Stay Awake:
Happy New year. Its the liturgical new year.
Happy Year B. Yes. The year begins with Advent, this season leading up to
Christmas, 3.5 weeks or so. Happy because its full of the expectation of good
things. The birth of the Christ Child, An acknowledgement that God will come
again in glory! Wow. What does that mean?
Well,we are not exactly sure, but we know
that Christmas is coming. That's pretty cool?!
Some people complain that you can't find an Advent Calendar that
doesn't contain pictures of the toys which some of our shorter fellow
parishioners expect to find under the tree. And even candy! Candy! What about
the holy stories that lead up to the holy story itself. What about Anna and
John the Baptist, for example. Shouldn't stories like this be part of the
Advent Calendar? Well, yes I'm sure they should, although toys and candies are
not to be despised. Did you all venture forth on black Friday? It looked like
the whole world had gone mad to me, and I hope I'm right because the economy
very surely needs the stimulus. If you have the money its time for toys, for
kids, for grownups. I notice GPS are on sale everywhere. The old greed is now
a species of virtue. Please spend a whole lot. If you've got it, that is.
Looking forward optimistically is one of the
characteristics of a truly happy life well lived. Ask the pros. Martin
Seligman of Learned Optimism, Ed Diener of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky of the
How of Happiness, all the pros go for optimism in a big way. So did Jesus,
although his proclamation was a little scary at the same time. The Kingdom is
coming and it is a great and good thing. It means purity, and radiance, and
justice, it is big, huge. It is theultimate. Wow. And not just for the chosen
people, and not just for the apparently righteous, but for all those who have
faith.
And in Advent time there's a twist to that
faith piece. The lessons today say: Stay awake, pay attention, the somewhat
scary big time good things will come at a time you can not figure out.
Virgins, keep your lamps lit, the rest of you: pay attention, be aware.
Let's talk a little more about paying
attention, or wouldn' t I rather say, being attentive. I think the lessons are
talking about awareness and attentiveness as a way of being in the world, as a
way of life. Partly, I guess, because of what is coming. God is coming in
glory to rule the living and raise the dead. If we are attentive and aware, we
will experience his glorious activity in our lives.Otherwise we might miss it.
As our spiritual teachers tell us, when we
make ourselves very deliberately attentive, through prayer, through
meditation, waiting and expectation give way to an immediate experience of God
present in our lives. O. Its not just about waiting. Its not just about
expectation.
For Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is on its
way, but it is also immediately right here to those who have eyes to see. You
can tell because of the healings, and the gracious, saving words, the
wonderful images of God with which Jesus claims our imagination. Abba, father,
or Daddy would be a better translation. And not just titles. "How I would have
gathered you to my breast as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings".
Stay awake. And the moment will happen. Even
the most ordinary objects will take on a beauty never recognized before. The
holly and the ivy. Ordinary relationships live with new joy, love with
confidence and deep appreciation.
In these lessons, in the Advent time, God is
letting us know that wakefulness is worth cultivating, that when we do, we are
not only ready for spiritual magic; we are also the place where its happens.
HAPPY NEW YEAR. AMEN
