The Downtown Presbyterian Church

Sermons

Staring at the Horror, Deciding what to Do
Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44

Rev. Kenneth M. Locke

November 28, 2004

1^st Sunday of Advent

Christmas can be such a happy time, can’t it? Parties and presents and eggnog: there are lots of reasons to like Christmas.

At the same time there are lots of reasons to hate Christmas and the weeks leading up to it. Some people object to that. I told the pastors I do Bible study with that there are lots of reasons to hate Christmas and they dropped their jaws and stared like they’d just seen a car wreck. But if your Mom has just died, if your partner has left you, if your child has disappointed you, if your health has come undone – then Christmas and the “Holiday Season” can be a real car wreck.

In the calendar of the church year these four weeks before Christmas are called Advent. The season is named for the Latin verb “to come.” We use this time for preparing to celebrate Jesus’ first coming among us, his birth. And we use it for preparing ourselves for his second coming among us, whenever that may be. The message of Advent is wonderful – God is in control and is sending Jesus to us once again. At the same time, there are lots reasons to hate Advent. We want to know when Jesus will come, we want to be in control of the calendar, to usurp God. But we don’t know when Jesus is coming.

We want everyone to be saved and heaven to be one big, happy family, but Scripture is very clear it won’t happen that way. Two men will be working and one will suddenly be gone. Two women will be helping each other and suddenly one won’t be there any more. Who’s going to be gone? Who’s going to stay? Who’s going to accept Jesus, and who’s going to find out too late that they never really accepted Jesus? Advent means we’re not in control.

The great joy of Christmas is we have a savior. But Christmas is bad news too. Christmas means good works and our heart in the right place and it’s all about being spiritual and loving our neighbor isn’t enough. Christmas is proof praying and meditating and being a good person won’t get us to heaven. Christmas is proof we have to have a savior. If Jesus were superfluous why would we celebrate his birth? We celebrate because we know Jesus is not superfluous. Christmas means Jesus is absolutely essential to our salvation.

If we really listen to what Advent and Christmas are saying about us we can feel like we’ve been in a car wreck. Our sense of control, our ability to manipulate God, our self-identity – all crash into the reality of Advent and Christmas.

I imagine by now some of you are thinking “I got up and drove into town for this? Come on Ken, quit being morose. There are lots of good things about Advent and Christmas!” And you’re right, there are lots of good things about Advent and Christmas. And I don’t think I’m being morose. I think I’m being perfectly realistic. It’s only when we take off our sugar-plum glasses and confront the hard realities of Advent and Christmas that we can really prepare for their joy.

On a Spring day in 1985 I was standing on a street corner in Washington, DC. All of a sudden I heard this terrific bang and I looked up and there had been a car wreck right in front of me. I was standing and looking in the driver’s window at a woman who had been thrown forward and shattered her windshield. (This was before airbags.) She had a bloody flap of skin from her forehead hanging down over one eye and was starting to scream, “help me. Help me!”

Standing there, looking at this horror, I had three choices. Walking away was an option, just ignoring it and pretending it never happened. I could say, “No one too seriously hurt. Help will be here in a minute.” Minimizing the accident was an option. And finally walking up to the injured woman and trying to help was an option. I could leave the safety of the sidewalk and enter into the accident.

I’m not saying Advent and Christmas are littered with broken glass and injured bodies, of course not. I am saying we have to respond to their implicit horror: that we are not in control of God and that we can’t save ourselves. I’m saying we have three options. We can put our heads down and ignore the realization we don’t know when Jesus is coming no matter how many bestsellers are written on the subject. We can minimize the hard side by fixating all our attention on decorations and presents and sweet baby Jesus no crying he makes. Yes, Jesus is our savior but let’s not think about what that means. Let’s enjoy the Christmas lights.

Or we can embrace the hard reality of Advent and Christmas and thereby genuinely enter into them. We don’t know when Jesus is coming again, we can’t control the calendar, but God is still giving us time to repent. We can’t save ourselves, we have to have a savior, and God loves us enough to give us one.

Friends, if we take some time and look closely at Advent and Christmas and decide this year we’re not going to ignore them, this year we’re not going to turn them into an orgy of parties and presents, this year we’re going to remember Advent means God loves us and is sending us Jesus again, this year we’re going to remember Christmas is the answer to our longing for salvation, then they will have their full meaning for us.

When December 25^th comes, will you and I be ignoring the good news of God’s love? Will be we minimizing it? Or will we be embracing the reality of our need for a savior? When Christmas Eve comes and we all light our candles and sing “Away In A Manger” and “Joy To The World” and “Go, Tell It On The Mountain,” will we be ready to march out with our light and proclaim that Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again?

Advent and Christmas are wonderful and can bring great joy. But fully realizing their joy means accepting their dark side. You and I are not in control of God. You and I need a savior.

For many people this realization wrecks their lives. They ignore it. They minimize it. But some people accept it and embrace it, and when they do the joy of Advent and Christmas is theirs. May it be so with us. Amen.