Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Mark 13:24-37

“The powers that be will lull us to sleep by reassuring us that they have our best interests at heart as they pursue their worldly agendas. They play to our fears, our prejudices, our self-interests, so we do not notice their demonic behaviours. Beware. Keep alert. Keep awake. The one who edures to the end will be saved.”[1] These are one commentator’s words to summarize the message of Christ’s apocolyptic warning this morning.

Each year Advent is introduced to us this way. Each year Advent guides us to the manger (over the course of 4 Sundays) by first showing us the End, the great cosmic conclusion to the story of God’s salvation. Martin Copenhaver writes, “Certainly, from the very first word, there can be no doubt that there is much at stake in this season.”[2] As confusing as apocolyptic is, as filled as it is with a great mix of images and associations, week 1 of Advent tells us at least this: What is happening here matters! There are cosmic forces at play here; whole worlds hing on what has happened and is happening with God. So, let’s get focused here. Let’s not convince ourselves of anything less.

Kathleen Norris is one of those fiesty Christian authors who is always good for a shock to complacent religion. She writes, “The most prophetic thing that Thomas Merton ever did was to say to a drugstore clerk who asked him which brand of toothpaste he preferred, ‘I don’t care.’” Merton was a Catholic priest, a mystic, a social activist, an ecuminist, and an author.

He writes about the shocked clerk’s response, “He almost dropped dead. I was supposed to feel strongly about Colgate or Pepsodent or Crest … and to be impressed that they all have some kind of secret ingredient. [It seems] the worst thing you can do now [adays] is not care about these things.”

Kathleen Norris continues, “Merton wrote in the early 1960’s, long before the art of making us care about ‘the secret ingredient’ had so aggressively entered into every aspect of American life. We can’t ride a bus, open a magazine or go online without being asked to consider which insurance company offers the best rates or which paper towel picks up the most dirt. Advent is a good time to reclaim our senses and reply with a resounding, ‘I don’t care!’”[i]

But, it’s not so easy to not care. Think about all the messages you’ve seen just on TV over the Thanksgiving holiday (or the many more you will see as Christmas approaches) telling us that it is perfectly normal and acceptable to find great meaning in all the different things we may purchse, (or, in fact must purchase. If we don’t we’ll be robbing our children or our loved ones of the magical Christmas they deserve!) You know what this celebration of Christ’s coming needs – what would really drive home the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord – a new Lexus in the driveway with a huge ribbon on top! The kids would be amazed, or so the commercials say.

“I don’t care!” What a remarkably powerful thing for us to say this season! What a remarkable thing to say as those forces try to lull us to sleep and convince us that they have our best interests at heart.

Here’s a little test: What if the only gifts you received this year were alternative or tribute gifts? For example, from your sister you learned that two bags of groceries were donated in your name to an inner city family, and that was your gift. From your husband you received a card saying that your Christmas gift was baby formula to keep an African infant nourished but also to keep that infant from contracting AIDS through her mother’s breast milk. …We opened a fair at my former church where you could actually do this kind of shopping.  And, I have to say, it took some time, a number of attempts, before the fair seemed to gain momentum.

Would you love your gift? Would it take some time for you to love it? Would you have the sense that you kind of lost out on something this Christmas? …I wouldn’t blame you for having any or all of these reactions. Merton’s “I don’t care” was a cultivated response. Far from being natural it took a lifetime of spiritual work, of daily devotion, of prayer, of worship, of service. It took the ongoing encounter and pursuit of God for Merton to learn what was truly worth caring about.

Apocalyptic images such as the ones we’ve read today from Mark come from the depths of human desperation and are intended to offer an image of hope to people who do not know how to save themselves. It’s important to see that Isaiah longs for that day. “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down!” For the Psalmist it is also a day of hope, “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts, let your face shine, that we may be saved.”

It is also important to note that God is the one they’ve been seeking. They have reached that point where they know that if their life is to have meaning and peace and fulfillment and hope they must seek it in God and in God alone.

Here’s a quote from the reflections section of my prayer book: “To have found God, to have experienced him in the intimacy of our being, to have lived even for one hour in the fire of his Trinity and the bliss of his Unity clearly makes us say: ‘Now I understand. You are enough for me.’”[ii]

When I first read that quote I found myself quickly turning to the next one. I realized that I wasn’t quite there. I’ve been busy with lots of things – all good things, at least I think. But, in my busyness I have a tendency to put God to the side and to find other ways of meeting my needs and wants. I tell you this because I know I’m not alone. I say it because Advent is a gift to all of us. Advent offers us the merciful opportunity to think again about what it is that we really care about. It’s an invitation to cry out with the Psalmist, “Restore us.” It is an opportunity to join Isaiah, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down.”

This season of preparation leading up to Christmas gives us a new chance to turn to God and to find that indeed, “God is enough.” Thanks be to God.

[1] Hutson, Christopher, Feasting on the Word, Year B. Volume 1, page 24

[2] Copenhaver, Martin, FOTW, Year B. Volume 1, page 21.

[i] The Christian Century, Nov. 15, 2005, page 19.

[ii]A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants, page 15, an excerpt by Carlo Carretto in The God who Comes.