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ADVENT: A CALL FOR CHANGE
By George S. Johnson
Reflections for Advent and the Christmas Season
- Introduction
- First Sunday of Advent (When Hurt and Hope Embrace)
- Second Sunday of Advent (Confession and Conversion)
- Third Sunday of Advent (Saying Yes and Saying No)
- Fourth Sunday of Advent (The Impossible Is Possible)
- Christmas Eve (Rejection and Acceptance)
- Christmas I (Living in Expectation)
- Additional Reading
Reflections for Advent and the Christmas Season
Introduction
The lectionary texts for Advent/Christmas are a series of Biblical passages that help the faith community prepare for and celebrate the coming of God in the birth of Jesus. For each week read over the Old and New Testament lectionary texts assigned for the four Sundays of Advent, Christmas and the first Sunday after Christmas. You may find slight variations used in your denomination. Some ideas and directions for personal reflection, group discussion and sermon preparation are suggested. Each Biblical reflection continues with a look at themes that come out of the texts.
First Sunday of Advent
When Hurt and Hope Embrace
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 63:16 64:8, Mark 13:32-37
This text gives speech to anguish and questioning. It articulates the embrace of pain. For many people a sense of hopelessness, not always expressed or received, lies close to the surface. They might ask, "Why doesn't God do something about this terrible situation?"
The "yet" in Isaiah 64:8 expresses hope and confidence that God has not abandoned us. Our willingness to grieve and our solidarity with those who suffer can bring hope. In the midst of suffering, God works to make us people of compassion. Our willingness to spend time with the poor and forgotten ones can open us to be sensitive listeners and better able to act responsibly.
This is a Sunday to see beyond the chaotic rush to beat last year's profit, to lift up those whose hurt is real. How can the Church and individuals embrace the pain of others?
Speech
Speech is the capacity and practice of communication through words expressed and feelings articulated. Through speech, the impossible becomes possible. From the texts we learn how speech gives power. It gives energy and courage, which keep hope alive. Speech releases our imagination and gives power to the weak, the hurting ones. The Church needs to find ways to give speech to hurting people and to a hurting environment.
We must allow questions such as the one asked in Isaiah 63:17 - "O Lord, why dost thou make us err from thy ways and harden our hearts?" In this speech we discover a kind of anguish, which opens the door for a word of hope. As Christians we live in exile; we are not willing to bow to Babylon. There are many people today who feel that God has abandoned them. For healing to happen, they need to express their hurt. Is the Church ready to listen to their questions, their cry for help?
To encourage the kind of speech that leads to healing, we are required to do social analysis and social criticism. Do our liturgies and prayers express the cries of the hurt? Do we embrace the pain that accompanies those cries?
Advent gives us the courage to go to the mountaintop and herald the good tidings. We proclaim that God reigns, that God comes, that God works justice for the oppressed. John the Baptist was a voice crying in the wilderness. We, too, may be a voice in the wilderness when our observance of this season leads us to march to a different drummer. Remember that our lifestyles and our actions are also a form of speech. And also remember that there is a place for silence as well as speech.
Second Sunday of Advent
Confession and Conversion
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-8
Confession includes naming specific sin, not just repeating generalities. During this Christmas season, take a look at greed as one area that might lead to confession. Greed in our personal lives or institutional greed - when we look to others to be greedy for us - impacts relationships, creation, nations, economic systems, and the growing separation of the rich and the poor.
Realize that repentance includes a change of attitude and orientation. In addition, remember that confession and repentance lead to forgiveness and conversion. God forgives. His forgiveness heals, empowers and liberates. Has our use of confession become bland and powerless to bring about repentance and change? How do present historical events and trends lead us to confession?
Conversion
God comes to change the hearts of people so that the Kingdom may come. God wants to change things, attitudes, thoughts, directions, trends, unjust situations and systems. In other words, God intervenes in order to convert or transform. Christians may also need to be changed (converted) along the way so that the Kingdom of God may come among us. The Word of God has the power to convert us, change us, empower us. God comes into our lives, and we are born anew.
John the Baptist calls for repentance which is a call for conversion. Repentance is a bold turnaround in our orientation to life, to values, to relationships. The Jesus who came interrupts our lives with a call for justice and righteousness. This is a radical change brought about by the Spirit of the Lord. That means transformation, new ways of seeing the world. When Jesus breaks into our lives there will be "garlands instead of ashes." That is conversion brought about by the Spirit of the Lord. No wonder it is good news to the poor.
Pastors can enter the pulpit with the confidence that God will bring about conversions through the proclamation of the Word. When we listen to the Word we can expect to be changed. Each Sunday in Advent calls for change. Little conversions happen regularly in our lives as God changes us from one degree of glory (justice) to another. Advent calls for change in our lives so that we become ready to celebrate Christmas. Recall the Hebrew Testament reading for the first week of Advent: "O that thou wouldst come down . . ." That yearning opens the way for change. Inwardly many of us yearn for a different Advent, a different Christmas.
What would God change in our lives, in our society, in order for us to be ready for the coming of Christ? Some conversions happen only after personal encounters with the poor and the oppressed. How can we open the way for this to happen?
Third Sunday of Advent
Saying Yes and Saying No
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, John 1:6-8, 19-28
The Hebrew text articulates beautifully the glory of God. Isaiah 61:3 brings out the connection between glory and justice. Last week the Isaiah passage summed up the whole Advent message by stating, "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed." Jose Miranda's book Marx and the Bible (pp. 231-243) provides a stimulating exegetical study of the word "glory." The author demonstrates that glory is connected to God's action of justice for the poor, the stranger, and the forgotten ones. Isaiah 61:8 says that God loves justice but hates robbery with burnt offering. In other words, worship services that lack concern for economics that exploit the poor cause God to become upset. Do we also become upset?
Our yes to God's love for us includes a no to injustice and allegiances to unjust powers. We need to articulate both the yes and the no. To affirm certain things means to deny allegiance to others. Sometimes that can be costly. Encourage people to think through how lifestyle and economic choices involve both a yes and a no.
Glory
During this season, the theme of glory resounds in our texts, our worship liturgies, and the Iyrics of our music: "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed" (Advent II), "the Word became flesh . . . we beheld his glory," "glory to God in the highest" (Christmas Eve), and "glory to thy people Israel" (Christmas I).
It is absolutely imperative that the church clarify "the glory of God." Romans 3:23 reminds us that because all of us have sinned, we fall short of the glory of God. A careful study of Scripture helps us to see the connection between glory and doing justice or correcting injustice. Isaiah 62:2 says, "the peoples will see your justice and all the kings your glory;" Isaiah 61:3 proclaims, "they will be called the plants of justice (righteousness), the planting of the Lord of glory."
While glory may have varied meanings, it becomes apparent in the Advent/Christmas texts that glory is closely linked to the justice of God. Glory consists in Yahweh's self-manifestation to execute justice and compassion in order to save the poor and weak from the hands of the unjust. Glory is liberation from bondage. See Psalms 96 and 82. Glory is concrete rather than theoretical. If we want to see and participate in the glory of God, we will join God in acts of justice for the oppressed and enslaved.
Choice
There is a yes and a no to the Gospel. The good news is God's yes. In coming to live among us, God was saying, "Yes, this world is important. Yes, I care about you." In saying yes, God also said no. God's judgment against evil is God's no. To accept God's grace is to say yes. That leads us to some concrete decisions in our lives. They are religious, political, economic and social decisions. When we confess our sins as John exhorts us in the lectionary text for the second Sunday in Advent, we are making choices. We are saying yes and no. When we are baptized or our children are baptized, we are saying yes and no.
Mary was not a puppet without choice. She encountered God through an extraordinary means, the angel, and she responded with obedience. Her choice contained both a yes and a no. Think through what different no's were involved in her yes. John the Baptist also faced a number of choices. At one point he wondered if Jesus was the one, or if he should start looking in another direction. John had to choose.
This Advent/Christmas season we, too, are confronted with choices. Will our lives be "business as usual"? Is Jesus (and his glory) the one we will follow or shall we look in another direction - the glory of Madison Avenue? Will we place our hope in the coming of God who brings good news to the poor and who wants to make us plantings of justice, or will we support the present arrangement where the rich are in control and the poor are exploited? What differences do our choices make?
Each time we hear the preached word, we must make a decision. Those who preach must make clear what God has decided and must show us how our response involves a decision, for the Gospel calls for a response. But where does that decision lead us? How does the yes of Advent lead us to say yes and no in our lives? Trust the Holy Spirit to empower you to make the right decisions. Remember that Advent is decision time for you and for all God's people.
Fourth Sunday of Advent
The Impossible Is Possible
Scripture Readings: II Samuel 7:1-16, Luke 1:26-38
For some of us, Mary deserves a better hearing and understanding in our piety and interpretation of the Scriptures. A sermon or Bible study devoted to her can be encouraging and can also affirm the role of women in redemptive history as well as in today's society. Remember that sexism, a form of injustice, is still alive.
Our Gospel text does not linger long on the biological aspects of Jesus' birth but more on the nature and implications of his coming. Terms like throne, reign, kingdom and Davidic have political overtones as does Mary's song in Luke 1:46-55. Be sure to make the connection. (See Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?, l988, for Brueggemann's reflection on Mary's song, or read Bonnie Jensen's sermonette on this text in my book Beyond Guilt and Powerlessness, published in 1989 by Augsburg.)
Mary's life gives us courage to believe that the impossible is possible. Her life helps us to prepare for the conflict that may result. Her kind of honesty, boldness and obedience to God's word can help us face the consumerism, conformism, militarism, racism, adultism and atheism that appear so powerful in our world.
Imagination
We experience hope when our imagination is released, when we envision and believe that things can be different. Imagination refuses to accept that the present reality, with its injustices and suffering, is absolute or final. Alternatives exist. With imagination, the impossible is possible even in the face of great odds.
The Church must present alternative ways of thinking about the way this world can be. We do this by touching people's imagination with the use of story, poetry, music, art and drama as it comes out of the Advent/Christmas texts. There is no time of year when the use of story is more effective for explaining the Gospel.
Imagination is released when we embrace the pain of those who hurt or lament over present injustices. Embracing the pain is the genesis of hope. As we remember that God reigns, hurt and hope come together. God is the potter; we are the clay. Things can be different. The gospel of Advent calls us to let go of our false idols and allegiances to the empire. We must trust God. Being subversive, we must refuse to support the status quo; we must resist living as though things can't change.
What does it mean to submit ourselves to God's impossibilities and trust the promises and yearnings of our hearts? It means we must release the imagination of those who have discovered that the dominant values of our society lead us down the wrong path. Thus, imagination can lead us to new choices, to a new capacity to embrace the poor, to the power to live differently. Then the glory of God will be revealed.
Christmas Eve
Rejection and Acceptance
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10, John 1:1-18
John 1:1-18 offers an opportunity to talk about our response to the Word made flesh. Some rejected Jesus - His own people in fact. We need to comprehend the scandal of Jesus' message lest we try to accommodate it to our security and values. We may accept religion but reject Jesus. If we receive Jesus, we are given new power for life. What does receiving (believing) Jesus mean? Receive Jesus and invite others to receive Him. Call people to follow Jesus. Properly understood, this will not result in a privatistic quietism or escape into other worldly matters. Jesus makes clear from the beginning the need for conversion, for change, for new beginnings. The Word became flesh. So what? Have we beheld this glory? Only if our decision to follow him has taken us into God's kingdom of justice and mercy where the Spirit transforms our values and behavior.
The Cosmos
A universal and cosmic note adds to the harmony of the texts before us. The good news is not only for Israel, not only for those who are present to hear it, but for all nations. Nature, mysticism, and even the cosmos enter into the drama. Angels and stars, the logos (word) and the heavens join in the action. Advent and Christmas are the Coming of the cosmic Christ. The heavenly hosts join in the "glory to God." This season connects us to everything that was and is.
God's coming is for all people. John's prologue reminds us that all who receive Jesus become children of God. In next week's lectionary text, Simeon tells Mary that this child is a light for revelation to Gentiles as well as to Israel. This season forces us to look beyond our immediate borders and narrow restrictions.
Our texts also connect us to creation and the cosmos. John 1:1-14 reminds us that this logos was in the beginning and that all things were made through him. God is believed to be in charge of the cosmos. Our experience of God cannot always be explained in normal, every day language. Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" only introduces us to the awe and wonder of it all.
Celebration
God came, God comes and God will come again. Because of this, we "rejoice in dance and give gladness to one another." Those in exile have a cause to celebrate because the struggle will end. God will pardon iniquity.
In the texts, a sense of rejoicing emerges because God is going to act, the impossible will be made possible, and radical changes will occur. Simeon suggests a type of praise as he blesses God and Mary in the temple. Communion is, among other things, a celebration of thanksgiving.
The Church needs to celebrate in the midst of struggle. This is a season of good music. Using different doxologies, we sing with our souls. Think about those things that hinder the soul from exalting. Be still long enough to allow the season's music to exalt your soul. Celebrate the meaning of the Advent/Christmas texts through new as well as traditional songs.
Christmas 1
Living in Expectation
Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 31:10-13, Sirach 3:2-6 and 12-14, Luke 2:22-40
Often we lose out on some powerful lectionary texts because we too quickly look into the new year. The Simeon story is heavy with meaning for the coming of God's salvation. Here we are reminded of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and of the ministry of waiting with hope. The universal aspects of the Christ event are clearly stated. This text makes the connection between "glory" and the salvation acts of God, God's justice. Again, we need to remember the scandal of Jesus' life. Remember Simeon's telling of the "rising and falling" of many. What does Simeon's blessing mean? Who needs our blessing at this time?
Subversive Acts
When God came to earth through the incarnation (becoming flesh and living along side us), not everyone greeted Jesus warmly. The incarnation brought great disruption, beginning with Herod, and turned many things upside down. The anticipated new arrangement of things upset the people in control. They considered Jesus to be a subversive. For as Simeon reports, Jesus' coming meant the "rising and falling of many." We are aware that the justice of God always meets with strong opposition from the centers of power and control in an unjust world. The justice Jesus
stood for was a threat to the ones who benefited by injustice. Those in power finally nailed him to the cross.
The resistance to Jesus' message is not only out there, it is within each of us. We are reluctant to relinquish what we have enjoyed and controlled and lived from. The very idea of God coming when we don't expect him meets a certain resistance even with the Christian community. We don't want our present living to be interrupted. Nor do we necessarily like to hear embarrassing questions or the cries of people who hurt. We'd rather feel guilty and look for cheap grace than embrace pain. We always resist repentance because it means change in the direction of our lives. We prefer to live in ignorance rather than to become informed and write letters that call for justice. The book of Isaiah starts out with God saying that God cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Perhaps our worship needs to be more radical, more subversive as it lifts up the call for a change in the way things are arranged in favor of the powerful.
We know from our reading of the gospels that when Jesus took on the mantle of servant, he met the resistance of religious people who were filled with wrath. They seemed to understand the social, political and economic ramifications of the year of jubilee. Do we? We are faithful to the lectionary texts for Advent and Christmas only if we also remember the subversive aspects of Jesus' coming.
In our eagerness for people to go home from worship with a good feeling, we are in danger of denying or avoiding the subversive nature of God's reign inaugurated in Jesus. We must remember that the coming of Jesus brings conflict as well as hope. In fact, sometimes hope is hidden within the conflict.
Additional Reading
First Sunday in Advent: Hope Within History (John Knox, 1987) and Hopeful Imagination (Fortress, 1986), both by Walter Brueggemann.
Second Sunday in Advent: Whatever Became of Sin? by Karl Menenger, (Hawthorne Books, 1973).
Third Sunday in Advent: Saying Yes and Saying No: On Rendering to God and Caesar, by Robert McAfee Brown, (Westminster, 1986).
Fourth Sunday in Advent: Mary in the New Testament edited by Raymond Brown and others, (Paulist and Fortress, 1978).
Christmas Eve: Call to Conversion by Jim Wallis, (Harper and Row, 1981).
First Sunday After Christmas: Commentary on Luke by David Tiede, (Augsburg,1988) and The Gospel in Solentiname, Vol. I, by Ernesto Cardenal, (Orbis, 1982).
About the Reflections'Author
George S. Johnson, now retired, was formerly pastor of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Circle Pines, Minnesota, the author of Beyond Guilt and Powerlessness and co-author of Evangelism and the Poor. From 1980 to 1987 he was Director of the Hunger Program for the former American Lutheran Church..
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