Advent is like an alarm clock...

ADVENT IS LIKE AN ALARM CLOCK...
Sermon for Yr B Advent 1

Advent is like an alarm clock.
Advent is the liturgical season that will cry out to us week after week,
WAKE UP!
WAKE UP!
KEEP AWAKE!

We don’t really have to make a point to set this alarm clock,
it just happens.
Every year.

We do have to make a point to pay attention when the alarm clock rings,
when we hear those words to WAKE UP or to KEEP AWAKE,
to pay attention to the message of the Advent season.

Advent does not say
Shop
Party
Plan
Buy
Rush
Stress
Freak out

Advent says
Slow down
Pay attention
Be mindful
Wait
Hope
Expect with joy.

First the facts.
There are four Sundays in Advent.
To determine when Advent will start,
you find Christmas Day and then count back 4 Sundays
and there you have it--Advent 1.

The word “advent”
comes from the Latin “adventus”
which translates “coming”--
Advent is a time of waiting
and expectation for what is coming.

The baby Jesus is coming into the world.
This is the most obvious--Christmas will soon be here!

But Advent also sounds the alarm
that we are also waiting for Jesus
to come back agian.
Every week we say some form of this
in our Eucharistic Prayer--
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.

None of us really know what that coming again looks like
but we know it is one of the cornerstones of our faith--
it is something Jesus promised would happen.

To some it means that Jesus will literally come back
and walk upon this earth with us again.
In person. In human form.
To others it means that Jesus will come back
but we don’t really know
what that coming back will look like.
And to still others,
it means that every time we love one another, do good to those we love and to those who persecute us,
that Jesus comes in those acts, in that love.

Whatever we might believe about Jesus coming again,
the truth is
God comes into our lives every day in so many, many ways.
Advent is the alarm that sounds
and calls us to pay attention, to notice God at work in our lives and in the world.

Our altar hangings and vestments have changed to this rich purple color.
We use the same color for Lent
but do not mistake Advent for Lent.
Advent is NOT penitential.
Advent is a time of expectation and hope.

If you feel like you could use a good dose of hope in your life right now,
I say a welcome to Advent, the season of hope.

We have special candles for Advent.
We see them here in the Advent wreath.
(We’ll hear more about the Advent wreath at the Episcopal Moment).
We light one candle each Sunday of Advent.

One candle each week.
Because Advent is a time of waiting
of moving slowly,
of sitting with expectation and hope.
A time of looking forward with joy to all that can and will be.

The world around us
encourages us to put the pedal to the metal
and race into full Christmas frenzy--
shopping, planning, partying, stressing.
Advent sounds the alarm and sayds: Don’t do it.
Just don’t.
Just say NO says Advent.

Take it one candle at a time.

Imagine that every day for the four weeks of advent
an alarm clock would go off every hour--
we’ll make it every waking hour--
not a 24/7 sort of torture routine.

And when the alarm clock rang or chimed or beeped or whined..
we would take a moment and remind ourselves--
Keep awake.
We would remind ourselves to treat this hour, this day
as if it were our very first day on earth.
Treat it with the kind of wonder that a little child sees
in even the smallest things.

And when the alarm clock rang or chimed or beeped or whined..
we would take a moment and remind ourselves--
Keep awake.
We would remind ourselves to treat this hour, this day
as if it were our very last day on earth.
Live this hour, this day
as if there will be no more after this.

Advent is like the alarm clock
that wakes us up to what really matters.

I was in Ingles a few days after Halloween and I turned down the aisle
that for weeks had been overflowing with orange and black
and bags and bags of halloween candies.
I expected to see boxes of stove top stuffing and turkey roasting pans
but instead,
everything was already full blown Christmas--
candy canes and red and green.

But you see,
Advent is not red and green.
Advent is purple and pink.
Advent is waiting and hoping and expecting all that is to come.


Advent? says the mall.
You think it’s hard to selll Thanksgiving--
try selling Advent!

But Advent is the alarm that wants to wake us
to what the coming of Jesus means.

It is not about what you can buy and wrap and put under the tree.
There is nothing wrong with giving gifts or receiving gifts.
We all have fun with that.

But there is something wrong when we start to believe
that the only thing that matters are our material possessions.
There is something wrong when we start to obsess about “stuff”
instead of other human beings.

Advent reminds us that life is short and precious
and beautiful in so many, many ways.
Advent reminds us that if we slow down and look,
we just might see the face of Jesus
in some very unlikely and amazing places.

Advent is like an alarm clock.
There is no snooze alarm.
The time is now.
Wake up.
Keep alert.
Rejoice.
Give thanks.