Advent 3 C + Something's comin' + 12/16/18

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Zephaniah 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18; Canticle 9)

“... with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.”

Good news! That is what John was trying to share with the people! What, did you miss it in the middle of him yelling at us? I wonder why :).

Truly, John is out at the margins, telling people to amend their lives. Challenging them to the way of love even as he questions their motives- don't just do this to flee God's wrath, he says. The truth is we know that the day of wrath is also the day of the Lord- when our Messiah will come again.

So this is fearful stuff. We have to amend our lives. John's instructions here remind me of the instructions you find in the Acts of Hippolytus, an early Christian text, wherein new Christians are advised what professions they can do and still follow Christ. In those days actors for example could not easily live a Christian life. So they had to find another avenue. Thankfully now we can be almost anything in terms of our work and still be an active Christian. But the good news still applies for us. We can still look at how we are using our resources and power not just to get ahead in this world but also to help others.

What better time to remember this than in Advent as we prepare for Christmas? We may get so involved in fancy presents or dinners for family and friends, but how are we leveraging our resources so that others might experience Christmas abundance?

Actually I am preaching to the choir here because this church shows me how to do that every year. Every year a new idea of how to give, including a luncheon hosted at our parish next week for 50 disabled adults. What a joy! I love giving my family gifts, don't get me wrong but when we expand into supporting our wider family it gets all the better.

But really the good news of today is not only about Christmas and preparing to remember what happened 2000 years ago.

No. Just like the Baptist pointed to long ago, we await a Messiah. We await God coming again.

Now one of the movies I am looking forward to seeing in this season is the remake of the Mary Poppins film. Just as Mary Poppins came into a family's life decades ago, now she is back to support and bring joy again to not only the children she helped who are now adults but also the children in their lives. Mary Poppins is a semi Christological figure because she shows them how to live and find meaning and joy in their lives.

But notice, the new Mary Poppins, a different actress, looks very similar to the one of old. Of course that is by design. How would we recognize Mary Poppins if she was actually Billy Bobbins and was a stout pimply teenager of color? Well of course we might not, at least not right away.

But when Jesus came, he did look and act different than anyone expected. So we might assume that when the Messiah comes they might indeed look and act differently.

So how will we know them?

Ah, that is the interesting part. I think it has to do with the heart. At the end of Luke, when the disciples walking the Road to Emmaus see Jesus, they finally recognize that they knew who he was in part due to the flame he kindled in their hearts. So, we too must look for this in our Messiah eventually - who will kindle our hearts?

But we know we also don't need to wait until that fearful, fateful day of the Lord to feel our hearts kindled. No, Jesus’ Spirit in our hearts and moving through us brings the kindling on the daily, if we have eyes to see.

And what better time to see this at work than in the preparation for Christmas, when random acts of kindness are more frequent and joy seems a bit more contagious?

I close sharing a part of a song we listened to with our clericus group this week: an Advent song from West Side Story:

“Could it be, yes it could

Something's comin’, something good

If I can wait

Something's comin’

I don't know what it is

But it is gonna be great

With a click, with a shock

Phone'll jingle, door will knock

Open the latch

Something's comin’ don't know when

But it's soon catch the moon one handed catch

Around the corner

Or whistlin’ down the river

Come on, deliver to me….

Who knows?

It's only just out of reach

Down the block, on a beach

Maybe tonight

Maybe tonight

Maybe tonight

(West Side Story, Music Leonard Bernstein, lyrics Stephen Sondheim).

Could it be? God is coming and how will we see? How will we feel that kindling in our hearts? How to change our lives to be open to that mystery?

Amen.