December has begun, and with it that time of
year that is sometimes known as “the crazy season.” While big corporations are desperate all year
long to get you to buy their goods, they seem to become even more desperate
this time of year. They see it as “make-or-break”
season, and indeed it is as far as profits are concerned. The advertising really kicks into high gear,
and every tool available to the advertisers is put to use.
How fortunate that the coming of Christmas
gives them a wealth of sentimental, feel-good images to use and
manipulate. “’Tis the season for giving,
so why not give yourself what you’ve always wanted?” Do you see how they manipulate the meaning of
Christmas? They use the language of
giving, but what they’re talking about is getting, which is just the opposite.
The truth is, it really is a season of
opposites. We reminisce and long for a
simple, down-home holiday, but Christmas has become anything but. It’s a frenzied, frenetic and frantic season
of frivolity and madness. Christmas
tries to lift us up to a higher place, a place of meaning and happiness and
joy, but the stress and anxiety weigh us
down.
Last week, you may recall, we heard a
scripture from Daniel which described four beasts, images that represented four
oppressive kingdoms. Daniel then
described a human being, a son of man, who would bring to earth a new type of
kingdom, the kingdom of God: a kingdom of peace and joy and equality and
freedom.
And you may recall that, by Jesus’ time,
those four kingdoms had been replaced by one massive empire, the empire of
Rome, which was so much more powerful and oppressive … and perhaps you also
recall how the hope for a son of man to establish a kingdom of God remained
even in the midst of Roman oppression.
Well, it’s not my intention to make light of
how oppressive these earthly empires were, for they were truly oppressive, but
sometimes what weighs us down are our own habits and choices. I think Jesus recognized this when he
insisted that the kingdom exists in and among the people, in the present, even
in the midst of Roman occupation – if only the people would accept it, believe
it, and live it.
The kingdom is in you. Rome may control your money, your land, your
opportunities and your freedom, but Rome does not control the choices you
make. Rome does not control the thoughts
you think. And Rome does not control how
you treat your neighbor.
In this Christmas season, it can be very hard
to find the kingdom of God in our midst.
The kingdom is love, and joy, and peace, but there’s little room for
such things among the pressure to find the best deal and the anxiety of making
sure you’ve got everything checked off on your “to-do” list.
I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to
say that, in our time, many of us feel oppressed
by all the baggage that comes with Christmas.
The pressure to buy gifts that people don’t need, the pressure to
decorate, the pressure to put on a good show for all the world to see. There are so many parties and events to go
to, and if you want to go, great, but sometimes we force ourselves to do too
much.
Likewise, if you are able to give a gift of
the heart, something meaningful, well, that is truly wonderful. It is a special thing to receive a gift of
the heart. But if you are convinced by
society, by friends and family, and – most of all – by advertisers to spend
ridiculous amounts of money buying gifts that no one really needs or even, in
many cases, wants – gifts that have no heart – all because of the pressure you
feel, then I dare say you are feeling the oppressive weight of the season.
And it is, to some extent, your own doing.
In Jesus’ time, people were eagerly
anticipating the end times, which is to say, the end of oppression, and the
advent of a kingdom of peace, freedom and joy.
In our own time, many people eagerly
anticipate the end of the Christmas season, and the return to a simpler, less
crazy pace of life.
In passages of scripture like the one we
heard this morning, we hear messages that encourage us to be prepared, be
ready, be on guard. But what is it that
we need to be prepared and ready for? Well, for an end to the craziness, an end to
the oppression, an end to feeling that we’ve lost control of everything
meaningful. What good news this
was! What hopeful news! A message that says, “prepare for the end of these things” is indeed a message of
hope!
In today’s scripture Jesus also says, “Be on
guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness
and the worries of this life.”
The things that weigh us down are not the
same things that weighed down the hearts and minds of people in Jesus’ time,
specifically, since life in twenty-first century America is so very different
from life in first century Rome.
However, I think it can be said that, both then and now, people tend to
allow themselves to worry about things that really aren’t that important, while
forgetting and neglecting the things that are.
And this is especially true in the weeks
leading up to Christmas.
This week, several friends have shared with
me a story that has been making the rounds on facebook and other internet
sites, about a professor of philosophy who stood before his class with various
items on the table. The story goes like
this:
When the class began, he wordlessly picked up
a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles
and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into
the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the
jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand
and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He
asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous
'yes.'
The professor then produced two beers from
under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling
the empty space between the sand. The students laughed..
'Now,' said the professor as the laughter
subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf
balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your
friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only
they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things
that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything
else---the small stuff.
'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he
continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes
for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the
small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical
to your happiness.
Spend time with your children. Spend time
with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner.
There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.
Take care of the golf balls first---the
things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and
inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad
you asked.' The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a beer with a friend.
I don’t know if the story is literally true –
but that doesn’t really matter, does it?
The message is true, and
especially during this crazy, busy time of year. Ask yourself what it is that you really want
out of this Advent and Christmas season.
What are the golf balls of Christmas?
What are the important things?
And what is the sand? The “everything else” in our lives that isn’t
as important, and yet we try to pour it into our jar first, and then can’t
figure out why the important stuff doesn’t fit in, and then we become
overwhelmed with the season and even begin to resent it.
In a wonderful book called The Awakening of Hope, Jonathan
Wilson-Hartgrove puts it this way: “Just
as an Olympic swimmer shaves his body hair to cut down on drag in the water,
followers of Jesus strip themselves of excess baggage … for the sake of rushing
ahead toward the new creation that God is giving us even now.”
When it comes to Christmas, the most
important thing is the coming to earth of a messiah who promises a better life
in the kingdom of God, a better life that is available right now, in the
present. So many things weigh us down
and keep us from living in that promise – and we let them. So many things slow
us down on the journey toward discovering the true meaning of Christmas. We let them drag us down, and end up resenting
the very season in which we should be filled with joy.
Advent is a season of preparation. It’s a season of repentance, a season of
turning our lives to face a new direction.
It’s a season of hope and transformation.
The first Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of
hope, and it is hope that the message of Christmas will transform our world and
our lives, that the kingdom of God will be made real in our world and in our
lives.
And it’s time to start planning now how we can make that happen.
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