Some non-religious seasonal songs can turn our thoughts to serious aspects of life. For example:
. . . [W]e need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
It hasn't snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry . . .
For I've grown a little leaner,
Grown a little colder,
Grown a little sadder,
Grown a little older,
And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder,
Need a little Christmas now (Herman 55-62).
You notice the song mentions several things we think can bring Christmas cheer: candles and carols and Santa and snow and even an angel. This a Broadway show song by Jerry Herman from Mame. The characters have lost all their money in the Stock Market Crash in 1929. Everything looks dark, so they think things may start looking better if they can get Christmas here in a hurry. They want something to happen, something to make things better soon.
When we were kids, we didn’t like to wait for Christmas. We wanted Santy to hurry up and bring our presents. As adults, we feel a deeper need for what we vaguely hope Christmas will bring.
Our Bible passage from Isaiah 64 expresses a similar concern. Nothing about candles and carols and snow. But there’s the definite -- even desperate -- cry for something that’s missing. Someone is missing. This Isaiah passage is a song, a psalm, the ancient Jews sang in their worship time. And there’s a strong sense that God is absent. The singers want evidence of the Lord’s presence -- NOW.
On this first Sunday of Advent, when the theme is Hope, we look at a passage that helps us give expression to that mix of hopes and fears. In Isaiah 64, that longing for evidence of God’s presence comes through loud and clear in the prayer in the very first verse: O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
In the wear and tear of daily life, how often have you prayed for that? There’s the feeling that the Lord is nowhere to be found. You want Him to show His face: Come into my life in power! Don’t stay sealed up in the Blue Heaven. Break through the clouds. Break through the gloom. “We need a little Christmas.” We need to see God at work in our lives. Almost like a mother standing in the doorway at suppertime, you may want to call out to God: “Get yourself in here!”
Be so real to us. Come in such power that the mountains would quake at your presence—
The prophet paints a picture of God coming like fire. God’s fiery presence is like fire that kindles brushwood and causes water in a pot to start boiling.
To get a sense of the purpose of this fire, listen again to verses 1-2:
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
In the dry season, we see news footage of fires sweeping across miles and miles of wilderness in the Western states -- Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and California. They say lightning ignites most of these fires, but not all. Fires can start from poorly-attended campfires, train and machinery sparks, and tossed cigarette butts. Whatever the cause, once they are started, the fires can spread out of control (Brown).
Isaiah 64 is a cry for God to start that kind of fire as a way to make His presence known. We hear the modern cry in the song the Baraca Chorus likes to sing: “Set my soul afire, Lord, for the holy Word,/ Burn it deep within me, let Thy voice be heard” (Bartlett).
At those times when life is dark, when you see little evidence of God’s presence in your life, you probably can identify with the cry of this modern song and the cry of the ancient singer in our Bible passage. This is a longing for assurance from God, that He cares, that He is still in charge.
In Isaiah, there’s a twofold desire for God to show His presence: reassurance for the Israelites but also for their adversaries to see God’s power: The burning fire that causes water to boil will make God’s name known, that the nations might tremble at God’s presence.
Verse 3 repeats the thought of the first verse, looking back to stories their Israelite ancestors told:
When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,
thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence.
Remember in Exodus, Moses goes up into the mountain to receive God’s Commandments:
[2] they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. [3] And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain . . . [9] And the LORD said to Moses, "Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever."
[16] On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. [17] Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God; and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. [18] And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. [19] And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. [20] And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
In Isaiah, the singers feel a deep need for that kind of awareness of God among them. They remember those vivid stories from the past. Their ancestors lived among people of different nations who worshiped many different gods. But their traditions describe their God this way:
(4) From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.
It’s that last part of verse 4 we need to focus on during Advent:
no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.
On this first Sunday in December, you’ve probably already started “getting ready for Christmas.” Maybe you put up the tree over Thanksgiving weekend and you’ve made your list of presents. Today is also the first Sunday in Advent, and Advent reminds us there’s more to “getting ready for Christmas” than putting up the tree and shopping and anticipating family gatherings.
These weeks before Christmas can be a season of spiritual preparation, a time when we are encouraged to slow down a bit and not be in a big hurry for Christmas to get here: a time we learn to wait on the Lord, a time consider what Jesus’s coming into the world can mean to us.
Advent is a call to learn to wait, to let the message of Christmas take its time with us.
Out in West Texas where snow wasn’t all that common, we started singing “Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh” around Thanksgiving. And in most of the churches I’ve attended over the past seventysome years, we always start singing the sacred carols about that same time.
In denomination which follow the liturgical church year they don’t usually sing the familiar carols until right at December 25th. Many people don’t even put their Christmas tree up until Christmas Eve. That’s a strange concept for us Low Church Baptists. But, for our Lutheran, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, Christmas begins on December 25th and lasts for twelve days. The idea is that Christians should spend a month getting spiritually prepared for celebrating the birth of Jesus and then spend twelve days emphasizing His birth itself.
For those of us who didn’t grow up with that tradition, the Twelve Days of Christmas probably doesn’t mean anything except a silly song about twelve lords a-leaping, five gold rings, and a partridge in a pear tree. We’re conditioned to starting Christmas long before Christmas Day.
I don’t expect most Baptists to change their pattern. I don't know that we should, but I’ve come to love Advent, and I’m glad a former associate pastor got First Baptist to start. He is Ed Stiegel, now in a New Jersey church.
I think I know one reason we feel the need to get into Christmas just as soon as possible--why we start singing carols as soon as we can without getting laughed out of church. We have some deep spiritual longings we hope Christmas can fill for us. We identify with that song I quoted a while ago from the Broadway show, Mame. “We need a little Christmas right this very minute.” Phillips Brooks wrote in “O Little Town of Bethlehem” about how “hopes and fears of all the years” come to focus in the Christmas story. And lots of us carry those hopes and fears with us all year round.
How often have we asked and prayed for such a manifestation from God in the face of our adversaries? And those adversaries can take different forms: They may be people we consider our enemies, people we wish we didn’t have to deal with.
Our adversary might take the form of serious illness we earnestly pray for God to remove so we can see a sign of His loving presence in our lives. Financial difficulties may loom large, and it may seem God Himself would have to step down and personally take charge in order to deliver us from our obligations. Your adversary may be loneliness. Your children or other family members may live far away or may neglect you, even if they live nearby. Memories from time long gone by may rise up to haunt you in the night and rob you of your sleep.In any of these situations or others like them, we long to see God’s power coming with fire.
The prayer in this Isaiah passage is a plea for God to show Himself in a mighty way, as they have heard of wonders in the past. If our lives are stalled, if God’s presence does not seem real, we long for new evidence that He has not deserted us. But God comes to us on His terms, not on ours.
When we long for great signs from God, we may need to recall Elijah’s experience. He was tired and discouraged and -- let’s admit it -- afraid. Queen Jezebel had issued a call for Elijah to be put to death. So the prophet needed some sign that God was with him. He probably wished the heavens would split open and God would come down. First Kings, chapter 19, tells what happened: 11 [God] said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
Elijah had to settle for something less having the heavens torn open. God made Himself known in what seemed to be an insignificant way. There was a still, small voice. Or a better translation is a sound of sheer silence. And, in your experience, isn’t that the way God speaks? If God came to you in even a small voice, it would rattle your socks off. So, if God speaks to you at all, it likely is in the sound of silence. And if God actually tore open heaven and came down, you’d have cardiac arrest.
It may be old news to say no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. But in ancient times, among people who believed there were all sorts of gods, this is a testimony of faith: The God of Israel is God above all gods. We’re not talking about just anybody’s god. Hear it again: no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.
Verse 5 points out what we need to do while we wait for God to make Himself known:
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those that remember You in Your ways.
CHRISTMAS IS A LOT LIKE A MARRIAGE
In our waiting, we an do things for others: joyful works of righteousness. As the columnist, Rheta Grimsley Johnson, thought of all the bad news in the lead-up to December 25, she said,
"Christmas is a lot like a marriage. For a good one you have to work at it. You have to really want it. And I don’t want to divorce Christmas, despite the grim headlines and sad storiesand gross commercialization. I don’t even want a trial separation. I want to work things out, to see it through, to rekindle the lost spark" (Johnson).
I believe the columnist is saying something akin to Second Isaiah: Advent waiting involves work. Not idle waiting. In my Christmas book, Once for a Shining Hour, I quote Ms. Johnson and then I list twenty-five things I believe are joyful works of righteousness (Webb 23-25). Let me mention a few of those things:
You can build up your own spirit by reading or singing Christmas carols, or play a recording if you have a record player or CD player.
Read the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Or watch a video of A Christmas Carol or the Jimmy Stewart movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.
In joyful works of righteousness that will help others:
Try your hand with writing a Christmas poem to share with your family or to put on your original Christmas cards.
Read Christmas stories to neighborhood children.
Through your church or service club, help prepare a meal for homeless people.
Write a letter or send a card to a person who made an earlier Christmas special for you.
Try to develop the skill and patience to listen carefully to those closest to you to try to discover their needs and longings.
Visit someone who lives alone. If that person offers to do something for you, let her. Fred Craddock tells of having Sunday dinner with a widow in a church where he was the guest preacher. As she prepared an elaborate meal and put out her best silver and china, he insisted she should not go to such trouble. After he had his say, the woman told him it had been years since she had been able to prepare and share a meal with anyone, so he should sit back and hush while she finished her preparation.
Address and deliver Christmas cards to residents in a retirement home or a home for veterans.
Any of those aspects of active waiting can help get you spiritually ready for Christmas.
AWARENESS OF OUR SIN
The singers in Isaiah become aware of their sin as they wonder where God is. This is a pointer for us: If you feel the absence of God, ask yourself whether you have wandered away.
A confession in verses 5-6 likens us to a bloody garment, then to a frail leaf, blown away from God in our sin:
[I]n our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
But this confession leads to forgiveness as the singers think of God in two positive ways:
Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father;
we are the clay, and thou art our potter; we are all the work of thy hand (v. 8).
W e don't have a large number of references to God as Father in the Hebrew Scriptures. But the New Testament frequently refers to God as Father, especially as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This awareness of the fatherhood of God builds on those Old Testament.
In the song, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” we sing of God as the Divine Potter who forgives us and reshapes us:
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me, after thy will
While I am waiting, yielded and still (Pollard).
We can become aware of God as Father and the Creating Potter as we wait in joyful service to others. But even as we try to serve others, we can become hurried and impatient.
I CAN'T WAIT
Sometimes in our hurry and impatience, ego can come into play and mess things up. Emory Gillespie is pastor out in Rapid City, Iowa. She tells of what we might call an ego trip some eighteen years back. She was invited to be the main speaker for a community-wide Thanksgiving service. In her desire to look her best, she ordered a pair of black leather pumps, especially for the occasion. The shoes came in on the day of the Thanksgiving service. The catch was that her favorite shoe store was in a nearby town. Mrs. Gillespie started the trip, taking along her little boy, who was two years old at the time. The day was rainy and cold. Cold enough to turn to sleet. On the crowded highway, a semitrailer behind her didn’t manage to stop until it hit her and hurt her little boy. The wreck also totaled her car. Her son is now twenty, and his only lasting damage is one false tooth. After help came to the wreck scene, as she was trying to extricate herself from the wrecked car, somehow her tape deck was activated long enough for singer Paul Simon to sing out these words: “I believe in the future.”
As Pastor Gillespie thought back to that incident, those words became Advent words: “I believe in the future.” She said she knew there was a mechanical explanation for those words coming out, but
she took it as her Advent message: Even in times of difficulty and hurt -- especially in times of difficulty and hurt -- as we ache to see God act in a dramatic way---as we anticipate celebrating the birth of Jesus, we can say, “I believe in the future.”
ADVENT HOPE 2012---SOURCES
Gene Bartlett, “Set My Soul Afire,” Baptist Hymnal. Nashville, Tenn.: Convention Press, 1975 Edition. No. 302.
Angela Brown, “Current Wildfire Information for the Northwest US, What’s Burning Now?” About.com. Northwest US Travel. http://gonw.about.com/od/outdoorrecreation/a/wildfire.htm
Emory Gillespie, “Living the Word,” The Christian Century. Chicago: The Christian Century, November 28, 2012, Vol. 129, No. 24.
Jerry Herman, “We Need a Little Christmas,” Mame. New York: Random House, 1966, 1967, pp. 55-62.
Rheta Grimsley Johnson, “Have yourself a melancholy Christmas,” The Anderson Independent-Mail, Anderson, S. C. Opinion Page, December 18, 1993. Quoted by permission from Ms. Johnson.
Adelaide A. Pollard, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.” Timeless Truths Free Online Library.
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Lawrence Webb, Once for a Shining Hour, Reflections for Christmas. www.amazon.com, www.createspace.com, 2011.
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