St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church
Fourth Sunday after Advent
Isaiah 7:10-16
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
In Between
It’s the Fourth Sunday of Advent and the day and the event it signifies has a particular quality that always seems a bit different that the three weeks which have just preceded it. It’s an in between time. We felt that deeply on Friday evening, as we celebrated a candlelit Quiet Christmas with Music and Meditation. It was a soft entry into the edges of Christmas, keeping in mind all the nuances of Christmas that come to hearts and minds as Christmas draws closer. Things done or not done, words spoken or not spoken, memories brought front and center, or pushed down as if they do not exist. For all that, Advent to Christmas or not, in between times can be bland….non-happening times or they can serve as bridges from that which is anticipated and its reality, and we will experience that as we hang the boughs and bows in this sanctuary after services today. Advent? What Advent!
Fourth Advent has about it a deep desire to still embed itself solidly into the Advent liturgical theme while at the same time it seems to be tempted to dip its toes full tilt into the arrival of Christmas just around the corner…perhaps tempted by a mainstream message of buying our way to fulfillment and happiness. In-between times present possibilities for change and for turning dreams into reality. But let’s not give Fourth Advent short shrift
Perhaps the in between time of Fourth Advent, more than any other time of our liturgical year brings us into acute awareness of God’s steadfast and faithful promise of God’s Grace in our lives. When we are called to wait, to ponder, to consider…….. to notice God’s presence, even though we know, during this time of such busyness and complex emotion, we can so easily forget it and, perhaps, even think we think we have no need of it.
But, in keeping with the spirit of this day, our readings serve as a sort of bridge as we light the last candle of Advent knowing full well that in just a few days new candles, new colors, new possibilities will definitively replace it.
Isaiah holds to the fulfillment of prophesy and God’s faithfulness to God’s people…and tells us that whether or not we are ready to receive them, we to watch for signs of God’s faithfulness, not only on the Advent calendar that marches us toward December 25th, but in our own lives….those places and circumstances where God can be seen working within us and around us at any moment in time, year round. In our haste to reach Christmas, we often brush past evidence of God’s presence, missing opportunities to find insight in our praying or comfort for our hearts. To look forward is to acknowledge God’s call toward what is to come. It is what God wants of us. And we well know that, even as Advent teaches us to be aware of God’s presence in our lives in the now, Christmas will reward us with evidence of that presence and serve as a reminder of that presence in all the time to come. We have been reminded all during Advent to stay awake, to be aware, for we do not know the exact time, place or circumstance when God’s presence will be revealed to us. We celebrate a miraculous, yet physical event, set down by the world for us on December 25th. We like to think that, on this day, our minds will be clear about who God is, and when God is to come, rather than muddled with this waiting for something that is already supposed to have happened and still will. Fourth Sunday of Advent clings to us, even as Christmas Day beckons.
The Psalmist speaks to these mixed emotions at Advent. Our desire to reach toward a perfect world…perhaps signified by a perfect Christmas….is marred by our understanding of the imperfect world in which we live and our own imperfections. So how are we supposed to get to Christmas, we wonder, without coating our faithfulness and devotion to God with a brittle outer layer of happiness that will meet conventional and societal expectations.
The psalm laments God’s absence and pleads for God to come again to “Restore us, O God…..let your face shine so that we may be saved.” It is a Fourth Advent plea…after all this waiting….we long for God to be evident among us so that we are free to acknowledge that presence that suddenly seems tangible. We long for the excuse to exude very real joy….. to be unafraid to recognize God’s presence among us in an unbelieving world. It is God’s moment and it is a moment when faithful hearts can find renewed faith in God’s restoration of hope.
It is the renewed faith and renewed resolve of the faithful that is the Christmas gift we have been so carefully preparing ourselves to open and celebrate. It is renewed faith and renewed resolve that calls us to give the God-given gifts we have received while waiting for Christmas. It is during the weeks of Advent that we prepared for our renewal of faith by preparing ourselves, studying ourselves, contemplating how we can become part of the gift of Christmas, how we can prepare ourselves to answer the call of Christmas with true and sincere rejoicing.
In Paul’s words to the faithful in Rome, we heard a few minutes ago, Paul introduces himself as one among the faithful who has been called by God to be part of the story of God’s work in the world and he invites us to respond to the same call.
It is in this between time that we are called away from the should do’s and have-to-do’s born of an effort to meet Hallmark Christmas perfection and we don’t much like it. We want to get on with all the Christmas chores which are to be completed perfectly on time, and we’ll pay attention to God when we get to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Yet, we are not called to re-enact a typical Hallmark story line of perfect endings. We are simply called into a place of steadfast faithfulness and trust that means, we will not only hear God’s call to us when we’re ready to listen, but that we will be ready to respond in the way that God wants when God arrives right in front of us at any time of the year, day or night. It is the in between time that allows us to glimpse a kind of Christmas that might be counter to the mainstream picture-perfect expectation, and in a sense, hold on to the Christmas message all year long.
As counter-culture people, we can acknowledge and accept the seeming imperfections of real life. As a priest, I have long since let go of the possibility that my Christmas tree will be decorated by Christmas, that gifts will be wrapped, that the special shopping will be done, and the baking completed, that the house will be clean and the meal prepared. All will be ready. Yes? No. But it will be Christmas, just the same. And, to tell the truth, I have probably learned more about the real meaning of Christmas by being forced to wait a little longer to trim the tree and wrap the presents. The in-between time of Fourth Advent has long-since proved to be a reliable reminder to me of how much more meaningful it can be to prepare for Christmas on December 26th, even as I see people taking down their decorations and throwing out their trees. But wait, I want to call out, Christmas has just started! Not a mainstream idea, I know, but true!
Matthew’s gospel tells of an in between time that led to a Christmas that was anything but mainstream.
Joseph was given a surprise, that to him was difficult and challenging and upset normal convention at the time. It would have made sense to mainstream society that Joseph divest himself of the pregnant Mary, since she was not yet his wife. At first he decides to do just that…..quietly and in a way that she will be protected, but after an angel visits him in a dream and tells him to keep Mary as his wife….to trust that God is about to do something amazing in his life……he turned to face into the wind of conventional expectations, simply on trust. And this simple act……changed the Christmas story for all eternity.
It is Joseph who so powerfully defines this in between time for us as he discovers his purpose…as he heeds God’s plan for his life. Like Joseph, after faithful waiting, trusting anticipation of God’s call to each of us, we can expect the unexpected….circumstances and situations that may not be what society thinks of as conventional norms. Yet these calls that are heavenly gifts wrapped in signs that God is at work in deep and profound ways.
We are given these gifts in trust. The kind of trust that Joseph held as he kept on the path to which God called him….steadfastly, with patience, kindness, humility and love.
It is what we are called to do and to be in this in between time. We are called to trust in God’s call to each of us. We are called to be steadfast in our faith and patience as we await God’s coming, and we are called to be kind, humble, loving, and forgiving. We are called to listen, to understand and to respond.
As we prepare to leave Advent, following the example of Joseph and Mary as they set out on their journey toward the first Christmas, not knowing where God would lead them, but trusting in God’s promise that a wonderful gift awaited them…..so we listen to the wise angel voices that guide us along our own paths.
Like the shepherds and wise men who come from beyond this Advent….. we follow the star …..following wherever it may lead us, each of us asking ……what is God’s call to me…..what is my purpose in this life…..for what did God create me…what is it that God wants of me? When we ask these questions, like Joseph, we will begin to understand how we get from Advent to Christmas……from faithful waiting to faithful walking….. toward a place of absolute trust in God and to discover what divine gifts await us there.
So embrace Fourth Advent, for just a little while longer. Let it allow you to breathe. Let it allow you to consider. What is important? What is more important than the moment we are in. For the time will come when we will be in-between no more. We will no longer in the place of indecision….no longer caught in the conflict between worldly expectations and anticipation of something bigger.
With Mary and Joseph, we will arrive at a place where we will find what it is we have been waiting for. To know it when we see it, is to bask in the presence of God. To know that when we’re there, is to breathe with vast inner joy the name that belongs only to Him……..Emmanuel.
God with us at last.
End
Written to the Glory of God
E. J. R. Culver+
December 22, 2019