A Meditation for Communion
Advent 1, by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
Preached at Pleasantville United Church of Christ
November 29, 2009
“Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near.”
(Luke 21:28)

Today we begin our journey to Bethlehem.  It is a journey marked by waiting and anticipation and building excitement.  It is a journey that involves contending with a season of shifting darkness and light.  Though the Winter Solstice is yet three weeks away, we in the Church mark this seasonal descent into darkness by lighting more and more candles each week -- candles of hope and peace and love and joy – candles designed to push back the night and remind us of the Light that the darkness cannot overcome.

Our journey to Bethlehem is full of waiting and anticipation and uncertainty and joy, because we journey to Bethlehem as if we were accompanying Mary.  We accompany her as she receives the promise from the angel, Gabriel.  We journey with her as she lives into what it means to be pregnant with the One who comes to redeem us all from our sins.  We journey with her as she yields her own will in order to cooperate with God’s holy plan.

We here at Pleasantville have known the joy of such a journey recently.  We have known the great mystery of waiting for the proper time, just as we waited with Pastor Amelie for the arrival of her firstborn child.  We have known the thrill of watching her life and indeed her body change shape as she prepared herself for the arrival of her new little daughter, Lucia.  She was a kind of icon – a window into a truth about God.  She was a great reminder to us of the Mystery which is God’s Incarnation.  The mystery of how God’s love becomes flesh in ordinary and extraordinary ways, every moment of every day of our lives.

The season of Advent is all about this journey of getting to Bethlehem.  It’s an extraordinary process and it takes time -- fortunately for us, not nine months.  But the truth is whether we are old or young, male or female, we are – everyone one of us -- just a little bit pregnant with the Holy Spirit right now -- because that’s what it takes get to Bethlehem.

The days of the calendar sweep by and December 25^th will be here soon enough.  There is no trick to that: we need only let time pass.  But for Christians, this is a season of readiness.  This is a season for getting ready -- both internally and externally -- and there is work to be done.  Christmas Day will arrive soon enough.  But getting to Bethlehem is something different, and it has nothing to do with the calendar.

We have four weeks to shift our spiritual gears and prepare our hearts to receive the Christ-child anew.  For those who live their lives with an awareness of the Christian calendar, it’s a huge shift internally.  We go from the season of Pentecost, also known as “Ordinary Time” in the life of the church, to the season when the Word becomes flesh – a season that couldn’t be more extraordinary. 

No wonder we take such care to prepare our homes and our churches for this time of year.  No wonder we hang wreaths and light candles and hang strings of lights.  No wonder we get out the Christmas angels and the heirloom ornaments and the ones that say “Baby’s First Christmas” and the ones made of dough and macaroni.  We handle these precious mementos and remind ourselves where we’ve come from and nostalgia fills our hearts as we remember the folks who gave us that ornament, or the year we made that one, and we try to remember…”how did we get that one?”  We decorate our homes and we tell ourselves the Story – not only the story of how the Christ-child came to be born, but we rehearse our own stories as well… our first Christmas in our new home… our first Christmas with a child… our first Christmas without our parents… our first Christmas with someone precious missing from the table.  It’s a huge shift internally and spiritually and for many of us, changing the way our external world appears helps us to make that shift.

Getting to Bethlehem is a journey that requires that we be intentional about the way.  It is easy for us to become distracted by the business of getting to Christmas and then forget all about getting to Bethlehem.  It’s easy for us to focus too much upon the to-do list and the to-buy list and then forget entirely all about those things that can only be accomplished through God’s steady working on our lives.

Jesus knew how easy it was for people to get distracted and focus on things that were not important.  He called it falling asleep.  And he was often urging them to ‘stay awake’; ‘be alert’ and pay attention so as to be ready for the miracle of God breaking into their lives.  That’s what this morning’s passage from the gospel of Luke is about. 

“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. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” 
(Luke 21:25-28)

Each year, the lectionary for the first Sunday of Advent gives us a version of Jesus’ words about the end of days.  It seems a sobering and grim way to welcome us into a season that is full of joy and celebration.  Yet, what Jesus is really getting at in this passage is the reminder that the healing of the world is at hand; that people need to stay awake, stay alert, and learn to read the signs of what is ahead.  These are actually words of hope.  And they are also words of counsel intent upon teaching us how to stay grounded and centered in our daily lives so that we won’t be caught unawares in the days to come.

Our redemption is drawing near.  The day of healing is upon us.  For all the lights and tinsel and angels, the season of Advent is only partly about remembering and celebrating the Christ who has already come to us in the birth of Jesus.  Advent is also about anticipating and looking toward the fullness of time when Christ will bring about the redemption of the world.  The season of Advent reminds us that we are called to live in an attitude of readiness; in a posture of expectancy.  We are called to live in the full-blown hope that the living God will come to meet us in the most unexpected times and places.

Getting to Bethlehem isn’t easy.  This is a strange season and the scriptures take us through it by a strange route.  While all the world is busy buying and selling and wrapping and making merry, we are reminded to keep watch for the living God who shows up in ways we do not expect.  And while we trim the tree and hang the lights and decorate the windows of our home, we are reminded to search out the inner workings of our hearts so that we can be ready for the coming of the King of Kings. 

The word Bethlehem means “the place of bread.”  The Bread of Life, the Bread which comes from heaven, was born in “the place of bread.”  This morning we gather around the Communion table to receive that bread.  We come to nourish ourselves for the journey so that, when Christmas morning dawns, we too may arrive in Bethlehem, the place of bread, and there receive the Bread which never perishes.

It’s a good thing there’s so much to do to get ready for Christmas.  The birth of Christ in our hearts is a lot of work.  It takes a lot to make ourselves ready.  It takes a lot to wait in anticipation.  It takes a lot to be on the watch for God breaking into our lives.  But the Manger is not far off, and with it, we are offered yet another chance to make our lives whole by the grace of God. 

May our Advent waiting be filled with astonishing grace, and may we stay alert for the signs of God’s holy arrival.  Amen.