Advent 1 A
Transcribed from a
sermon given on
December 1, 2013
At St. Barnabas
Episcopal Church
By Rev. Valerie Ann
Hart
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44
The way I might sum up the
readings for today is “WAKE UP!!” Wake up, get out of darkness.
We have Paul talking about letting
go of the works of darkness. An interesting way to describe something - the
works of darkness. Even though this is not an image that is used often, we immediately
know what he is talking about. We know that he is talking about those things
that we do in the darkness so that nobody sees. The works of darkness are the
thing you don’t want anyone to know about - when you sneak off to do something
in the dark. We all remember when we were teenagers and in the darkness there
was some way that you could get away with more stuff, cause your parents wouldn’t
see. And we know that many of the things that are most harmful to human beings
happen in the darkness. When we sneak off and we don’t want to get caught.
Jesus uses the image of the thief
coming in the darkness.
What are the works of darkness?
Well Paul gives us some examples such as we shouldn’t be involved in reveling and
drunkenness. Those are things we do in the darkness. Debauchery and licentiousness,
well that is usually done at night. And then there is quarreling and jealousy.
Well that happens in the light sometimes, but hopefully back in the shadows.
Notice that the works of darkness are not all things that we normally consider
terrible sins, which in our culture has become anything that has to do with
sexual sins. You don’t find the same emphasis on that in the Bible. When he
talks about works of darkness he includes quarreling and jealousy. Anything
that we wouldn’t want to have seen.
The way I might think about it
these days is that the works of darkness are the things you wouldn’t want to
have posted on Facebook. Or if you pasted them on Facebook when you were
younger you would want to be able to take them off. Anything you wouldn’t want
someone else to know about. Things we are not proud of.
Similarly, Jesus talks about the
son of man coming at an unexpected hour so stay awake because you don’t know
when the son of man is coming. We don’t know when we are going to encounter
Christ again, whether it be at the end of time or the end of our own lives. We don’t
know when suddenly we will see Christ face to face. What do you want to be
doing when that happens? There are certain things that I know I don’t want to
be doing when that happens. But of course it is more complicated than that.
Paul says to put on the armor of
light - put on Christ. And of course that is what we need to do but it is not
simple. If it were simple, if we could just make an intention and say “I’m not
going to do that anymore’” and we won’t have all the struggle and drama in our
lives. We would all live very good lives because most of us intend goodness.
But it is not that easy. Paul in
another place writes “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
Do you ever feel like that? We set up intentions. We get up in the morning and
we say I’m going to lose weight, I’m going to exercise regularly and I am going
to stop yelling at the kids. Basic, simple, not terribly dramatic things that
we all more or less intend. And then we remember while we are eating our doughnut.
You see there was a doughnut shop right there and we missed eating at the doughnut
shop. Then we drive by the gym, because after all we are late for work now
after stopping at that doughnut shop. And then when we come home, all of a sudden
we discover that our anger has gotten the best of us and we don’t know how that
happened, but all of a sudden our voice has been raised. And we feel helpless.
We don’t know what to do.
The whole point is that we can’t
do it ourselves. We need help. We need someone to help us. What we need is a
savior - to save us from our own weakness. To save us from the ways in which we
find ourselves opening up a website that we really know we shouldn’t be looking
at. Or from those pain pills, yes the physical pain is a lot better, but I
still like taking the pills so I am going to keep taking them. Those things
that we sort of sneak into unintentionally and then they own us and we feel
helpless. And it is only when we know we need help that we can realize that and
look for help. And the only thing that can help us, the only one who can help
us, is someone who knows. Who knows us. Is someone that was born as an infant, was
a child and struggled to learn to crawl. Someone who fell down multiple times
as he learned to walk. Only someone who knows what it is like to have friends
that betray him, and abandon him and deny him. Only one who knows what it is
like to suffer and to struggle. Someone who understands what it means to be a
human being.
That’s the little child that we
are looking forward to acknowledging on Christmas. That’s the one, the savior,
the one who has come to save us, to save us from our own weakness. To give us
the gift of love and walking with us. Someone who has been in the darkness yet
never forgot the light. Who can take our hands and leads us out of the darkness.
Who can help us to get the strength to go in the direction that we want to go.
The one who can save us. That is the gift of Christmas - the gift of the
incarnation - the gift of Christ.
But that Christmas gift, that gift
can only be opened on our knees. We have to get down on our knees to open it up
because until we realize that we can’t do it ourselves, as long as we are
trying to use our own will power, as long as we think we’ve got it all
together, as long as we don’t realize that we need a savior, we can’t open that
gift. It is only when we realize that the only way that we will find the light
is by taking the hand of the one who is the light. Then, then we receive the
greatest gift of all. Than we receive the gift of love, of strength, of
transformation.
That is what we are getting ready
for during Advent. That’s what we are preparing for during Advent. To receive
the help we need to find the light, to stay awake, and to know God’s love.
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