4th Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1:1-7, Matt 1:18-25

          So today is the fourth and final Sunday in Advent.  Christmas is in 3 days.  Are you ready do you feel prepared?  I’m sure that some of you feel you have the season well in hand.  Presents bought and wrapped, travel plans and schedules complete, cooking, baking and cleaning well under way and so on.  Others like me, may still feel a bit behind, overwhelmed and unsure what even still needs to get done, much less whether we will actually do it.  I have always admired those people who manage to get all their Christmas shopping done in October.  Because whether we are having a big extravagant family Christmas or a quiet time at home with some much needed relaxing it pays to be prepared.

          And our bible readings for today seek to make sure we are prepared for Christmas too but in a way that has nothing to do presents, travel or food.  Our bible readings seek to make sure we are prepared to greet the coming of the Lord.  For today is a day of proclamations about this Jesus Christ who is coming again into our lives this week.   In three very different times and places, the readings help people preparing to meet Christ Jesus for the first time.  To encounter this unprecedented, unexpected gift of God’s love in all his wonder and humility.  Now this is an event that requires some preparation.  So each of our readings today seeks to give us a bit of a crash course in Jesus, telling us the most important things we need to know about the Lord before he comes and equally important how to recognize him among all the noise, distractions and pretenders.  They each have a different way of telling us what we need to know.

          First we have Isaiah for whom the birth of the Messiah was a sign, somewhat of a warning about the ways that God will bring change to the world.  And also a promise in the name Immanuel that God will always be present with his people no matter what. 

          Then we have Paul in the opening of his letter to the Romans. He is facing a very different situation.  A situation much more like ours today.  The fleshly Jesus has already come and gone and now Paul seeks to bring Christ into the midst of this Roman congregation.  So Paul, being Paul, presents sort of condensed theological treatise. A crib notes version of Christian theology of you will.  One seven verse long sentence that presents all Paul’s most import ideas about Jesus.  His foretelling in the holy scriptures, Jesus’ duel parentage as a descendant of David and son of God, his death and resurrection, his gifts of grace, faith and peace to his followers and his openness to gentiles.  It’s a mouthful in English and in Greek but Paul wants to make sure people know the basics before he starts in on specific questions and concerns.

          And then we have the Gospel of Matthew, where we hear a story that tells us far more about Jesus than just facts and figures about his birth.  We learn of his parentage both divinely through the Holy Spirit and humanly through Joseph.  We learn his names old and new, Immanuel – ‘God with us’ and Jesus – Hellenized for Joshua meaning ‘God saves’ and these names give us our first glimpse of what this Jesus will do.  And finally and perhaps most importantly, we learn that even before his birth Jesus is inspiring his people to love and serve the vulnerable and outcast in the way Joseph sets aside tradition and Jewish law to love and honor Mary as his wife despite her pregnancy.

          So in the end, each of these readings tells the story of Jesus a little differently.  They each announce Jesus’ presence to the world in their own way.  So what would you say if you were asked to give this Christmas proclamation?  If you wanted to introduce someone to Jesus for the first time what would you say or do?  If you needed to prepare those around you for this coming of Christ at Christmas, how would you do it?

          Would you turn to the bible quoting perhaps one of the texts we heard today or other favorites like John 3:16, the beatitudes, Luke’s Nativity or the Great Commission?  Would you be like Paul and try to explain the basic principles of faith and what we believe?  Or perhaps you would be like Matthew and tell the story of Christ’s life and death and what it means to us as Christians.  Or perhaps instead you would tell your own story, how your relationship with Christ has transformed your own life through his power.  Telling stories of you own faith experience of baptism and worship, the support of a community and the power of prayer. 

Or perhaps because we are Episcopalians and we often have a hard time speaking about our faith, we would prefer to make our Christmas proclamation in actions rather than words.  Publicly living out Christ’s command to Love our neighbor as ourselves.  We would proclaim Christ’s love and power in the world through the way we treat others, the way we serve the poor and outcast, the way we resist oppression, the way we welcome the stranger and forgive the sinner. 

Well here’s the deal.  This is no what if.  We are each and every one of us asked in some way to be the one who proclaims Christ to the world this week.  This is the very heart of the Advent message, to prepare the way of the Lord.  Now it’s doubtful that many of you will be asked to make a speech or give a theological treatise to a stranger about the meaning of Christmas, but you never know, people ask questions at this time of year.  More likely most of us will be asked to share the message of Christ is much less outspoken ways.  It will be in the way we treat others in that overlong store checkout or airport security line.  The way we reach out with love and compassion in order to set aside old grudges and feuds to heal wounds in our relationships with loved ones for Christmas.  The way we interact with the children and young people in our families, especially the ones who may not be raised in the church. The way we reserve judgement about our family members choices.  The way we set aside extra time and money to help those less fortunate this year.  The way we reach out to those who may be lonely or sad at this time of year or invite a friend or neighbor who may not have much else going on to join our Christmas celebration.  The way we answer the age old questions of ‘what are you doing for Christmas?’ or ‘what did you get this year?’ with answers that have more to do with Christ than ourselves.

Every one of us will be given an opportunity to proclaim Christ to the world is week in ways big and small.  How will you answer the call?  Amen.