Be Little Children - First Sunday of Advent
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
December 01, 2024
“Be on
guard,” says Jesus in today’s Gospel lesson. “Be alert at all times,” he then adds. They aren’t the celebratory, joyful words we might be expecting as a new
liturgical year begins amidst the sparkling blue of our Advent paraments and
stoles. We are of course hearing these
words in a very different season than when Jesus originally spoke them. Chronologically, today’s Gospel lesson occurs
around the time of Holy Week. “Be on
guard” and “be alert” were prudent words for Jesus to speak to his disciples at
a time when their very lives were at risk.
But they
aren’t the words we expect to hear today, just a little over four weeks away
from Christmas. We are aching for a
reason to celebrate, not stand guard. We are looking for an opportunity to relax, not be alert. And yet Jesus knows better than anyone that
evil never takes a holiday. Temptation
never calls off sick. Sin never goes away
on vacation. At some level, being on
guard and being alert is a fundamental part of the life of a Christian,
especially when we consider, as we must in Advent, that we have no idea when
Jesus will return. What will we do when
he shows up? What will we say if he asks
for an accounting? Are we ready?
“Be on
guard. Be alert.” How did the disciples respond to those words? They were with Jesus every day. Yet in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he
asked them to be on guard and alert for a single hour, they couldn’t do
it. And then a few days later, they abandoned
him. Denied even knowing him. If they could fail so miserably despite
constantly being in his presence, what makes us think we can do any
better? Hearing him tell us to “be on
guard” and to “be alert” feels heavy, like being handed an exam the teacher
knows you cannot pass.
Friends,
there will come a day when a preacher will faithfully use today’s Gospel lesson
to convict us that we all need to refocus on Jesus. Repent. Get our lives in order. Because
Jesus is coming and we aren’t ready. Yes, there will come a day when we will need a sermon teeming with God’s
law to shake us from our spiritual slumber and persuade us at long last to drop
all the false idols we’ve been clutching and instead cling only to Jesus. But that day is not today.
Instead,
today, I want to encourage you with these verses to be little children again. There’s merit to being on guard and alert,
but it carries a price. I recall an
event one time where a very nervous young woman was up front. She was so on-guard and alert that she locked
her knees, cutting off the blood supply. She collapsed like a bundle of dry sticks.
That’s
where I sense we are. We’ve been
on guard and on alert for so many non-religious things that we just
don’t have the energy or the resilience to be on guard and on alert for Jesus
if that means adding more weight to shoulders already sagging from the burdens
of careers, raising kids, paying the bills, tending family, getting older, and
just generally trying to survive. Even
though intellectually and maybe even spiritually we might acknowledge how
important it is, in this fresh new liturgical year, to devote ourselves more
fully to Jesus, we’re out of gas. We’re
out of bandwidth. Use whatever metaphor
works for you. So I’m not going to tell
you to be on guard and to be alert, like a sentry at a frigid and forlorn
watchtower in the middle of the night. At best, you’ll collapse from exhaustion like the disciples in the
Garden, or your legs will lock like that woman, and you too will collapse. Instead, as Advent begins, I want you to
be little children.
For me,
Advent just naturally rekindles my childhood. When I see an Advent wreath, I’m a little boy in Kane again. I remember at church how we’d take fresh
ground pine and wire it onto big wreathes. Then we’d add the candles. Back
in those days we used three purple candles and one pink one. The color didn’t really matter; what mattered
was the pageantry, the sparkle, the anticipation, the hope, and the
wonder. For me, all of those feelings
were unleashed by a simple Advent wreath. Tell me, when is the last time you felt hope and wonder? Now there’s something I think we all could
use, especially here on the First Sunday of Advent.
So how do
we do that? Begin by hearing Jesus’s
words in a slightly different tone. Let’s be on guard and alert to the sparkle, hope, and wonder of this
season and, indeed, of everyday life in Christ. Now I’ll confess that one of my favorite all-time movies is Ferris
Bueller’s Day Off. No one will ever
accuse that ridiculous 1986 comedy of being classic cinema, and no one would
ever mistake Ferris for a theologian. And yet he has a line in the movie that’s worth remembering: “Life moves
pretty fast. If you don't stop and look
around once in a while, you could miss it.” That’s another way for us to understand Jesus’s words. When we hear him calling us today to be on
guard and to be alert, I want you to hear him saying, “stop for a moment and
look around. I’m here, and I don’t want
you to miss it.”
In August
of 1965, the great spiritual writer and thinker Thomas Merton gave a talk to
the novices at their monastery in Kentucky. He knew that his young monks might become so consumed with rules,
rubrics, and restrictions that they’d lose sight of why they were there in the
first place. It’s like a musician who
focuses so intently on hitting the right notes that he forgets that the whole
reason for doing so is to make music… to make a joyful noise that sparkles,
conveys hope, and kindles wonder.
So Merton told
them something that day that we all need to hear. He said, “We are living in a world that is
absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time... It is true… If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes… God manifests Himself everywhere, in
everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events… It becomes
very obvious that [God] is everywhere and in everything... You cannot be
without God… It’s simply impossible. The
only thing is that we don’t see it.”1 Friends, that’s what we need so desperately this
Advent. Jesus is calling us to pause and
see with a child’s eyes of wonder the God who loves us and is right next to us.
Why is this
so hard for us? Well, we get distracted
by the worries and concerns of the day. And even if we temporarily put those things aside, we struggle to be
present in this moment. Our
restless minds can be imprisoned by the mistakes and regrets of our past, or
anxious and preoccupied by our worries for the future. And so we miss the sparkle, the hope, and the
wonder of God’s love and presence right here, right now.
So here’s
your homework. Get an Advent
wreath. Don’t do it because God’s
commanding it; do it because you need it. Your wreath doesn’t have to be fancy. Keep it simple. Just get one and take time each day to light
a candle. When you do, you can repeat
the special Advent prayer we use each week as we light the candle here at
church. Or check out page 18 of the
December issue of Grace Notes. It
includes an entire page of little ceremonies and prayers for your Advent
wreath.
In the wreath’s
circular shape, be reminded of God’s eternal, unending love for you. In the greens, be reminded of God’s promise to
you of new life. And in the
candlelight, be reassured that Christ’s light will chase away the
shadows that frighten you. Spend a few
moments every day with that wreath so you can slow down, look around, experience
God’s closeness, savor God’s presence, rest in God’s unending love, and feel
sparkle, hope, and wonder one again. Friends,
take time this Advent to be a child again. Amen.
Citations:
1 https://merton.org/Research/AV/audioclip.aspx;
quoted with the permission of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine
University.
Copyright Rev. Scott E. Schul, 2024 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
Gospel Text: Luke 21:25-36
[Jesus
said:] 25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and
the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of
what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great
glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up
and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
29 Then he
told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer
is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking
place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I
tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not
pass away.
34 “Be on
guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness
and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the
strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before
the Son of Man.”
BACK