The Infamous Advent Calendar Sermon

Third Sunday of Advent, December 13, 2009
Year C: Zephaniah 3:14-20, Canticle 9, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18
Grace Episcopal Church, Norwalk, CT

Mid-December Check-In

Loving God, you call us to be your stories in the world. We come before you seeking to be touched by your story. Open our lips to share our stories with one another and to bring comfort, inspiration, joy and laughter to each other. Amen

Good Morning! Good Morning! It’s time for our mid-December check-in. Did you all bring personal organizers? Your Blackberries? Your iPhones? It never ceases to amaze me how quickly we can fill these things up. Here, let’s start with mine. I actually prefer to use a paper pocket calendar and some index cards—more flexible. All right, it’s a little small for you to see, so I’ve enlarged a portion of it so you can see it better.

Okay, we might as well start with today. I have two entries for today, the first is “Preach at Grace,” [Put up the Post-It that says “Preach at Grace.”] and the second is Bishop Smith at Grace. [Put up the Post-It that says “Bp. Smith at Grace.”] Somewhere between those two I’ like to get in 30 minutes to an hour of practice. Actually, I try to get that much flute practice in every day [Put up “Practice” Post-Its.] except Tuesdays. On Tuesday’s I mentor an Education for Ministry Seminar. [Two “EfM” Post-Its.] Then on the 23rd I travel to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with my brother and his family [“Train to PA”], which means I have to pack [“Pack”]

You may note that some of these entries are marked with “VC.” Those are the days I’m on Vacation. But before I can do that, there are a few things to take care of at work. On Tuesdays we have a Formation Group check-in [“Formation Group Check-In”]. Then every other Tuesday afternoon, we have an Evangelism & Congregational Life staff meeting. [“ECL Staff Meeting”] This coming week our team leader will be in New York City, so we’ll be having a Budget meeting on Wednesday. [“Formation Budget Meeting”] And on Thursday we’ll be having lunch with the Province IX Provincial Youth Ministry Coordinator. [“Lunch w/ Prov. IX Rep] In terms of my own work, I need to finish the outline draft of a workshop a colleague and I are presenting in January [“Draft Workshop Outline”] and finish preparing the handouts for the Spiritual Autobiography workshop I’m presenting at the same conference. [“Handouts for Spiritual Autobiography”] And, of course, I have to make some changes to my office web pages. [“Update Web Pages”]

Which reminds me, I also have to update the parish web site. [Two “Update Parish Web Site” Post-Its]

One of the benefits of working for the Church Center is opportunities for daily prayer, both in the morning and at noontime. I generally try to take advantage of Morning Prayer, and next week I will also be officiating two days. [Four “Morning Prayer”] Are we done yet? Nope.

December 20th will be a busy day. In the morning we will gather in the gifts we purchased for the tags on the tree in the Narthex [“Gathering of Gifts”], and that afternoon I will be at a Holiday party with some friends from various faith traditions. [Celebration with Friends]. Somewhere in the middle of all of this I have to shop for the gift tag [“Shop for Gift Tag] and finish the rest of my Christmas shopping [“Finish Shopping”] And down in Pennsylvania, we’ll probably spend Christmas Eve morning running last minute errands. [“Errands”] Of course, once all the shopping is done, everything has to be wrapped! [“Wrap Presents”]

Finally, there will be Christmas Eve services with family [“Christmas Eve Service with Family”] and our traditional Christmas Eve activities, including watching A Muppet Christmas Carol.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired just looking at this. And I’m sure I’m still missing something. One of the things I often do with children at this time of year is to make Advent Calendars. Every day of Advent, you open a little door and there’s a message, a saying, or a small gift, depending on your calendar. Since this shows the last half of Advent from my calendar, let’s see what happens when we open this door. [Turn the page to reveal a new page with “Jesus is Coming!” written on it.]

Oh my stars! as one of my grandmother’s friends would say. Oh my stars, Jesus is coming and I haven’t cleaned the bathroom!

As if preparing for Jesus is some sort of one time task or event. As if Jesus really cares whether or not the bathroom is clean.

The Church has long called for Advent to be a time of preparation, a time to prepare for the coming of Jesus. It treats Advent as if it were a mini-Lent, a time of penitence and rededication to living a Christian life. A friend of mine calls this the invitation to “Don’t just do something, stand there!” But even the Church in its infinite wisdom—as if the Church has all the answers, but that’s a discussion for another time—even the Church gives us mixed messages about this season. All you have to do is look at today’s readings from the lectionary.

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion, shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. (Zephaniah)

And on that day you shall draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation. And on that day you shall say, Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name; (Canticle 9)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. (Philippians)

And then there’s John: “You brood of vipers!”

“What then should we do?” the people ask John the Baptist. Share what you have, don’t take more than is your due, don’t extort things from others… Of course, what John describes is not as extreme as what Jesus tells the rich young man, “sell everything you own, give the proceeds to the poor, and then come and follow me.”

But even following John’s guidance only seems to add to the frantic-ness of this time of year. Shopping for the gift tags. Taking the time to bring a little extra for the food pantry for holiday meals. Some of these things many of us do year-round, but now they become one more thing on the already full calendar.

So where in the midst of all of this do we find the time respond to that invitation? How do we “stand there” at a time of year when even finding the time to go to church can be difficult?

And once we’ve done all those things? Where’s Jesus?

Paul writes to the Philippians, “The Lord Is near.” And how do we find him? When even the Church has a myriad of things for us to do. Clean the dishes. Prepare the music. Green the church. Write the sermons. How do we find Jesus?

Don’t just do something, stand there!

Everyone has a different way of taking time out and relaxing. Finding Jesus involves doing just that. For some it may mean sitting quietly with a candle. For some reading the Bible or prayers written for the season. And quite frankly, even though the “liturgically correct” will have a hissy fit when I say this, you can even put on a CD of Christmas Carols and just sit and listen to them.

Don’t just do something, stand there!

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.