What Are We Preparing For?

            Each year, in the weeks that lead up to Christmas, a lot of people take the time to watch old Christmas movies.  Many of these movies are on television or cable during these weeks.  Some of the favorites that Mom and I will look for include “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Miracle on 34th Street”, “Holiday Inn”, “The Bishop’s Wife”, and, of course, “A Christmas Carol”. There is something in the stories that these movies tell that lures us back to them year after year.  We never seem to grow tired of hearing the message and, in many cases, each movie is simply a different version of the same message.

Take “A Christmas Carol” as an example.  The main character in the story is a surly old man named Scrooge, who lives a solitary and miserly existence. He sees no benefit in being kind or generous with anyone, even his own family or those who have worked with him for years.  Then, one night, Scrooge has the unique opportunity to see himself through the eyes of others. He has a vivid vision of his past; and then another of his present. But what is most terrifying to him is when he is granted the opportunity of a lifetime... the opportunity to see his future. That prophesy – for that is what it is – is so bleak that Scrooge is radically transformed.  He becomes a kind and generous man and finds that he has the riches that he truly desires… not money, but family and friends and a life filled with laughter and song.

But this movie does more than tell a story. It gives us hope… and, perhaps, that is why we return to it year after year. It gives us hope that we too can make changes in our lives. It makes us believe that we can break free from the bad ruts we have carved in our existence. It makes us think that we, too, can become generous, kind, compassionate, humble, hospitable, giving, loving and joyful people.  We can change.  We can be different.  It is really not too late.

Meet John the Baptist.  John the Baptist was the “Christmas movie” of the first century.  It was his role to call people to a remembrance of all that they were doing that was wrong… that was not what God had commanded them to do… that they were not the people that God had created them to be.  It was John who, like the “Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come”, pointed the way to what the future might be like if those who were listening did not change their ways.  The end was coming and the future was bleak, but there was still time to change.  Life could be different.  There was still hope.  The time to repent was now. 

And so every Advent, we have the opportunity to look back over the life that we have been living and ask ourselves the question: “Am I satisfied with the person that I am?”  “Am I satisfied with the life that I am living?” “What would I change if I could?” “What is stopping me from making those changes?”  “How will my future be different?”  What is it that prompts these questions?  What is it that we are preparing for?

Well, there are many different images that we can draw upon to answer that question. A baby is coming… the Son of God.  The image that is evoked here is one of innocence… of purity… of holiness.  This one has no sin.  Then, we have the opportunity to look at ourselves.  Are we innocent?  Are we pure enough to be in his presence?  Are we holy?  Do we even care about holiness in our lives?   A second image: Our Judge is coming… on clouds of glory… with the power to save or destroy.  The image that is evoked here is one of justice… of accountability… of judgment.  This one has the power to determine our ultimate destiny.  Once again, we have the opportunity to look at ourselves.  How have we lived our lives?  Have we done what he has commanded us to do?  Are we worthy of eternal life? Or do we even care about being worthy? After all, we have that last chip we can cash in …that “Get Out of Jail Free” card…that heavenly marker. Are we leaning on that a bit too much? 

There is yet another image that we can draw upon as we try to answer the question, “What are we preparing for?”    The One who comes, says John, is one whose sandal John is not worthy to untie.  And yet John is the one whom Jesus identified in this way in the Gospel of Luke:  “This is the one about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John.”   No one is greater than John and yet the one who is coming is greater than John… so much greater that John is not even worthy to untie his sandals.

It is God himself who comes.  God whose love for us is so great that he freely chose to set aside his power and his glory to live among us… as one of us… in the violence and the chaos… the ordinary and the mundane… the dirt and the squalor… the frazzled frenzy and the deep depression… the unthinking busy-ness and the thoughtless carelessness… of our lives.  Why?   Why did God come?   Why does he come?  Why will he continue to come?  Simply to remind us of who are… and whose we are.  To allow us to see a pure reflection of who we can be… the very image of the One in whose image we were created.  To remind us with every day of his life… with every word that he spoke… and with every deed that he did… that we can be more than we have been… and we can do more than we have done.   “Prepare,” John says, for God comes again… the baby… the judge… our God… Immanuel… “God with us.”

Sue Monk Kidd, the author of “The Secret Life of Bees” and other books, recalls her youth in one of her books and how she would prepare for Christmas. In early December, she would sit by the wooden nativity set clustered under her family’s Christmas tree and think over the last year of her life. She would think deeply about Christmas and the coming of Jesus.  She also remembers, one time, visiting a monastery in the weeks before Christmas. As she passed a monk who was walking outside the monastery, she greeted him with, "Merry Christmas."  His response caught her off guard. "May Christ be born in you," he said. “May Christ be born in you.”  His words seemed strange and peculiar at the time, but she found herself thinking about those words over and over again during the holidays. "May Christ be born in you."  What does that mean exactly?   Now, many years later, she still finds herself sitting beside that nativity scene under the Christmas tree.  But now, she understands that Advent is not only a time of spiritual preparation, but also a time of personal transformation. It is a time of "discovering our soul and letting Christ be born from the waiting heart."  So, this Christmas, as we wait for God to come… as we prepare for this gift that comes in the night… this One who will transform the world… may that transformation begin in our hearts… as it did with Scrooge on Christmas Eve night… and “May Christ be born in you”… in each of us… this year.  Amen.

Mark 1:1-8