Faith or Fear? Advent 1C

Melissa Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

Year C + Advent 1

(Jeremiah 33:14–16; Ps. 25:1–9; 1 Thess. 3:9–13; Luke 21:25–36)

So… what are you going to do when you stand before the man with the holes in his hands?
Now that may seem like a strange question to ask this first Sunday in December.  Surely, Pastor Melissa, we’re gearing up for jollity, not getting ready to meet our maker?

But in a sense we are, always, all the time, waiting for Jesus, and I think that’s what Advent is really all about.  Reminding us that we are always waiting not just for the Christ Child to come and be born in our midst, but that we are also waiting for that awesome, if slightly scary Second Coming of Christ.

And it is true that this passage talks about distress and the roaring of the waves. 

And many looked at the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, that iconic image of the ocean-side theme park, including a Ferris Wheel, in the waves, and many said, this is something we have to pay attention to.  Some have said that increased disasters like this tell us that global warming won’t correct itself without some changes on our part.  And we are reminded, that yes there will be strange occurrences.  But we also know from earlier in Luke (12:33) that the Son of Man will come like a thief in the night.  We will have signs, but we won’t exactly be able to plan all the way.  We will have to trust in the Spirit to guide us.

So some noted that Sandy might have been a harbinger of ill weather events to come, but all the same, when I look at the New York Times, what comes up more than anything?  The economy.  There are so many concerns about the economy.  Will Christmas shopping pick up enough to mark a renewed economy?  How is consumer confidence? 
There was this really interesting article the other day about two families who have a very different approach to holiday shopping.  On the surface, the first lady, Angelina Sam, appears the more fortunate one, because unlike last year, when she couldn’t even fix a proper Christmas dinner, she feels she can actually afford to buy presents this year. 

There is an image of her face, gleefully exclaiming as she hears how much she has saved on each item she has purchased—and every item is a gift for a relative.   By contrast we have the Lynaghs, who sound very worried about Christmas this year.  They are only buying everything on sale, and by contrast to Ms. Sam’s joy, we see Mr. Lynagh go to the store at midnight on Thanksgiving, only to return with no purchase because the item was not on sale.  So you think, Ms. Sam is the fortunate, the wealthy one, the one that tells us how well the economy is doing.  And the Lynaghs are the poor ones, who don’t have enough to go around this year.  But then another piece of the story develops.  We hear that the Lynaghs are on a very strict budget this year.  They are only going to buy 700 dollars’ worth of stuff for Christmas.  Excuse me?  Perhaps my viewpoint is skewed because we don’t have kids, but that sounds like plenty of money to be able to spend at Christmas. 

And Ms. Sam, the cheery person?  We learn she has been putting these Christmas funds away little by little by working up to 100 hours a week as a nurse’s aide! And when you look at what she is purchasing, they are modest gifts—a seven dollar watch.  A fifty dollar e-reader is the splurge. 

Ms. Sam may not even have as much or near the resources of the Lynaghs, but her approach is so different.  She is coming from a place of abundance and they come from a place of scarcity.  Another way to put this would be to say that she is coming from a place of joy and faith, where the Lynaghs are fearful and unsure, despite apparent financial security.[1]

So, whether we are responding to the weather, or to the economy, or waiting for Christ, I think this can be for us the story of how we might live as Christians faithfully in the world.  Are we fearful or faithful?  Whether we are Jeremiah hanging out with folks, some of whom have been exiled, some of whom may be exiled in the future, or the Thessalonians waiting on an imminent return for Jesus, or whether we are us, here two thousand years later, still waiting, but in a different way, the question is, how do we proceed?  What is the faithful response? 
Well be more gleeful when going shopping!  No, just kidding.

I think that Ps. 25 has a part of the key when it tells us that “he leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way” (vs. 9).   Now, how exactly does God teach us?

Prayer, right?  We don’t always get a response right away, but generally in prayer we do receive some guidance from God as to how we are to live.  It keeps us humble so that we can hear back from God, and as commentator Allen Hilton puts it, “live lovingly in God’s present, even as we await God’s brilliant someday.”[2]

Perhaps, when we need it more than anything because we can get so caught up in Christmas preparations, Advent is a reminder that the only way we can live faithfully as Christians, the only way we can prepare for the real event of all of our lifetimes, that time when Christ will come again, is to be people of prayer and faith.  Sometimes we just need to stop – the shopping, cooking, etc. for a moment and pray the Advent Wreath.  Or say a special grace before each meal to thank God for the many gifts we have received already, no matter how many presents are under the tree.  Maybe your cooking and shopping could almost be wrapped up into that prayer, so that our glee in a deal could be focused on how to spread that joy and faith.

Whatever it is, find something that helps you remember that yes, Jesus is coming, but it’s not just about the baby in the manger, it’s about the Son of Man who will come to see how we’ve lived. 

And yet our faithful response to this is not to “look busy” as that bumper sticker says, or to get anxious, as seems to be another Christian response, but it’s about paying attention—stand up and raise your heads, but in your hearts.  If you pay attention in your heart, you are praying and making yourself humble to hear God’s guidance.  And I just bet that prayer will lead you to deep gratitude, a gratitude that will overflow and wash out the stress of the season and the fears of the economy.  It will be less about consumer confidence and more about confident faith in God’s goodness.  This gratitude will empower us to live lovingly here and now, and perhaps take better care of our planet to do our small part to avoid increased chances of having another Sandy.  This gratitude will allow us to live in joy until Christmas and on, until that Second Advent, who knows when.

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[1] Stephanie Clifford, Christina Capecchi and Christopher Maag, “Two Families Show an Uneven Rise in Consumer Confidence,” NY Times November 28, 2012 (http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/business/two-families-show-an-uneven-rise-in-consumer-confidence.xml).

[2] Allen Hilton, “Exegetical Perspective: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13,” FOTW Year C, Vol. 1, 19.