Advent I November 30, 2008
The Very Rev. Anthony Pompa
The Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37

Harry Pritchett, Former Dean of St. John the Divine in New York City, tells a story of his boyhood, growing up in Alabama, discusses a promised dinner guest. Having an ample fascination with early motion picture shows, he tells of going to the local theatre to pay his 5 cents to watch a famous movie actress, filled with glamour and beauty. It seems as if somehow, someway, his Father had come into the company of this famous actress and she was coming through town! It seemed as if she would be coming to dinner. His Father told his family to be on best behavior, she would be coming this very night. Excited and filled with expectation Harry, began to prepare for the arrival of this larger than life figure he had only encountered on the big screen, and he began to imagine what it would be like to meet her.
The day grew late and Harry grew concerned as there was no sign of the promised guest. His mother sent him to bed, promising that if she actually showed she would wake him. He did everything he could to keep himself awake, listening intently for a car, a door to open, a magical voice embedded in his ears he knew so well from the big screen to bellow from the bottom of the stairs. Stay awake, I must stay awake, he thought to himself.

Today once again the church cycle of calendar has brought us to the season of Advent. Advent from the Latin adventus means .The coming of or the arrival of something promised. You know the advent themes that run through our church and spiritual lives! The Scriptures, the music, the sermons, the prayers, the decorations, all of our “wares” will tell the tale of Advent themes, Get ready; anticipate the arrival of something promised! We’re invited in our lives to embrace a message to prepare with excitement for the advent of something incredible. We’re asked to be like a young boy waiting to meet a promised legend. Like that young boy we may find ourselves with a challenge in our waiting. We must be alert, stay awake, so that we might not miss such an opportunity!

I am guessing you are probably like me this time of year. We’ve rummaged through our attics, or our basements, or our crawl spaces, wherever it is we keep our “Advent stuff”. We are busy clearing out the boxes, dragging out our wares, our ritualistic symbols that lest we forget are there to remind and invite us into the Advent of God’s action in the world and in our lives! We’ve done it here at the Cathedral, looking deeply through our inadequate storage spaces and look what we have found! We’ve put up the Crèche, and we’ll fill it week by week with the figurines that will help us be reminded of what God promises in the birth of hope, justice, and love and Mercy enfleshed in the world. We’ve put our candles in the windows and around our wreathe and each week symbolically with light the way put lights light the way, so that we can easily see and prepare for the coming of that which is promised!
We’ve put on our bright colors of blue with cosmic tone and design that most certainly accomplishes its goal, to grab our attention! These wares Beckon us to be awake, alert, and be mindful that our awareness of God’s presence is not captured only in our quaint remembrances of a beautiful babe in arms warmed in straw suckling at his mother’s bosom, or by a warm and gentle light flowing from a neatly arranged greened wreathe that is worthy of the front cover of any greeting card, But that Advent is the Promise of that which is to come in fullness and with great fanfare, annunciation, and even quaking! It is no less than God’s Kingdom, God’s full on reign that we prepare and wait for, and the fullness of it lived on earth! The promise of God’s tearing down structures and Kingdoms designed to oppress and tear down God’s people and the building up and empowerment of the powerless! This Advent theme is one that clearly Jesus bangs home with apocalyptic flare in his Gospel today, and the Prophet Isaiah proclaims in our Old Testament reading today.

The Advent theme of today is more a wake up call, a stirring and quaking of the might of God’s character advocating intensely for the poor, the helpless, the needy and advocating against the greedy, the power abusers, and the careless. Today’s theme is less captured perhaps in a beautiful quaint remembrance of a boy awaiting a promised fantasy, or a Crèche awaiting a suckling babe, or a Christmas card shining light from a picture perfect wreathe. Today’s theme is more like a Wake up Call that is like discovering for the first time after you’ve settled in a new home feeling secure and safe, comfortable that the fire whistle which screams for action of those in dire need jolts you out of bed. Today’s theme screams for you attention like the God awful sound that comes from a warning siren designed to let those within distance of nuclear power plants that they must pay attention to the delicate and powerful forces that exist within their reaches.

The Advent theme today reminds us that when God’s reign comes in full force it is like a power we cannot imagine! An African American spiritual speaks to this time expected to come among us, “My Lord what a morning! My Lord what a morning! My Lord what morning, when the stars begin to fall!” “You’ll hear the trumpet sound, to wake the nations underground, Lookin to my God’s right hand, when the stars begin to fall!”

The theme of this hymn captures the theme of the first Sunday of advent. Jesus promises the stars will fall, the moon be darkened, and the Son of Man will come with great power and glory. The prophet promises the “heavens be torn apart in a way that would cause the mountains to quake”. In this fashion, the way is made for God’s reign on earth!
I.
This God is not docile and not quaint, this God is bold, and on this day we are asked to stay awake to his dreams coming in fullness and our actions in response to this coming should be no less robust.

Advent is hoping for and preparing for the fullness of the vision Jesus embodied and proclaimed to pronounce good news to the poor, glad tidings, sight the blind, healing for the lame. This Vision is what we hope for in its fullness and it is a robust proclamation for “kingdoms” and ways of being that must fall so that the just may rise.

We begin the advent journey together that will surely land us as witnesses to god’s dream enfleshed in the person of Jesus. It will be the vision lived in that flesh that we are to be alert to, awake to, boldly respond to.

Henri Nouen challenges us to live into this vision in the simplest but boldest of ways:

“Everytime we forgive our neighbor, everytime we make a child smile, everytime we show compassion to a suffering person, everytime we arrange a bouquet of flowers, offer care to a tame or wild animal, prevent pollution, create beauty in our homes and gardens, and work for justice and peace among people’s and nations- we are making the vision come true.
By the way, I believe she showed up!