Advent 1 - Isaiah 7:14

The advents season is one of preparation in my family’s home. The day after Thanksgiving we set up the Christmas trees - one decorated with homemade ornaments the other with my extensive Hallmark collection. We set up the mangers, hang the stockings. The table cloths are changed to festive ones. Thought goes into gifts for each person, which are carefully wrapped and displayed under the Hallmark tree and Christmas dinner is planned. And Christmas Eve and Day are ones of tradition. Unwrapping family gifts following the Christmas Candlelight Service. Wearing the same pajamas. Getting up to open stockings and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, albeit later than when we were younger.

But is the season of Advent and Christmas about more than preparation for the celebration to take place on Christmas? Is it about more than tradition? Is there a way to remember what the season is about? That it’s Jesus’s Birthday, not ours! How can we, as the church, reclaim the meaning of Advent as one of preparation for the coming of the Christ child and the mission that we are being sent on in his name?

In this mornings scripture the prophet tells the people of Israel that the Lord is going to give them a sign - a Virgin, one for whom it should be impossible to be pregnant, will be with child. And she will name him Emmanuel - God with us. But a sign of what? Amidst the wrapping paper, frantic preparations, and mounting lists, what are we supposed to be reminded of? What hope are we supposed to remember anew? Do we recognize God among the chaos?

The coming of our King! The coming of the one who would redeem us! A God who is entering into the broken places in our world and within our own spirits and bringing restoration! But that may not be the first thing we think of, or even the twentieth, when we walk into Walmart and see the countdown to Christmas flashing before us.

Too often we forget the wonderful things the birth of Christ brought to this world. We forget the sign and the promise that the prophet speaks about. Instead we make Christ into our own Santa Clause. Telling Christ what we want instead of listening to what Christ wants us to do. Telling Christ we want things to be better for us, while forgetting how humbly our Savior entered this world. The end result is making Jesus into a magical Santa Claus like deity who just gives us what we want, instead of treating him like our Lord and King. 

Last year, while traveling to visit my brother in Iowa, my family came across perhaps one of the most appalling renditions of the Christmas story I’ve ever seen. In order to bridge the gap between Santa and Jesus, the story was told that Jesus came to Santa in a dream and gave him a mission, to give presents to all the boys and girls. Oh friends, we’ve bought into this co-opting of Christmas for far too long. Its not about the gifts we receive, its about the gift we received in Christ. Its not about the mission of presents, but the mission of life. 

God may not have sent the Messiah that the people were expecting. Jesus wasn’t rich or a ruler by the World’s standards. He came in the most humble and weak form, a baby born to a virgin with a promise. Yet Jesus, in this form, was the embodiment of God’s values, God’s mission, God’s priorities. 

The mission and message of Christmas gets lost far too easily during the Advent season. Amongst the exhaustion of preparations, rising debt to give people what they asked for, endless baking and buying. In 2010 The National Retail Foundation stated that adult retail consumers spend on average 830$ per person of Christmas preparation and presents. If you live in a household with two adults, that’s 1,660$. Where is Christ amongst that? How is reminding us of Emmanuel, God with us?

Christmas is our time, Church, to remember God’s miracle and that God is the original miracle worker. Further, God has gifted us to be miracle workers as well. To change the world through our actions. Have you ever considered yourself to be a miracle worker? An agent of change? But in order for this to happen, you must be willing to be used for God’s glory. Must be willing to go where God sends you, do what God commands, instead of simply just looking at Jesus to be Santa and give you everything you want, no questions asked. 

Pastor Mike Slaughter states that “Christmas as we know it is really a mixture of traditions - start with a little Biblical truth, blend with some 18th Century Victorian practices, and add a double shot of Santa Theology” and that is where we are today. Friends, now is our time to reclaim the miracle of Christmas. The time to speak about Christ’s sacrificial gift, that calls us to sacrifice as well. Calls us to something more, to be miracle workers working to change the world for Jesus Christ!

For it is Jesus who brings light to the darkness of the world. It is the miracle in Jesus Christ that offers life this holiday season and love, not the amount of gifts wrapped under the tree. What traditions could you start with your family to focus more on the miracle of Jesus Christ than on presents? How can you present yourselves as an offering to be used by Christ to transform the world?

It’s a scary thought isn’t is? But God uses people to be the vessels of miracles everyday. God uses our hands and feet, if only we would submit ourselves to Christ. I’ve told the story before about a personal miracle I witnessed, when working at a women’s shelter I felt led to throw a baby shower for an unwed mother who had nothing. I could have ignored the prompting. I could have said it was crazy or I didn’t have enough money. But instead I took the idea to the church I was serving at the time, my home church, and they collected enough items in just a few weeks to not only give this woman everything she needed for the first year of life, but enough to bless several other mothers as well. That friends is an every day miracle.

All too often we dismiss miracles that we see because they aren’t as grand as we expected. Or simply because we forget to look for God’s hand in the midst of our world. Are you ready for God to use you as a miracle birth-er this holiday season? Do you believe that God can work a miracle through you? That you can be used by God in a powerful way? Because brothers and sisters that is the heritage of our faith - ordinary people doing extraordinary things for God. What God-sized dreams are you being called to be a part of this Advent season?

It is time to set aside our faith that simply asks Christ to give us things, and instead ask Christ what miracle he wants to work through us. It is time to remember that God does extraordinary things through every day people like Mary and Joseph, you and me. What are we willing to sacrifice for God? What miracles does God want to accomplish through you this Christmas? And are you prepared to be used by God in a mighty way?