“There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Think of the fig tree and all the other trees. When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come.
“Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pas away. Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth. Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
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Allow me to begin by wandering off into Christmas carols a little. There’s one which we love to sing that could be almost be called an advent hymn - I wonder if you can guess?
Here’s a couple of clues: It is loved by children and adults alike, it speaks about the coming of an important person, who knows us and our every action, someone who is good and loving and who expects us to be the same.
Did you get it?
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve ben bad or good, so be good for goodness’sake:
Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas...the figure we have now derived from a person who lived in southwestern Turkey in the 4th century. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, and he was credited with miracles involving sailors and children. After his death he became the patron saint of sailors, children, and unmarried girls. Historically, feast days are given for saints, and so the "feast day"of Nicholas was celebrated on December 6th.
At about the same time Nicholas lived, Pope Julius I decided to establish a date for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. As the actual time of year for this event was unknown, the Pope decided to assign the holiday to December 25th. There had long been a pagan midwinter festival at this time of year and the Pope hoped to use the holiday to christianize the celebrations.
Eventually, Saint Nicholas's feast day also became associated with December 25th and his connection with Christmas was established. A tradition developed that he would supposedly visit homes on Christmas Eve and children would place nuts, apples, sweets and other items around the house to welcome him. In Holland, where the tradition was strongest., he became known as “Sinter Klass”, and after the tradition came to North America, the name gradually became "Sancte Claus." and then Santa Claus.
It’s interesting that the song summarises the Advent message in a secular way. In the movie “The Polar Express”, Santa refers to himself as a symbol of the spirit of Christmas. Here, in a song about Santa, is the essence of what today’s gospel tells us about being aware an ready to see Jesus..
What are some of the things which happen in our homes this time of year? The house was decorated, a tree trimmed, and baking shortbread, cakes, squares, and sugar cookies cut into
the shapes of trees and stars? And one other thing.....lights are put up. The history of decorating trees with lights comes form the 12th century, when candles were put on the branches of evergreen trees. The history of using light, in all our church celebrations, is much more. The coloured lights we put on the trees, and use to decorate our homes, come from a time in Christian history when Advent and Christmas were the season of light. In the Jewish year, the Season of Light, Hanukkah - also happens in December. It’s the time of year when the nights are the longest and darkest.
Jesus tells one of his hard stories again this week. He pairs a kind of foretelling of the earth in chaos, coming suddenly - and then he moves from there to a fig tree, which can look really totally dead - but begins to show leaves as the days change, and we know spring is around the corner, and there is a return of light.
I am not sure Jesus is saying be ready for the end of the world, although it sounds like that. I think he is saying what he said last week - that the coming of the Realm of God means an ending to the old way of life, and the beginning of a new way of living, and being human. - and he says we need to be ready for it.
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good, for goodness’ sake.” You know what - I don’t think this means “For goodness sake be good so Santa will bring gifts.”. I think it means be good, just because being good is the right thing to do. And “being good” is the way to stay alert, to look for the coming of Jesus, and the coming of the realm....
Just as we get all excited about the coming of Santa, we are also called to expect Jesus’ coming with the same energy, the same dedication, and indeed the same joy.
In fact, what we are doing here, with Advent is looking for light - light in the darkness, light which signifies the coming of something special, the light from the star the Magi followed - we’re looking for light to break into this world. We hang lights, light candles, pray for light. We come to services, looking for light - God’s light, the light of Jesus. We want that light to illuminate us - and Jesus says clearly we need to be ready
We are called to prepare ourselves for the gift of God to us, and the best way to prepare for that gift is what Advent is all about; not fear of what will happen if we are not prepared, but rather by learning to BE light - hope, peace, joy and love, and we use the candles and lights to remind us that we are “lights” too.
God sees us when we’re sleeping. God knows when we are awake. God knows what we do. God calls us to learn to be something else - the light of the coming realm of God. May we prepare, in this time of Advent, to be ready.
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