Christ Episcopal Church
December 11, 2011
3 Advent B
At Christ Church, one of our most festive and unique feast days is Christmas in July. Each year, on the second Sunday of July, we sing the Christmas hymns, hear the Christmas story, and offer gifts for the baby Jesus at the creche. Our gifts are socks and underwear for children who do not have such things. We bake dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies to take out into the community to share our Christmas joy in July. If you are a guest this morning, you may wonder why on earth we do this. We celebrate Christmas in July to acknowledge the fact that the Christ Child is born among us at unexpected times and in unexpected ways and not just according to our calendars.
One of the things people have told me they like most about Christmas in July, and one of the things I like most about Christmas in July, is that this celebration of Christmas is virtually hassle free. The only gifts to purchase are the socks and underwear. They don’t need to be wrapped and there are not exactly crowds at the stores when we go to buy them. We make Christmas cookies, but that is not exactly a chore in the middle of July. We can come to church on Christmas in July and listen deeply to the stories, sing with abandon, and welcome the Christ Child undistracted by all the typical holiday busyness. And we love it.
However, despite our love for Christmas in July, with its minimal preparation, our scripture readings in Advent call us to do the work of preparation so we are ready to welcome Jesus into the world. Last week, we saw John the Baptist out in the wilderness offering a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We heard John say to the people "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." John wanted the people to prepare their hearts for the one who would come after him.
This week, we hear from John again, but this time he sounds a bit different. This week we hear that John came to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. John is the one sent to point the way toward Jesus. Unlike last week’s gospel lesson from Mark, where the focus was on John as one who baptized for the repentance of sins, in this gospel, John baptizes, but we’re not told why. When the priests and Levites ask John who is his, John only answers in the negative: he is not the Messiah, not Elijah, not the prophet. John’s whole identity was to be the one who pointed the people to someone else, who directed the people to the light of the world; the Word made flesh.
We hear something similar In the reading from Isaiah. The prophet has been sent by God to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. Isaiah is writing to a people in distress who need to hear some good news. But Isaiah is not bringing good news, comfort, a garland and a mantle of praise just so the people feel better about their dismal situation. Isaiah is bringing them those gifts so that they can build up the ancient ruins, raise up the former devastations, and repair the ruined cities. Isaiah is bringing the people hope so that they can then get about the business of restoration. And when that happens, all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed. In other words, Isaiah preaches comfort, so that the people can rise up and rebuild that which was lost, and God’s glory will be seen through out the world.
Last week, John the Baptist called us to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus by making room in our hearts for Jesus by clearing out the debris of our souls. We need to do that. This week, John calling us to prepare the world around us for Jesus by testifying to the light. We need to do that, too. We’re not talking about preaching hell fire and brimstone here. We are talking about using our lives to testify to the Light, as John did, to bind up the broken hearted and bring good news to the oppressed in order to point to the glory of God as Isaiah did. We do that when we serve at the Rainbow Table, when we bring food and work at the Food Pantry, when we gather gifts for Horace Mann Elementary School, when we host a Christmas concert and offer hospitality to those who have sometimes found themselves less than welcome in a church. But I believe that we can also do that when we cook for our friends and family, when we give gifts, when we offer hospitality or do all the other work of preparation that comes with getting ready for Christmas. The question is not whether the shopping, cooking, cleaning, wrapping, decorating, hosting, and partying distracts us from the true meaning of Christmas. The real question is how all of our pre-Christmas activity can testify to the light-to the one who is to come. The decorated home, the beautifully wrapped gifts, the wonderful meal- all of these can be ends in themselves or they can point others to the Light that is to come. Christmas in July reminds us that the Christ Child is born among us when we least expect him, whether we are ready or not. And that is certainly true. But Christmas in December, with all the busy activity, reminds us how to use all our lives to testify to the light, to point to Christ Child. If we allow all of our pre-Christmas activity to point to the One who is to come, rather than to ourselves, perhaps our busyness will be less frantic and we will be well practiced for bearing witness to the Light all year long, with all we do.
Amen.
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