Rev. Sara Wilcox

#occupyadvent

November 27, 2011

I have to say I am always glad to be done with Black Friday.  Not because I spent my day battling the crowds at the mall or completing my Christmas shopping—I didn’t.  But because I hate that our culture so readily gives in to the consumerism that plagues the weeks leading up to Christmas.  And I hate that the spirit of Christmas often has little to do with Christ and so much to do with the exchange of gifts with our friends and loved ones as a way to honor the gift of the Christ Child.  I mean really who rips off the wrapping paper while thinking thank you Jesus…  It’s quite a bit misguided—even more so today in the wake of years of economic distress in our nation that has left more and more people hungry and homeless.  Of course there have always been hungry and homeless people that make Christmas celebrations suspect.  Friday morning, I laughed at friend’s facebook post quoting a comedian that joked: Black Friday—when the 1% tells the 99% to go and save the economy.  It’s funny only so far you realize that the 99% works for the 1% and the success of Black Friday has a great deal to do with the bottom line of the 99%–it’s a tangled web we’ve weaved.  I have nothing against the 1% but I’ll admit I am naturally inclined toward the 99%.  I have found it painful to witness the intense opposition to those engaged in the Occupy Wall Street movement.  A facebook friend wrote—I don’t get it.  I guess I wouldn’t have been a good hippie.  Providing her friend with the space to offer—it must be nice to not have any responsibility so that you can just camp out for weeks.   Suffice to say, I think we should be concerned that camping out to get into a Best Buy Black Friday sale or to get season tickets to the basketball games at a university is far more acceptable for some.  There is a part of me that thinks we should be occupying in support of the things that matter—and yes I think the imbalance of wealth at the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement matters.  I guess my concern is that Occupy Corporate America or Occupy College Sports is a more worthy cry for some.  That people would sit down and wait and hope for some kind of change in this world isn’t only a necessary movement for a world that seems completely out of balance—but it’s as worthy, if not more worthy, as going to work each day for the corporation that pays its CEO 200 times its average worker or helping keep retail America in the black by purchasing their goods from China that are made on the backs of child labor.  So while there may be some folks who don’t quite get it—it feels like those who don’t get it choose to forget the injustices that plague our nation and the injustices that are even more shocking in the context of the global community in which we find ourselves.  There is much that we can occupy these days—and while there may be many competing places for our time and energy and money—I hope that you might use the coming weeks to Occupy Advent.  It’s a particularly poignant time to sit and wait and watch and hope.  It’s a time that is asking you to choose calm in the face of frenzy, to choose patience in the face of being rushed, to choose compassion in the face of the passionate fervor of excess.

So each year we begin our journey to Bethlehem with a scripture reading heavy with apocalyptic undertones. As we begin Advent, the sky darkens, the stars fall from the heavens, the heavens shake.  And we are told to be on watch, to keep awake, to stay alert.  It’s hard to imagine that this is how we are to prepare for an impending birthday party at the end of the season, but there is aregularity to this message and to this season.   Technically, the beginning of Advent is the beginning of the year in the Christian calendar—so it would be appropriate to say Happy New Year to one another.  Of course, twice this year now we have been told the end of the world is upon us and that no new year will come, but here we find ourselves in a familiar place, at the beginning of a familiar season of our lives, many of us facing familiar concerns or challenges.

Our scripture for this day at the beginning of this advent season, comes from the book of Mark.  And while Mark is found second in the New Testament after the book of Matthew, scholars believe it is the earliest written gospel.  It is the only gospel that begins to tell the story of Jesus from his ministry as an adult.  Some scholars believe this narrative of omission of Christ’s birth affirms the radical notion of Christ—emphasizing that it is not important where someone comes from, while other scholars suggest perhaps Jesus didn’t actually come from any place special, not the womb of a virgin and not born in the barn of an inn.  The goal of the season of Advent is not to sort out the factual details of the Christmas story though—and that’s probably a good thing since if that were our goal we may never get to the Silent Night or Once in Royal David’s City.   Advent is the time set aside in the Christian calendar where we can prepare our hearts to let go of the need for all of it to be just so.  Advent is about preparing our hearts to live in the in between spaces of the world—where all our questions, our prayers and our hopes may not have been met with the answers and outcomes we wanted.  Advent is about preparing for the realm of God made possible in Christ Jesus even with the knowledge that Christ has already come, is always with us and is coming to us at all times.

The harsh and complex picture painted in the gospel of Mark reminds us that the birth of Christ is not to be romanticized with quaint fireplace pictures, holiday parades and carols that make our hearts sing.  The incoming of Christ is risky business and it is difficult for us to truly imagine, since it too often feels like Christ is never truly here, despite Christ always being with us.  We confront despair and fragility and brokenness too often.  Each news cycle we are confronted with how very far we are from Christ and we are yearning for a way back home—for an inbreaking of the Christ light into the world, into our communities, into our very own hearts. But this Season let us Occupy Advent, truly give our hearts to the preparing of our personal selves for the impending birth of Christ.

Today’s scripture reminds us to keep alert, keep awake and be vigilant in our expectation.  In the Gospel of Mark the disciples were afraid.  They had aligned themselves with a rabble-rouser and a troublemaker.  They aligned themselves with someone who questioned the Roman Empire and the inadequacy of the religious forces that were willing to prop up that empire.  And the disciples knew the danger in doing that.  But Jesus didn’t speak these words we hear today from Scripture to instill terror in his followers.  He spoke these words to move them from the places that were keeping them from seeing God’s plan and purpose in the world.  Jesus asked them to exist in the in-between space—stay awake—no sleeping away our obligations and commitments.  Jesus asks that we wait—do not panic—for we walk not alone. We walk this path hand in hand with the living Christ and as we Occupy Advent we are asked to pay attention and wait—this doesn’t preclude our obligation to be active disciples of Christ.  It instead asks us to be vigilant in response to the things of this world that might take us from the task of discipleship.    It’s increasingly difficult to do this in our culture, but the reign of God demands nothing less.  So we must watch and wait—in the frenetic pace of the Christmas holiday we are warned to turn our attention away from the things that demand our attention—the excess that robs of the ability to prepare for the coming of Christ.  Too much food and too much drink, too many commitments and not enough time for family and church. Too much spent on our comfort and excess and not enough given out in the world in gratitude for so much abundance already known in our lives.  And while the apocalyptic predications of the early Christian community urged us to look for the stars falling and the heavens shaking as a sign of Jesus coming near—I can’t but help but think that the stars fall and the heavens shake all the time—right in front of us, even inside of us.  If we spend a little time committed to occupying advent perhaps we will find just what we are looking for.  Alice McKenzie, Professor of Homiletics at Southern Methodist University, encourages us to “look for portents and signs of Messiah’s coming this Advent that are “hidden in plain sight.” On the ground, not in the sky. Blooming along our path, not booming from a celestial (or mall) speaker system.”  So will you Occupy Advent with me?

When we begin our mornings or end our day in prayer, when we open our wallets to share our abundance with a bell ringer or our favorite non-profit, we occupy Advent. When we simplify our Christmas shopping by buying alternative gifts or making the presents we give away, we Occupy Advent.  When we gather in community to fellowship over a meal, when we engage in conversation about the ways we might better prioritize our time and energy, we Occupy Advent. When we sing in the choir, when we produce a Christmas pageant or tell the story of Jesus’ birth to our children, we Occupy Advent.  When we buy toys for children in our community who reside in foster care or when we recycle the excess in our homes back into the world by taking something we have that someone else might love and giving it away, we Occupy Advent. When we choose countercultural activities intended to usher in the realm of God in our world, our community and our hearts—we Occupy Advent and that is an incredible gift—to our world, ourselves and our God who deserves nothing less.

In his blog Garden Path, Father Rick Morley, reminds us that “being alert is a spiritual posture. When we’re alert we see things, and notice things that we wouldn’t notice otherwise.” Morely continues, “If we live spiritually alert, waiting for Christ to come, how much better might we see him when he enters our room? When he feeds us in the Eucharist? When he shuffles by us on the street.”

Morley declares that “being alert doesn’t mean that we have to be disappointed each night we learn that the stars are in the exact same place we saw them the night before.”  People still hunger, the world is still seeking peace, rulers still serve power and not people. There are people in our own midst ailing physically and spiritually, people in need of healing, transformation of body and mind and soul.  And our Occupying Advent and our being alert might not change all of that, but it puts in place the possibility that we will be ready when the time appears to change some of that.  Let us not only occupy Advent ourselves but let us invite our friends and our extended families to Occupy Advent as well.  Watch and wait for the spaces and places that our open to new possibilities, hoping for a better way, yearning for the spirit of Christ that should drive the sleigh of any Christmas celebration.

If our Advent is spent in service to Christmas parties that suck the life out of us, preparations that become more important than one for whom we are preparing, then our advent hasn’t been about the one who is coming, who has come and who is here already. So let us prepare for the coming of Christ—let us Occupy Advent together.  Amen.

1 Comment

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  By SLICK, December 6, 2011 @ 8:15 am

  Occupy Advent – what a splendid and deserving notion. Sara your pointed comments are right on and your points are well taken. I really learned a lot from the details in this sermon. Thank you foir educating me.

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