ADVENT ADVENTURE
Summit UU Fellowship Dec. 7, 2008
Rev. Kathleen A. Green
“The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You walk up the steps to the front door. The empty windows at either side of it tell you nothing, or almost nothing. For a second you catch a whiff of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you’ve never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart…The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.”
(— Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark, pp. 2,3)
Advent is a part of the Christian tradition. A time of waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus. From the 4th century, the season was kept as a period of fasting as strict as that of Lent. In England, there was a custom (now extinct) for poor women to carry around the "Advent images,” two dolls dressed to represent Jesus and Mary. A halfpenny was expected from every one to whom these were exhibited, and bad luck was thought to menace the household not visited by the doll-bearers before Christmas Eve at the latest.
I grew up in a Christian home and attended Christian churches for much of my life, but I really knew nothing about Advent. The only advent celebration or observance or thought I had interest in was the cute Advent calendar I would purchase each year – just a chocolately countdown to Christmas!
From ancient times, one of the most popular ways to celebrate Advent—not only in church but also at home—is by lighting candles on an Advent wreath. The wreath was widely used in northern Europe long before Christianity as a symbol of life and hope. Made of evergreens, it symbolized the circle of the year that would turn from winter to spring, from shadows to light. A time of waiting, and watching, as the seasons change.
We’re all waiting for something. All of our lives we’re waiting.
We find people waiting in the Christmas story from the Christian scriptures: Mary, of course, waiting for the birth of her child; Joseph too. Wise men waiting to find that child. Shepherds waiting with their flocks for the morning sun to rise. Barn animals waiting to be fed. An Innkeeper waiting for the quiet of night to come at last. Some waiting for something special and some just waiting as a part of their routine and yet in that waiting something special happens. I wouldn’t even venture a guess at the patience level of any of those characters. We too are waiting. But Advent is also a time of preparation.
My good friend and colleague, the Rev. Barbara Pescan, spoke to her congregation just a few weeks after her younger sister died after a long battle with cancer. After a long time of waiting. In her sermon she said, “ The last few months I have had to keep learning that there were limits to how much I could help my sister as she was approaching death. We had a little book hospice provided that describes the signs. ….So, there was nothing much my nephew and I could do except make sure she was clean and comfortable, give her medications and food on time, and that the TV remote was close by and her ice cup filled. About the big thing, we could do nothing. But, about the small daily, hourly things we could do much.” All they could really do was wait and prepare. She goes on to say, “The last evening of my sister’s life, a friend came over and she and my nephew sat with Mel in her room and they laughed a lot. They laughed, I don’t what all they laughed about, and it doesn’t matter. Ben and Patty and Mel laughed. The next morning she was gone. Her spirit was still in the room, that laughter from the night before – but she was gone.”
The waiting for death had come to an end. The time of preparing for her sister’s death had come to fruition. But Advent will not cease in Rev. Pescan’s life. Waiting and preparing continue, in new ways, in new areas of her life.
We too are waiting and preparing. Waiting for a birth. Waiting for a death. Waiting for a dream to unfold. Waiting for an answer. Waiting for results. Waiting for the solstice and the awakening of the sun in its cycle. Waiting for Christmas – the birthday of Jesus, Prince of Peace. We are all still waiting for peace. Peace for ourselves. Peace for our world.
The Advent Virus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous via email
WARNING……WARNING: ADVENT VIRUS
Be on the alert for symptoms of inner Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to this virus and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.
Some signs and symptoms of The Advent Virus:
A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
A loss of interest in judging other people.
A loss of interest in conflict.
A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
Frequent attacks of smiling.
An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
Please send this warning out to all your friends. This virus can and has affected many systems. Some systems have been completely cleaned out because of it.
Advent can have meaning for all of us, those who consider themselves Christians, and those who do not. In truth, advent – the “coming towards” season – is with us throughout our lives. All of our lives we are waiting.
Ellen Gifford, a member of this congregation, shared a most poignant story with several of us at a meeting this week and I have her permission to share it this morning with all of you. Ellen recently moved from this area and her private condo home to an assisted living facility. Last week, as the big Christmas tree in the common room was being decorated, Ellen decided to join in and hang an ornament or two. She noticed Hester, a woman who never spoke to anyone and never even looked at anyone. Hester just pushed her walker up and down the hallways; all around the facility. Ellen took an ornament over to Hester and simply asked, “Where do you think this should go?”. Hester took the ornament from Ellen, without saying a word, and placed it on the tree where she thought it should go. Ellen decided to try it again. “Where do you think this would look good?” And Hester again took the ornament and found the place where the ornament looked good. And on it went. At the evening meal Hester sat at Ellen’s table with other residents and she beamed with a broad smile when Ellen announced to everyone that she and Hester had helped decorate the beautiful tree. When several of those at the table said to Ellen “Hester never talks to us and never has anything to do with anyone”, Ellen simply replied, “She was just waiting for someone to engage with her.” Hester was waiting.
I arise in the morning torn between the desire
To save the world and to savor it--
To serve life or to enjoy it--
To savor the world or save it?
The question beats in upon the waiting moment--
To savor the sweet taste of my own joy
Or to share the bitter cup of my neighbor;
To celebrate life with exuberant step
Or to struggle for the life of the heavy laden?
What am I to do--
When the guilt at my bounty
Clouds the sky of my vision;
When the glow which lights my every day
Illumines the hurting world around me?
What is that you say? To savor one must serve?
To savor one must save? The one will not stand without the other?
Forgive me--
In my preoccupation with self,
In my concern for my own life
I had forgotten.
Rev. Richard Gilbert wrote those words about how he wakes up in the morning struggling about how to spend the day…whether to savor the world or to save it. Then he realizes that savoring and saving are interconnected and he cannot save with savoring or savor without saving.
How shall we wait, this advent? How shall we wait for what has not yet come? Shall we savor the beauty, melodies, colors and tastes of the season? Shall we make sure, while we wait to seek ways to nurture more peace – to save the world in our own small way?
When Rev. Pescan spoke to her congregation, and thanked them for their condolences, she mentioned a gift – the gift of knowing we are all part of the human condition. She was reminded of a poster on the office door of her minister had read: “Nearly everyone is dealing with something difficult.” I would add to that, “And everyone is waiting.”
I need Advent. I need this reminder, at least once a year, to appreciate the waiting; to prepare for the gifts that Advent brings and to prepare to savor and save life. I read about a shoemaker who doubled his business by changing one word in his advertising. His sign read: “Shoes repaired while you wait.” Nobody wanted to wait. So he changed the sign to read: “Shoes repaired while you watch.” and business doubled.
Waiting is inevitable, but the adventure that is Advent invites us into a time of watching and preparing. Let us wait with awareness of the blessings all around us and the awareness that while we each wait for our own birth of hope, we all are a part of the human condition. We are nearly all dealing with something difficult. We are all waiting together.
In this adventure that is Advent, let us remember the gifts of the season: faith, joy, hope, and perhaps the most important gift and guest of all this season, love. Love is on the way. And isn’t that worth waiting for?
May it be so.
