Making Things Right: Reflections for Advent

In the Christian calendar Advent is a four-week season of waiting in anticipation of Christmas, the birth of Jesus. Every year we wait--not for the actual birth of a baby--but for the arrival of a world that reflects the message of love that Jesus came to teach us.

And each year the circumstances of our lives give the waiting a different texture, a new perspective on the work of being human. Our lives as they are offer us another opportunity to be transformed into people who reflect God’s light in the world.

For almost 20 years I’ve faced Advent with the mindset of a preacher, working to craft words for each Sunday of the four weeks, words that would tie the ancient text to the work of waiting in the shadows for the light to dawn. Although I am not in a pulpit this Advent, I am finding it difficult to step away from that practice or the memories of a preacher’s work this time of year.

Advent is stressful for pastors everywhere. We’re combatting strong cultural trends of consumerism and secular appropriation; we’re shepherding people who face the holiday with secret guilt, pain, fear, grief--unsure if they will be able to make their way through but too scared to tell anyone; we’re trying to preach hope in a world where despair is illustrated by the early dusk and cold weather, plus the news. And, we’re presented with difficult apocalyptic/prophetic texts--both in the gospels and from the Hebrew texts.

In my own reflections this Advent, I can’t seem to help imagining what I might be talking about in the pulpit were I there. Call it personal study/devotion or procrastination on the book--whatever, here are some #AdventThoughts.

Making Things Right

Advent 1: God Makes Things Right Between People

Isaiah 2:1-5

“(God) shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!”

Perhaps the work of Advent--the bringing of reconciliation, hope, light--begins with the relationships most familiar to us: relationships between ourselves and the people closest to us. The holidays bring uncommon stress that often threatens pressure to the fissures in our relationships, sometimes to the point of breaking. We miss those who are absent from us. We enter the early dusk of every evening carrying heavy regrets. We long for what could have been. We fear what will be. One of the reasons we wait in Advent for the coming of the light is that we hope--even just a little bit--that God can make things right between us and the people around us. A fresh start, a new beginning, a rebirth in those relationships. May it be so.

Advent 2: God Makes Right Systems that Oppress

Isaiah 11:1-10

“...but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

It isn’t enough in Advent to hope and work and pray for the healing of personal relationships; God has a much bigger agenda. Because the work of God in the world is as corporate as it is personal, the agenda of God’s Advent work is also the healing of systems--the structures and institutions by which we order our common life. In every part of how we are human together--politics, social systems, international relations--God has something to say about how we live together. And God’s agenda is as clear as can be: equity, justice, righteousness, building a world where the power-less become the leaders and peace is the non-negotiable end toward which we all work. May it be so.

Advent 3: God Makes Things Right Between People and the Earth Around Us

Isaiah 35:1-10

“...the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

We cannot and must not separate the reconciling work of God from the care of the earth in which we live. Using rich metaphors of nature, the prophet talks about God’s healing satisfying a world groaning under the weight of human abuse and neglect. Surely our own internal health and holiness is reflected not only in our personal relationships or our corporate structures but also in the state of the world around us. Do we treat the earth as expendable, disregarding this precious gift of God with total thoughtlessness toward those who come after us? Or does making things right in Advent mean looking hard at the way we live on this planet and changing our greedy destruction into hopeful care? Advent is an invitation to commit again to do the hard work of caring for the world in which we live. May it be so.

Advent 4: God Makes Right the Relationship Between Humanity and the Divine

Isaiah 7: 10-16

“Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. Then Isaiah said: "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.”

As it turns out, God is feeling the need for making things right just as much, if not more, than we are. The prophet says that our perpetual disregard of God’s way is wearying to the Divine. In other words, God is getting sick of us, and frankly I don’t blame her. “But listen and look!”, the prophet tells us. Even with the despair of the situation, God has not given up on making things right; God is sending a sign, an invitation to turn again to the work of hope and wholeness. Just when the light seems almost gone: A star in the sky. A song on the wind. A new baby. A fresh start. It’s like God is, once again, extending a hand in love, inviting us to come home. Our Advent work is to accept that invitation with courage and commitment, a partnership with God that will make everything right. May it be so.

#BlessedAdvent #TinySermons #MakingThingsRight