Welcome to Advent. The beginning of the Christian Year. It sure feels a lot different doesn’t it. Now we just get to settle into the nice smooth ride of the next four weeks. It’s pretty much done you know. I mean, advent is a time of waiting, but really, there is only basically watching the clock to do and a few cookies to make. Nothing to worry about….
Wait.
Sorry. I started wrong… Welcome to Advent….or let’s just call it Finals Season. The most stressful part of any semester, where there really might actually be weeping and gnashing of teeth, where hope seems to fade for the next three weeks and what you get is perhaps the single most stressful population on earth. Very few places do you have 50,000 people all at once being given tests that determine something of significance (think about those law students) and then at the very end, most everyone is going to get sick. Yep. Happy New Christian Year.
Advent is that type of thing for the college ministry. It seems to be perpetually a state of hopelessness in the midst of a time when it’s all about hope. Now you may not think that it’s going to be that bad, and as many of you are freshman, it may not be. But ask Shelby, or Crystal, or Kaela, or Nico, and they’ll tell you. And I’ve already been warning you all. But this presents a very interesting way that we might look at Advent as college students. Because for many, it’s a time to come to peace and to hope and yet…it doesn’t get there for a long time.
Thus we begin with the lesson of Lament this Advent season.
And Lament is sometimes the best way to begin a season like Christmas. In the book of Isaiah, the section we read is often seen as a lament of the people, one wherein they understand that they have fallen short. We are a people who sometimes get so self-absorbed that we miss the very presence of God around us. We get so tied up in our lives, in our school work that it is difficult for us to understand and witness to the very beauty that God places around us. We are headed directly toward Christmas, forgetful of the amazing story it holds and thus, it’s time to step back and give thanks to God. And that begins perhaps by lamenting and moving forward.
With the lament over with, Advent begins a time of preparation. It is a time when we are reminded of the coming of Christ in our midst through the birth stories. Now, most if not all of you know that Jesus was not born on December 25th or probably anywhere near around it. It’s likely this was to happen in March of April, maybe even May. But what happens in an ancient Roman world is that the Pagan God birthday was on December 25, and after about 3 centuries of debate, it was decided that December 25 would meet the needs of both countering a Pagan holiday as well as satisfying the winter solstice. Thus, on December 25, 336, after Constantine had declared Christianity as the legal religion of Rome, the first official celebration of Christmas was had.
And you know, I think it’s at the most perfect time of the year anyway. And it was made as a holiday for people in the Northern Hemisphere for sure. Because what begins to happens is that for us as college students, it continues to get darker and darker, the challenges of the semester, the challenges of the year for those who are homeless and are out in the cold, for families whose heating bills will continue to go up, for those who are hoping for a challenging year to end. And it’s because of the continued diminishing light and the oncoming of night. No matter where we are in the northern hemisphere, each day is getting shorter. But then, right around December 25, the light begins to increase. You can look this up and see how quickly each day begins to get more light. Obviously over time, it seems like it does, but it’s remarkable to me how little light we have in December and how much and how quickly we start to return to light. I always say the gateway to spring is just around the Corner when we hit December.
And thus, Advent for us is perhaps a gateway. It is tough. The days are darker, but it is a time when we must realize that the light will return, Christmas is right around the corner, and hope will endure even in the midst of a challenging time. I promise, there will be snacks, there will be drinks, there will be a party, and there will be hope. Even when it is most dark.
Which brings us to our lesson from the book of Mark today. Mark’s words are reiminescent of our time here at the school. the sun will darken, the moon will not give its light, etc. But yet, the writer of Mark reminds us that we are keep awake, to keep alert to the coming Christ, to see beyond our struggles, our perpetual stack of work and tests and see the hope that will come. Stay awake, Mark says. You do not know the hour when things will change. We must look beyond everything that is happening around us, the spending of ridiculous amounts of money, of overindulgence, of a society missing the point, and we must stay awake to the reality of what this holiday means for us. Peace, hope, joy, family, and love.
So you want to keep awake. Now is not the time to fade, to give in to the sleepiness that you are experiencing, the sickness that is coming. Make sure to keep awake, to give yourself spiritual nourishment, to be prepared. Remember, the journey of finals are only an almost infinitely small portion of your life. Someday, you will look back and realize that it really was a great adventure. And you must keep awake now, somehow putting into perspective those tests and at the same time remembering that Christmas is coming and that we will once again celebrate the Emmanuel, God with us, in our midst. The lessons of Advent that come with its season of preparation are a reminder that we are constantly preparing for something else and that we have to remain ready at all times for the coming of the Christmas.
So here we go. We lament, and then we learn to stay awake to the hope that is coming. The days will grow darker, the stress will increase, but we remember that the reason for the season is the celebration of the birth of someone who guides us back to God and who leads us no matter what our challenge. Let Finals/ I mean Advent begin.
Amen.
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