Advent

Luke 1:26-35 (New Living Translation)

26In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you”
29Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don't be frightened, Mary,” the angel told her, “for God has decided to bless you! 31You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. 32He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
34Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.”
35The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.”

I went up to Wal-Mart a couple of days ago to see if the rumors were true. I’d heard that Wal-Mart employees had been instructed not to use the words “Merry Christmas.” When I was checking out at one of the cash registers I asked the clerk if she was allowed to say “Merry Christmas.” She didn’t answer. I tried putting it another way. “Don’t you think it would be good if Wal-Mart employees responded kind?” I asked. “For instance, if I were to say, “Happy Holidays,” I think it would be appropriate for you to answer, “Happy Holidays.” If I were to say, “Happy Hanukkah” I think “Happy Hanukkah” would be a fine answer. And, if I were to say, “Merry Christmas” I don’t think it would be counter-productive for you to say……” I paused, giving her time to respond. All I got was a blush.

Advent is upon us. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. The Halloween silliness has passed. Thanksgiving has now ushered in this wonderful season. The folks at Wal-Mart, Target, et all, notwithstanding, it’s a time far more beautiful, far more profound than watching news footage of people fighting over laptops or being crushed in the shopping madness.

I read yesterday that Wal-Mart was close to being ecstatic about their Black Friday sales results. The cash registers are ringing and they don’t even have to say “Merry Christmas.” By the time January rolls around, profits will soar and retail executives will celebrate wildly. But, something will be missing. While the corporate bottom lines will be bathed in black ink, the bottom lines of many American hearts will be robbed of something special, beautiful, and wonderful.

I read something this morning from Frederick Buechner’s “Listening to Your Life” this morning, and given the tenor of the times, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you at the start of this wonderful season:

“Advent” means “coming” of course, and the promise of Advent is that what is coming is an unimaginable invasion. The mythology of our age has to do with flying saucers and invasions from outer space, and that is unimaginable enough. But what is upon us now is even more so – a close encounter not of the third kind but of a different kind altogether. An invasion of holiness. That is what Advent is about.”

“What is coming upon the world is the Light of the World. It is Christ. That is the comfort of it. The challenge of it is that it has not yet come. Only the hope for it has come, only the longing for it. In the meantime we are in the dark, and the dark, God knows, is also in us. We watch and wait for a holiness to heal us and hallow us, to liberate us from the dark. Advent is like the hush in a theater just before the curtain rises. It is like the hazy ring around the winter moon that means the coming of snow which will turn the night to silver. Soon. But for the time being, our time, darkness is where we are.”

And so I wait, not for the profit and loss statements or the stock market reaction to the season. I wait like Buechner, in the darkness, knowing that the Consolation of Israel has broken into history, bringing us hope, and will once more.