Belmont UMC
“On Getting Caught”
First Sunday of Advent
November 27, 2011
Linda Johnson, preaching

I Cor. 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37


I’m pretty sure you are all going to think I am the Grinch trying to steal your Christmas before this sermon is over. But it’s not my fault!!!  Were you listening to those scriptures that were just read?  I don’t know who picks out the lectionary readings for Advent, but I do know that it’s why Ken wanted ME to preach this Sunday.

Here we are, going into our culture’s holly jolly season, our gift-giving frenzy – our celebration overload--our sweet sentimental Christmas -- and what does the church give us to ponder on this first Sunday of Advent?

We get predictions about the end time, the apocalypse, the shaking of the heavens when Jesus will return with great power and glory.  We don’t know when it will happen, not even Jesus knows. Only God knows when, but we are assured that it WILL happen.   It is, after all, what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer, when we say,
“Thy kingdom come; they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

So the message for us is, “Beware, keep alert.”  We are like servants who have been put in charge of the house, everyone with an assignment, and we are to take care of things while the Owner of the House is away.  An owner who might just return any time of the day or night. And so, Jesus says, “Keep awake.” Be alert.  Watch and Wait with expectation for his coming.  

Advent has us think about the coming of Jesus in three ways.
-    We look back to his coming as a tiny baby born to human parents.  
-    We look inward with the hope and expectation that he will be born anew in our hearts and lives – this year.
-    We look forward to his final return in power and glory to bring God’s Kingdom to fullness.  

Is the expectation that the End Time might be near even on your radar?  Is the return of Jesus even on your list of things to think about or be concerned with?   

I grew up attending a rural church outside of Lawrenceburg, TN, and the church was central in my upbringing. All my friends were church-goers.  I even had friends who were Baptist and Church of Christ.

I came into my teenage years in the early 60’s, and so I remember when Rock was young, only then it was called Rock ‘n Roll. I learned to dance with the door facing while watching American Bandstand.

But Rock ‘n Roll music did not have the approval of many adults back then. I never really understood why. Oh, sure, Elvis was a little loose in the hips for the time. But there was this strange belief that this music would somehow corrupt our young minds.

And dancing? Very suspect. My father called our slow dancing just “hugging and walking” and hugging was not okay either.  But we did start having dances, with live bands. It was our major entertainment.

But one night when we were on our way to a dance, my Baptist friend said, “Linda, have you ever thought about what it would be like if Jesus came back while we are at a dance? Wouldn’t that be awful?” There was this quiet moment while we visualized it, and shuddered with fear.
But, then, we went to the dance anyway!

I now have a whole different way of viewing the promised return of Jesus. It is not something hanging over our heads to frighten us. Jesus did not come into the world to scare us into the kingdom God, but to love us into it. The fulfillment of God’s Kingdom is not something to fear, but to ANTICIPATE – WITH HOPE AND EXPECTATION.

But maybe we have grown too much at ease with the world we know. Maybe we have lost touch with the apocalyptic messages in scripture that tell us to Wake Up and not be so complacent with things the way they are.  Maybe we need to be jolted into alertness.  Maybe we should be alert to the signs of the times and try and determine where, exactly, God is at work moving the world toward redemption --- so we can jump in and help.

In preparing for this sermon, I decided that the image of Jesus showing up unexpectedly might be a good image to carry with us. It could be a gauge for assessing our attitudes and our living.

How, exactly, would you like to get caught by Jesus?   
Would you like to get caught:
-    hating – or loving;
-    fearing – or trusting;
-    excluding – or including;
-    judging – or understanding;
-    grumbling -- or dancing?

And what if Jesus were to show up this year for his birthday?  Would he be pleased with the way we celebrate his coming into the world as a human being?
I don’t have to tell you that “Consumer-focused marketing and Victorian Christmas traditions have replaced the biblical meaning of God with us.”  (Slaughter, p. 20)

We are well aware of how Christmas has been taken away from the church. The question is, “How can we take it back for ourselves, so that OUR celebration brings us closer to the One we celebrate?”

Four years ago, Anna Cramer shared with the Outreach Ministry Team what her sister’s church was doing to make Christmas more about Jesus and less about consumption.  Her sister attends the Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Ohio, and under the leadership of pastor, Mike Slaughter, they attempted to remind themselves that “Christmas is Not Your Birthday.” Rev. Slaughter has now written a little book by that title, with the subtitle, “Experience the Joy of Living and Giving Like Jesus.”   

Our Outreach Ministry Team unapologetically stole the whole idea of the Christmas Miracle Offering from them.  This is our fifth year to offer Belmont the opportunity to examine our spending and giving in this season – and then to reduce our spending so that we can give something to Jesus that he would really appreciate for his birthday.

So what would be an appropriate gift for the Christ child?  Well, let’s look at the story of his birth given to us by scripture for some clues.

    We have Mary, a pregnant young girl, engaged to a man named Joseph. They were told of the role they were to play in the birth of the Messiah by angelic beings who first told them to not be afraid, for what they were participating in was God’s work of salvation and hope for the world.
    They have to travel to another town because it is tax season and they have to register.   They didn’t make advance travel plans, so they didn’t have a place to stay.
    The baby gets born in less than ideal conditions and smelly shepherds show up, not the cream of society, to celebrate the birth.
    They have to flee to Egypt in the face of a government-initiated genocide.
    And then Jesus spends his early years as a refugee in Africa.

Jesus came, not in strength, but in weakness; not in privilege, but in poverty.  In his life he mostly identified with the weak and powerless, the widow and the orphan, and those on the margins of society.  He did not condemn sinners, but befriended them. He lived in tension with the organized religious system.


In Jesus’ birth story and in his life and teachings, we are given a clear picture of God’s priorities and God’s values.  That should give us our best clue as to how Jesus would like for us to celebrate his birthday.

This year Belmont’s Christmas Miracle Offering is a perfect fit for a birthday gift appropriate for a young Jesus who grew up as a refugee after his family fled political genocide.  This year we hope to raise enough money to support a summer educational program for the teenagers of the Golden Triangle Fellowship.

The Golden Triangle Fellowship is made up of people mostly from Burma (now called Myanmar) who fled to refugee camps in Laos and Thailand trying to escape the repressive government in their country. Some of them fled through jungles. Many of them lost family members.

-- I met several young adults who were each put on an airplane all alone because they had lost all of their family. They didn’t know in advance which country they would be sent to, nor what they would find when they arrived.
-- I met a family who had lived in a refugee camp for 10 years before getting permission to come to the United States.
-- I met a young woman whose husband died in the refugee camp leaving her with two small children and an unknown future.

They came to this country with the hope of a life without fear; the hope of giving their children the benefits of this great nation.  Imagine the courage they must have to enter into a society so different from the one they had known. They have to master a new language and new customs and different expectations.

Most of the children who come here as preschoolers pick up the language and reading skills very quickly.  But the older children struggle to learn the language needed in order to keep up with other children at their grade level.  While living in refugee camps they did not get the basic learning skills.

The Christmas Miracle Offering will make possible a program for youth who entered this country as middle school or high school students who are struggling in school. As you know, this is a vulnerable age with so much pressure to be accepted and to fit in.  The proposed program will offer summer opportunities for learning to help them get up to speed for their age level so they will not become discouraged and give up.

This year’s Miracle Offering is more than just the monetary offering to make this program possible. You are also asked to consider volunteering your time and your gifts. The plan includes having members of Belmont visit the program to share their careers as a way of expanding the vision of possibilities for these youth. They also want volunteers for field trips and other activities as a way of developing relationships.
This is a way to bring our two worshipping communities closer together.

And so here we are on this first Sunday of Advent. Out there the Christmas Machine is in full throttle.  But here we begin the watching and waiting, the hope and the expectation of the coming of the Christ into the world.

I don’t want to be the Grinch trying to steal your Christmas. I love Christmas. I love everything about it, even though I am trying to simplify how I observe it and especially to reduce the stress and the waste that often accompanies this season.

Advent’s focus is not to curtail the joy of Christmas. Quite the opposite.  It is to free us from the expectations of our culture that can rob us of the true joy of receiving God’s gift to us.  The warning to be watchful means we can shed so many unnecessary expectations and unnecessary busyness so we can be on the lookout for God.

I’m no longer afraid of getting caught dancing if Jesus shows up. In fact, I hope I get caught dancing, dancing with the delight of the freedom faith brings,  rejoicing in the goodness of God’s mercy and peace, and anticipating the fullness of God’s love.
And that is my Advent hope for you as well.
Amen