Advent 2, year A
Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
Franklin Grove UMC

There was an interesting editorial in the paper called “Getting a head start on holiday feasting”. In it, the author compares two excellent Turkey dinners- one at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Sterling and one at Franklin Grove United Methodist. Now it would probably be really petty and childish to point out the comparisons- but I'm going to do it anyhow. This little paragraph right here is about Sacred Heart. It says...

“Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Sterling, for one, had an excellent turkey dinner. In this one, you serve yourself, waiting in line as you gather your food a nd then you take a seat at a long table and dig in. Scouts are available to help you carry your tray, if you need assistance.!”

That's nice. And all of this is about us. Now, if we look at Ms. Mills description of the experience of a Franklin Grove United Methodist Turkey Supper, I think we get a little bit of insight into why the season of Advent is such a holy time in the life of the church.
“At the Methodist Church” [they never say, United Methodist in the media] “in Franklin Grove, it's a different story. Their meal is an exact copy of what you might serve at your own Thanksgiving or Christmas feast. There you buy your ticket and get a number. You take a seat in the church and listen to the organist playing a variety of tunes and you wait. Every time you see a girl [that is Ann] come from upstairs [sic.] and walk toward the microphone, a silence envelopes the church. Everyone is waiting to hear their number called.”

You see, its in the waiting that the anticipation builds. It is in the waiting that your blood starts to thump as you look for a sign of it being your turn. Waiting for your number to be called.

“When the deed is done, happy people with the right number head downstairs to the meal. Those less fortunate, take up the babble of conversation again, heads turning now and then to make sure they aren't missing the next numbers.”
Remember last week when Mark warned us, keep awake- stay alert. for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep alert.” Now, it has been 2000 years since Jesus came. We are tired, we are weary, we are losing hope that our number will ever be called. For so many of us, it is simply easier to be alert and excited for the immediate- the turkey, the Christmas packages, the parties, than it is to keep alert and excited for the most important event the Universe has ever seen- the coming of our Lord. Advent is that time in the church year where we are reminded, re-awakened into the awesomeness of the Mystery. Advent is the time of preparation for the coming of our Lord again. It is our break from the 'babble of conversation' to turn our heads, to turn back, to repent toward the Lord to make sure that we aren't missing the numbers.

“One of the Millses' favorite parts of this particular meal is the wait. It's a time to be used for people spotting. You might see someone you used to work with before you retired or someone who used to live by you. You may even have your current neighbor sit down in the pew beside you.”

Now there is a thought. And who is your neighbor? I guess that's a whole 'nother sermon. Let's go on...

“The first thing you do when you sit down is to share your number with the rest of your party and then with anyone you know. “What number are you, Martha?”
“114,” Martha replies.
“I've got 97,” is the answer, which causes Martha to add, “How nice.”
She doesn't mean it though because you'll get to the dinner before her.”

Ah, the classic story of human competition. It is so ingrained in who we are that no wonder Jesus had to spend so much time teaching his disciples, teaching us who want the good seats, the seat of honor, the seat that is not by the kitchen door with the waitress constantly breezing past you, no wonder Jesus had to spend so much time teaching us who argue who is the best disciple, who should be Jesus' favorite, and who should not be invited to the table at all, it is no wonder that Jesus had to tell us over and over again, directly, through parable, and through his actions, that the Kingdom of Heaven is different. In the Kingdom of God, there is no lack so there is no competition. There is only the abundant goodness of God. In fact, the first are last and the last are first. And so if we are Martha, we can truly share in the better part when Ms. Mills here says, I got a ticket, #97, I am coming to the Gospel feast, we can say, 'how nice.' In fact, we can say Amen and Alleluia! Amen?

I'm going to skip down past the embarrassing part about the raffle to the next paragraph.

“When the blessed event occurs” [her words, not mine] “When the blessed event occurs and your number is called” [if that is not the first line to a hymn it ought to be,] “...you move down the stairs and are shown to a table. Before you sit down, you get to select your pie --- sometimes there's cake, but that's rare.

Then, seated at a large table with your group and several others, you're treated to a family-style Thanksgiving meal. Friendly people take care of your food whims, handing you coleslaw, potatoes, gravy, dressing/stuffing, turkey, bread and cranberries. You get something to drink, too, ranging from coffee to water and some parts in between.” [I am not sure what that means.]

“You can sit there and eat until the cows come home, but it won't take that long to fill up. Then you have to waddle back up the stairs and out the door. They don't have a nap room, [maybe something to bring up with the Trustees] so you'll need to head home for that.

The Methodists serve this tasty treat every year the Thursday before Thanksgiving. I always think of it as a practice run. If you don't find something to like about it, you'd better consider a hot dog on the real day.”

Now lets pause there, “you'd better consider a hot dog on the real day”. What might that mean to us theologically? What if we think of this life as a practice run and if “you don't find something to like about it, you'd better consider a hot dog on the real day?” You've heard me relate Dorothy Day's conversion experience a dozen times by now. Why did she become a Christian? She says simply, “because I wanted life, and I wanted life abundantly.” That is the tragedy of this Godless age. We see so many of our friend and families and neighbors and dare I say church members and yes, even our own selves at times who are merely going through the motions until they die. So much of the world is in a funk, a funk caused by having a God shaped hole in our hearts- a hole that we try and fill with sex, and alcohol, and television, and shopping, and fancy gadgetry, and unhealthy relationships, and excessive eating, and politics, and any number of other things that may or may not be good in themselves but we pervert in order to fill that God shaped hole. Meanwhile, we are so busy trying to pursue our desires- trying so hard and never catching up- that we miss the beauty of what we are given. But listen! Listen to a voice crying out in the wilderness, a voice of hope, a voice of freedom that is coming o yes I know, a voice that says, Prepare Ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. A voice that says repent, or more literally, turn around. Turn away from all of those things that sap your life, that get in the way of you having life and having it abundantly and instead turn toward God. Mark starts his Gospel out with this simple message. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” “The one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”. The one who won't just fill that God shaped hole in your heart but overfill it- fill it so that you have so much life, so much love, so much light that you'll have no choice but to share it with everyone you meet, you won't be able to help but to share the good news. Look, we don't have to be clothed in camel's hair and eat locusts and wild honey to be prophets in the dessert. Sisters and brothers, look around. The desert is all around us. There are plenty of people who we come across every single day in our lives that in the world's funk and missing out- missing out on the abundant. Sisters and brothers, look around. There are no other prophets but you and me.

Back to Ms. Mills.

“There'd only be one reason I'd tell you not to try this – I wanted to find a parking space right near the church for once and if you don't go there to eat, I might just find one next year. But if you really want a delight, I suppose I can walk. Sigh.”

Oh, if that were our problem. Oh if the parking lot were so full that we needed to fill the lawn next store with cars or have our teens valet park. But that is really only a problem one day a year, the Thursday before Thanksgiving. And why is that? How does the word get out that we have turkey better than Mom's and pie, Oh do we have pie with the flakiest of flaky crust and the pumpkins dark orange but not burnt- but the word does not get out that we have the bread of life? The next morning, no matter how much they stuffed themselves they were hungry again. The next morning, no matter how much they drank of “the coffee to water and some parts in between” they were thirsty again. And yet here we have the spiritual bread of life of which you shall eat, and never be in want again. Here we bathe in the living water, the well from which we drink and are never thirsty again and yet there are plenty of parking spots. On that Thursday, I even think that there were people sitting in this front pew.

The answer is simple. We, the message bearers, the ones called “to be found at peace, without spot or blemish and with patience in the Lord of our salvation” we get distracted. We have the competing messages of the Great I Am and the great hype. And all to often, just because of the sheer quantity of it, we fall for the great hype. The great hype is Satan's tool. It is the way in which we are convinced that the immediate is better than the eternal. It is the way in which we are convinced not only that driving a certain car will make us successful but that being temporally successful is a worthy goal. The great hype is what tells us that we are not good enough, that we need to consume xyz to be worthy of love, that we need to look like so and so to have worth, that we need to focus on achievement even at the expense of our relationships with our families, with ourselves and with God. The great hype promises the abundant life, but leaves us wanting more. It promises us freedom, but enslaves us to itself. It promises us vitality, but leaves us too tired to make it out of the house on Sunday morning. That is the great hype that doesn't last. “The grass withers, the flower fades.” The promises are left unfulfilled and life is empty of meaning.
But. Sisters and brothers. There is another promise. Amen? That is the promise of the Great I Am. That is the promise that we are waiting to be filled. That is the check written by our God that will not bounce. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and it shall be all the sweeter because of the waiting. That is what it means to be an Advent Christian. To be able to sing out with no uncertainty that freedom, o freedom is coming, o yes I know, o yes I know. That is the hope that we are awaiting to be born in Bethlehem- not just some cute little baby but the savior of us all, the one come to make us new, our deliverer, the one who can give sight to the blind and calm the storm with his hand, the one who is none less than God Godsself. The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak the praises of the Lamb. The Lord of all creation, the ruler of all the nations. Heaven's perfect lamb. The Great I Am! That is who we are waiting for this Advent season, did you know?

So, this Advent season, lets swear against a hot dog sort of life and go straight to the feast. Amen? This Advent season, lets put aside the distractions of the world and focus on our Lord Amen? This Advent season, lets make it a point to invite everyone to the Gospel feast. Amen? Amen.