First Sunday in Advent
December 2, 2007
The Rev. James Richardson
Proper 28 C
Isaiah 2: 1-5
Romans 13: 11-14
Matthew 24: 36-44

This is a big weekend, marking a very big occasion on the calendar. I speak, of course, of the Big Game between Cal and Stanford.

This has been a very big deal in my family for many years, given that my parents and all of my aunts and one of my uncles all went to Cal. And I am here to tell you that there is a dark side to this The Big Game, and not just that Cal lost yesterday. The Big Game represents one of my early indoctrinations into the sometimes harsh realities of the world. Let me tell you the story.

When I was about five or six, during the Eisenhower administration – you do the math – my family brought me to the Big Game bonfire the night before the Big Game. It was a cool evening, so my mother put a sweater on me.

Before I go on, she told me I could tell you this traumatic story. In fact, she is here today and I will introduce you a little later.

But back to the Big Game and the sweater story.

There was only one problem. It was a red sweater.

When the Cal marching band came by, they saw me in my little red sweater, and they started chanting: “Take off that red sweater, take off that red sweater.”

It was in that moment that I learned of the cruel ways of musicians.

I mention all this to you because this is a big weekend, and it is marked by the color of blue. But we did not put blue up today out of loyalty to Cal, nor to keep at bay any members or former members the Cal marching band who may be lurking here today to check on the color of my sweater.

Rather, the color blue is the color of Advent, the color that marks the four weeks leading to Christmas. Today is the First Sunday in Advent, and it is also the first day of the new year on the church calendar. We mark the beginning of this season with new liturgical colors.

I must confess – this blue is my favorite color of the church year – and so I asked the clergy and Altar Guild to humor me by using blue this year although you’ve used purple in the past.

The color is actually called “Salisbury Blue,” or “Sarum Blue” – Sarum is the Latin name for Salisbury.

Blue has been used for Advent at Salisbury Cathedral in England since the 11th century. No one is quite sure why this blue came to be used at Salisbury – some think it is the color of Mary, and that is probably as plausible an explanation as any, and others say it is “royal” blue – the color of Norman kings.

I like to think of this blue as the color of the sky just before the dawn. To me, the blue symbolizes the hope of Advent – the time of waiting just before the dawn at the birth of Christ.

The color, I think, marks a subtle but important distinction between Advent and Lent, and that is another reason why we are not using purple. Lent, the time before Easter, is a time of confession and looking inward for the God within us. Advent, the time before Christmas, is a time of looking outward for the God around us. The two perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Consider this more a degree of emphasis, just as purple and blue are similar colors. Lent is a time of looking inward, and Advent is a time for looking outward.

Looking outward for God’s presence is at the core of the biblical lessons we hear today.

Be awake – it is almost dawn before a new day. You really don’t have to travel far to find what you seek. Look around you – look for the dawn of Christ’s light in all you do, in all whom you meet, and everywhere you go. The name “Emmanuel” means God is with us – and this God comes to us, living with us as a human being, Jesus, to show us that not even death has power over us.

As the apostle Paul puts it, “For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.”

It may look like night now, but it is the time of the blue sky, Advent, the time before the dawn. We live in an imperfect world, and it is sometimes difficult to see that the day is near. I am reminded of the words of Yehuda Amichai, an Israeli poet who saw much tragedy and conflict in his lifetime. He wrote: “Behind all this some great happiness is hiding.”

That is the meaning of Advent.

Beneath the night, a happiness is hiding, the outbreak of God’s kingdom into our dark and difficult world. This is Advent. Light will soon shine, a great happiness is hiding, Jesus comes into this world to show us that salvation is ours right now, right here, and to show us a way to live without fear. That is the central fact of our faith: that Jesus is come, the dawn is here, and God’s kingdom is around us.

Yet we need to sharpen our eyes to see the dawn.

How to sharpen our eyes? We can start by looking outward to see those in the greatest of need around us. Indeed, we are the hands, feet and heart of God’s kingdom. We don’t have to solve all the world’s problems, but we can be present to the hurt that is near us, and take a step or two to bring healing and peace. When we do, the Risen Christ will be this near to us.

That is why we are doing special in-gatherings each Sunday in Advent, starting today with gifts of food and cookies for homeless shelters, and next week we ask that you bring fitted single bed sheets for a domestic shelter for battered women. Our ingatherings are a tangible way for our faith community to reach outward to those who hurt.

I have another suggestion for this Advent: Let’s be kind to each other. This is a season full of stress for many people, and holiday cheer can be in short supply. Let’s be good to each other, slow to anger, quick to forgive. Remember to breath.

Maybe a friend, or someone in your family is ill or hurting, or you are the one who is hurting. Take extra time to be with those you love. And when you do, watch for God’s presence in your midst, be awake for the unexpected.

This is also the day that marks a new year on the church calendar, and it is a good time to take stock of ourselves as a faith community.

Here at All Souls, we’ve done some hard work in the last few months preparing for the next chapter in the life of this parish by calling a new rector. Many of you participated in focus groups assisting in the writing of parish profile that will be a tool in the selecting of a new rector. Meanwhile, the ministries of All Souls are thriving. Children are being educated, the hungry are fed at our Open Door dinners, and the worship and music on Sunday is terrific, just to name a few things that are going well here.

Yet, as good as all of that is, it can be just a lot of exhausting activity unless we can be awake to how we are being shaped by our work as a faith community.

Being in a faith community does not mean everyone should be the same, or should agree with each other about everything. It is our differences that make this a vibrant faith community. It is not about being right, but about being in relationship with each other, especially in those times when our differences are deep.

In fact, it takes all of us, with all of our commonalities and differences, to truly discern where the Holy Spirit is leading this community. In the year ahead I hope to raise with you how we can bring discernment to the forefront of everything we do at All Souls Parish.

God has put us here, each and everyone of us, to share God’s blessing with the world, and we do that best when we share God’s blessing with each other. And that requires patience and respect.

As Paul puts it, “let us live honorably…not in quarreling and jealousy.”

My prayer for each of us this Advent is that we will look for God’s amazing grace everywhere we go, and in everything we do, and in everyone we meet, and that we will spread God’s blessing by how we live and act.

That may not always be easy, but beneath all this, a great happiness is hiding. It is Advent, the time before the dawn. Be awake! The One who walks among us as Christ blesses each of us, and fills the world with love and grace and salvation.

Amen.