Meditation
for the Second Sunday in Advent
Readings: Isaiah 40: 1-11; Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3: 8-15; Mark 1:
1-8
Get Ready or Else!
Being ready and prepared when
something big is about to happen is important.
I still remember the day that I realized I better go by the grocery
store and buy some batteries for our flashlights since a hurricane was coming
our way.
I waited until late in the day since
I had a lot of work to get done before I went home. As I left the church I thought to myself, “Are
you kidding, with all the hype on the news about the impending storm do you
really think there will be any batteries left at the grocery store?” Panic buying was the order of the day when it
comes to such things.
As I walked into the store sure
enough there he was. He seemed to be
smiling at me. It was a large cardboard
display of the Energizer bunny. His
midsection was a cut out of the famous drum that he beats on those commercials
that tell of him “going, and going, and going.”
But alas he was not going that day.
He was “gone.” At least all the
batteries that were in the drum sized container were gone.
I was not prepared. I had waited too late. The readings for this second Sunday in Advent
are about time and being prepared for a big day that is coming. So when I preached on these Advent scriptures
that year I put on a set of pink bunny ears, dawned a pair of sun glasses, and
walked around the altar area beating a big base drum.
After my people recovered from this
not so holy moment I tried to explain that this is what Jesus might have done
today in explaining these scriptures.
The smiling, empty Energizer bunny was a modern day parable of me not
being prepared and waiting until it was too late.
Isaiah proclaims that it is time for
some prophet to “cry out.” “Well then
what shall my cry be?” asks the prophet.
God hands the prophet a cue card that reads, “Tell my people that they
are but grass and that they will wither up and be blown away by the wind.” Merry Christmas!
What kind of “good news” is
this? Then the prophet is told to
prepare a way in the midst of this wilderness of dried up grass. God’s long awaited deliverer is coming right
in the middle of the dead grass to bring some much needed new life. He will be the very “Word” of God.
But the people, and that would us,
need to be prepared. Advent begins with
a warning that if we are not ready we are going to miss something. Why did Jesus need a warm up band? I mean he was the star of the show. Why not just appear on stage and start
singing Christmas carols?
Seems like God thinks that we are
not ready unless we prepare. Jesus’
Christmas birthday cake will not come from a box. The ingredients will need to be sorted and
prepared by human hands. There will be
no pre-wrapped Christmas gift that will fall from heaven.
A bewildered unwed teenager will
have to wait. A mystified Joseph will
have to take a leap of faith and wait to see if dreams contain reality. And a wondering world will need to scratch
its weary head as the Christ child is born out back in a barn. This is not what the world was waiting for
but is what the world got.
We who know the story so well mostly
think we do not need to prepare. After
all we have our manger scenes and candlelight services. Why do we need the Advent warning to watch
and wait and prepare.
Because in spite of our layers of
Christmas traditions, we are usually not ready.
Advent, in ancient days, used to be considered a “little Lent.” It was at first a season to be reminded that
we needed to repent before the Christmas party.
We have done away with the need to repent these days as we start hearing
Christmas carols just after Halloween.
Our Christmas trees and sweet ending
Christmas movies have paved over that “way” that goes through the
wilderness. Well, God will not have
it. God knows that now more than ever we
need some “clearing and cleaning.”
So you can wait if you want to and
try to get ready at the last minute but if you do, part of the real story will
come up as empty as that pink bunnies’ belly.
Getting ready is important.
Walking slowly to the manger is more needed than ever in our “run as
fast as you can” world.
And yes we do not like to hear that
we are “like grass that will wither up,” but the last time I checked we
are. But God comes for the grass and we
are to remember that truth even at this hoped for joyous time of the year. We are to remember who we are. It is supposed to be a bit humbling so that
we can appreciate that the God who created billions of galaxies decided to become
“grass” with and for us. Emmanuel will
come again; God with us.
So go ahead John, scream at us again
this year from your wilderness. Your
breath smells like bugs and honey but that’s all right. You are dressed like some guy we might give a
dollar to on the corner who slept last night under a bridge, but you are and
always will be God’s messenger.
“Get ready or else,” is the
message. We do not need to worry about “putting
Christ back into Christmas.” We need to
worry about not being ready to find him in our wilderness of hurry and layered
traditions.
So I hear the drum beat of that
prophetic bunny reminding me to sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” to “ransom” us
before we leap into “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World.” As a pastor I often got into a slight bit of
trouble for not allowing the singing of Christmas carols in the first part of
December.
I put on my Grinch hat and said, “No.” I would remind my dear people that we are not
at the Mall, we are in church. We are
not going to do what the world is doing.
We are going to wait. We need to
get ready, or else we will miss something.
May you be blessed as you
prepare. Read the readings about the
withered grass and the wilderness. It is
important. Emmanuel is coming, but not yet.
Get ready or else.
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