do.
Take some time to think about what each figure might have thought about the events that unfolded that winter night nearly two thousand years ago. Wait to put Jesus in the manger on Christmas eve. It gives the sense of anticipation and waiting for the birth of Christ.
O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by; yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
We not only prepare for the gift of Christ in the past, but also prepare for the gift of Christ in the present, right now - as he comes to us in our daily lives - in the little things that we often take for granted. In the smile or touch of another. In friendships and in the sharing of time with one another. As he comes to us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. It is a season of the year when we need to take time to see Jesus in the people and things around us.
Believe me, I know that it's not always easy to see him in everyone - particularly in some of your, shall we say, "more aggressive" Christmas shoppers. But remember
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given. So God imarts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in the world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the door Christ enters in.
Look for Jesus everywhere. Think about the people for whom you are buying your Christmas gifts. I don't know about you, but I enjoy trying to find that perfect gift. I look at the shelves seeking the gift that practically screams the name of the person. Think about what makes each person special to you. Chances are that what makes them special to you is one of the gifts that God gives to you through
Finally, in advent we are preparing for Jesus as he comes to us in the future. In just a few moments, in the words of the Nicene Creed, we'll proclaim that Christ will come to be our judge. Today's readings from Holy Scripture were all about this: the end times, the time to come.
This part of our preparation is not easy, because we have to look at ourselves. Holy Scripture tells each of us to take the time to look at how we are living our lives and to see whether or not we reflect the way in which Jesus has called you and I to live. After all, we are Jesus' hands, feet, and lips to this broken world. He works through others and through us. Advent gives us a season to see how we're doing - to see the Jesus in ourselves. Try to picture yourself as the stable in which Christ is to be born.
O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us,we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
You know that a stable is often a dirty and smelly place. What is about ourselves and our lives that we might need to clean up to make our stable ready for the birth of the king of kings and lord of lords?
The world in which we live has made this such a hectic season of the year that we find ourselves with little time to do anything in the midst of our busyness. I know that at this time of the year I am so busy that I often loose sight of the one who it is all about. Jesus. How about you?
So - When you're looking at Christmas bears, when you're waiting in a line that goes on forever, when you can't find a parking place, or when you've just about reached the breaking point looking for that perfect gift - try humming or whistling the tune to "O little town of Bethlehem."
Maybe the words of this hymn or looking for Jesus in the people around you - or maybe putting out your Christmas creche in a special way and trying to prepare yourself as a stable in which the Christ child can be born, maybe doing these things the season of advent may help us to truly prepare for Christmas. Amen
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