Most of you know that the Christian church has its own calendar, and the church year begins four weeks before Christmas, on the first Sunday of Advent. That day is today.
Already, we have lit the first advent candle. We have begun putting up our Christmas and Advent decorations, here as well as in our homes. We have swapped out the green paraments of ordinary time and the white paraments of Christ the King Sunday for purple paraments. Purple paraments are used only during the seasons of Advent and Lent, seasons of preparation and penitence.
And we begin a new season, a new year, of lectionary scriptures.
Scripturally, this season of Advent begins with Isaiah 64, which means it begins with lament. It begins with sorrow. Longing.
And it stops us in our tracks.
It’s very different from how Christmas is celebrated outside the church.
It is so strikingly different from “Deck the halls with boughs of holly, ‘tis the season to be jolly, falalalala…” Instead of that, we have Isaiah’s words: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away…”
And this is just part of a several-chapters-long lament in this section of Isaiah.
Back in 1990, Bible scholar Diane Jacobson wrote about this. She wrote that “this lament sets Advent in the context of a real world in which things are not going well. The world is not a perfect place; people are disillusioned.”
Christmas outside the church presents a make-believe world in which everything is practically perfect. But in the church, when we are honest, we acknowledge that that is not always the case.
In her article, Diane Jacobson explains that “In the historical context of third Isaiah, this lament is voiced after the time of restoration from the exile. All hopes were pinned on that return. Coming home to Jerusalem was going to mean the end of all Israel's shame and discontent. However, things did not turn out so well. Problems multiplied rather than disappeared; ugliness and evil continued to exist.”
So when the people prayed to God, their prayers were basically prayers that asked God to show up. “Come on, God! Tear open the heavens and come down! Show yourself! We’re having a tough time here, God, and we need you!”
This is the scripture we get today. It may not be the Advent scripture that we want. What we want is shepherds and angels and a baby in a manger and a star in the sky.
And Santa Claus!
A scripture of lamentation and desperation is not what we want. But maybe, a scripture of lamentation and desperation is what we need. Maybe the truth that comes out in a scripture of lamentation and desperation is what we need.
Because, we already know that, for us, this is going to be the darkest, loneliest Christmas in a generation, if not longer. It’ll be my 50th Christmas, and I’ve never experienced a time like this, when the whole world was struggling to find hope and happiness in the midst of a massive, deadly pandemic. Three years ago, my mom died a few days before Christmas… but this is harder.
This isn’t how the holidays are supposed to be!
This isn’t how the world is supposed to be!
What the hell, God!?!
Isn’t that Isaiah’s cry, too?
What the hell, God!
260,000 Americans, dead.
Restaurants and businesses shut down, again.
Church buildings, off-limits.
Children and youth, forced to learn through computer screens.
Leaders and politicians, oblivious to the people’s suffering, willing to sacrifice lives for their own power.
And celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas apart from our relatives. Apart from our church family.
I’m not criticizing the restrictions we’ve been forced to live with. They are necessary to help control the spread. But I am tired of them. I’m tired of this pandemic.
Like Isaiah, I am ready for God to tear open the heavens, and come down, and do something, to bring some light to this time of darkness!
This is all a reminder that Christmas happens in the darkness. In literature, darkness is the time of sadness, the time of hopelessness, the time of defeat, and the time when evil powers reign.
Genesis 1 says that, in the beginning, before God created the heavens and the earth, “darkness covered the face of the deep.”
Shakespeare uses darkness to symbolize death. In Macbeth, the famous line, "Out, out brief candle," refers to Lady Macbeth's suicide.
Milton describes the paradox of hell with the phrase, "No light, but rather darkness visible."
Now, think about how much of the Christmas story takes place at night, in the dark... There are stories of dreams, and dreams usually happen at night. There are stories of shepherds guarding their sheep by night. There are stories of magi traveling at night, following a star. And although we don’t know what time of day Jesus was born, we usually imagine that it happened at night.
In the darkness.
And when the early church settled on a date for Christmas, they chose December 25, one of the darkest days of the year in the northern hemisphere.
Christmas happens in the darkness.
Scholars don’t know exactly what time or even what day Jesus was born. But they do know that it was a difficult time for Jews in Palestine. It was a time when they were crying out for freedom from Roman oppression.
Rome made it almost impossible to live. Heavy burdens, including heavy taxation, were placed on poor people like Mary and Joseph. Those who tried to resist were immediately squashed by Rome.
About the time of Jesus’ birth, the nearby town of Sepphoris (which was the closest city to the little village of Nazareth) was the site of a Jewish rebellion, and Rome responded by destroying the whole city. Sepphoris was still recovering and rebuilding throughout the time that Jesus was growing up.
That’s a dark period. It’s another reminder that Christmas happens in the midst of a troubled world, a world of darkness.
But, strangely, that gives me hope. Because if the Bible is to be believed, it’s not just that God is present in the midst of darkness and trouble - it’s that God is especially present in the midst of darkness and trouble.
This isn’t always realized at the time, but afterward, it becomes clear. God is especially present in times of darkness and trouble. It’s when we feel most beaten down that God shows up. It’s when the night feels most dark, that the light appears.
So, we need to find ways to let the light of Christ pierce our darkness. The light is there, but you need to look for it.
Set aside some time to read your Bible. Read the prophet Isaiah. Read the nativity stories from Matthew or Luke.
Sometimes, when I’m by myself, I find it helpful to read these stories out loud. There is something about hearing the words spoken out loud that helps me understand more fully the meaning, and appreciate the truth that is contained within.
This week I read an article about people who do something else to help them hear the words of scripture at a deeper level. They will take a scripture passage, and slowly write it out by hand with a pen or pencil and a piece of paper. They’ll even draw little doodles or decorations to go with the reading. I might try that...
...because practices like these can help us cut through the distractions of our world, and catch a glimpse of the light that shines in the darkness. They can help us see that Christmas joy doesn’t arrive in a world free of trouble and turmoil, but that it’s precisely because of all the trouble and turmoil of the world that Christmas joy is so meaningful and so important.
That’s what hope is all about. If all was well, we wouldn't need hope. It’s when things seem bleak, that hope comes into the world, to sustain us.
And hope lets us know that we can rejoice and be glad, right now, even though things are still a long way from being right. Because God is with us. That’s what “emmanuel” means, by the way; the word “emmanuel” means “God with us.”
And when God came to earth in the form of a baby born during a troubled time to a poor couple that was far from home; in that moment - and for all of time - God did tear open the heavens, and come down, to dwell among the people, to be the light in the darkness, to guide us safely through these troubled times.
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