· Psalm 122 (1)
· Romans 13:11-14
· Matthew 24:36-44
I've been drawing a blank about this lectionary for weeks. Also I've been learning a solo from Handel's Messiah which pretty much summarizes the whole thing. The words are "rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is the righteous Saviour, and he shall speak peace unto the heathen."
Great. Right. Christmas, peace on earth, goodwill to man, blah blah, etc., whatever.
You know one thing that makes no sense to me? We keep talking like Jesus is going to come back and save us. When Jesus comes back, then there will be peace. And we'll all be taken up to Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.
Really?
You know what? Jesus already came. Jesus already spoke peace unto the heathen, which would be us. Jesus already saved us. And yet we don't have peace. Why?
It occurred to me that there are generally two reasons for violence: to take something from someone, or for revenge. Anything else is pathological. And Jesus explained how to end both. First of all, give up your material possessions. The Buddha already taught that 2000 years before Christ, but of course nobody wants to hear that, whether it comes from the Buddha or Christ or your trustee in bankruptcy. We heard this today in the epistle: "make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."
We can stop right there and leave the sermon about revenge for another day. And I'll preach it to you, don't worry about that. But let's talk about gratifying the flesh. I mean, today is the first day of Advent. Four weeks to get in the spirit of Christmas, and we're gonna spend them gratifying the flesh in every way.
First of all, we're going to spend lots of money. On loot we don't need, most of which is going to end up in the dump within two years. We're going to buy all sorts of things that light up. Not candles. Those are cheap and renewable, so we don't want that. Now we have battery operated candles. You'd think they'd last longer than the regular kind, but now we're gonna have to buy the batteries. Batteries have cadmium and other stuff in them that keep the economy going. Candles are just wax. Christmas trees, too. Used to be, someone would plant trees, let them grow seven feet tall, cut them down and sell them. They'd make oxygen for a while, smell good in the house for a few weeks, and then you could burn them for heat. Now trees are made of plastic and optic fiber so you can plug them in. You can buy them pre-lit, or even pre-decorated. That might sound like we'll use less, but the good news is, we have to plug them in! Burn fossil fuels! Put them in the dump and they'll still be there in 10,000 years! And of course, millions of toys. Because you know what, the IMF is worried that demand might drop, resulting in a "lost decade" for the global economy. And we sure wouldn't want that.
Also, we're going to buy clothes to look sexy at Christmas parties. Because nothing says "Christ is King" like getting tarted up and drunk and finding some tail at a [SQG] "Christmas" party. And you can't wear clothes you already own, because they're too "last year" and you've probably gained weight anyway. And the more "Christmas parties" you attend, the more successful you must be. People like you. They like getting drunk with you. You're good room candy. Jesus would be so proud of you.
For all these "Christmas parties" of course we need to buy lots of food and lots of booze. And do lots of Christmas baking, too. What exactly is the point of Christmas baking? I've never understood that. Do we need more snacks to keep us going in between the parties? Does Weight Watchers give you an amnesty on points eaten in the form of Christmas baking? We're already going to pig out a few times in the name of "Christmas". Work Christmas party, then with your parents, then with your in-laws, then a couple parties at your buddies' houses, and then the leftovers. Yes. Clearly, what we need is more food to celebrate the birth of Christ.
But wait! Because we're all good and saintly, we're gonna donate some of our loot to the poor! Some of it might even be useful loot. Canned goods. Warm clothing. Something that will really, really make their kids happy. Wonderful. What nice people we are. It's too bad the poor feel entitled to this charity and aren't grateful, isn't it? Oh wait, you know what, they are entitled. Jesus told you to give to the poor. It's actually perfectly right for the poor to expect it. What's not so righteous is when you're giving such a tiny portion of what you have, and the rest of the year you keep all your loot for yourself. What's not righteous, too, is spending all this money on loot, even if it's for the Canadian poor, and not sending any to the Third World where people are actually dying because not only they don't have loot, but they don't have food, water or shelter.
If Jesus had stayed in his grave, he'd be rolling around in it just now. As it is, he's probably wondering if anyone heard a word he said back then.
Speaking of which, didn't we read today that Jesus said "Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming," and also "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." If Jesus comes by while you're at the mall getting loot, or dancing on the table at a Christmas party, or stuffing your face with food, do you think he's going to pick you? You wouldn't even hear him calling.
Keep awake, and keep Christ's teachings. We pretend that Advent and Christmas are about the birth of the Lord, but we make it about loot. We actually spend four weeks worshipping the Baals: sloth, gluttony, lust, greed. That's what we do with Advent and the Nativity of Our Lord.
Keep awake therefore, and keep the way of the Lord, now more than ever. Rejoice greatly, but do not wallow in sin. Christ did not ask us to remember his birth, but his death. If you choose to make a big deal of Christmas, that's fine, but make it a big Christian deal, not a celebration of idols.
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