Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Our collect this morning for this first Sunday of Advent reminds us that by God’s love & grace, we are invited on a journey from darkness into light and that we have a role to play in that journey as we cast away the works of darkness in our lives, in what we experience every day and put on the armor of light & love given to us by God through our faith in Jesus.
Author & Episcopal priest, the Rev. Fleming Rutledge says, “Every year, Advent begins in the dark. The uniqueness of Advent is that it really forces us more than any other season, even more than Lent, to look deeply into what is wrong in the world, and why the best-laid plans don’t work out the way we meant them to, and why our greatest hopes are so often confounded, and why things happen the way they do, and why sometimes it is so difficult to see where God is acting.” (Read it here and here.)
This season of Advent asks us to look deeply at ourselves and our world, to see where we can bring light to what is wrong. And maybe the first step for us is to find God already here…
In his book Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned About Life, Rabbi Harold Kushner recalls an incident from his undergraduate days at Columbia. He had signed up for an evening class taught by the renowned Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel. One evening, Prof. Heschel entered the classroom at the Jewish Theological Seminary and said to the students:
“Something miraculous just happened as I was walking up Broadway on the way to class.” That got the class’ attention and they listened to hear what miraculous event might have happened. The rabbi continued: “Something miraculous happened. The sun set, and of all the people on Broadway, nobody noticed it except a handful of observant Jews who got the message that it was time for the evening prayer.”
Rabbi Kushner writes: “The miracle to which Heschel was calling our attention to was not that something strikingly unusual had occurred, but precisely that something utterly ordinary had occurred. A faith system attuned to the natural world celebrates the orderliness that makes our lives livable: sunrise and sunset, the change of seasons, water boiling at a particular temperature. He was urging those of us who had come to take sunsets for granted to reclaim that sense of wonder, lest we live our lives in too narrow an emotional range . . . Religion is born in a sense of wonder.”
In darkness, Advent is here to guide us back to our senses & to wonder. When too often we are full of anxiety in the rush to the holidays, overwhelmed by the sadness in our world, those devastated by wild fires, who have lost jobs, those rebuilding from hurricanes and terrorist attacks, those who have fallen ill, those who are mourning, we can lose our wonder & sight of God. Jesus knows about the times we are living in, because they are not unlike his own experience living under Roman occupation, of a people who lived in darkness.
Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
Even with this, Jesus tells us not to fear. “Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Our time is not to cower and fear and be overcome with the present, but to stand up, for our salvation is close by. Even still, we need to be ready says Jesus.
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.”
Like the wise words from Rabbis Heschel & Kushner, we are being called to live in the now, in the ordinary, to find God and God’s blessings right around us, in sunset, in sharing the light with each other. We are called to live by faith.
From poverty in Pakistan to prosperity in America, Kazi Mannan who owns Sakina Halal Grill, located just blocks away from the White House continues his mother’s tradition of helping others. After years of working small jobs, he opened his own restaurant in 2013, Kazi upheld his mother’s teachings by using her recipes in the kitchen and he welcomed those in need.
On the opening day in Oct. 2013, Kazi walked to a nearby park and invited dozens of homeless individuals to his restaurant. In just five years, those first dozen customers turned into thousands.
“My mother, I really greatly appreciate how she taught us in our upbringing to thank God, that was the attitude,” said Kazi. When cooking dinner, Kazi’s mother, Sakina, would send her children to deliver some food to their neighbors in Pakistan, even though their supply was extremely limited. “That was her way of worshipping God,” said Kazi.
For anyone who questions why he would give away so much, Kazi has a message: “No matter what power you have, what job you have. If you just think about other humans… lay on your back and think about how God wanted us to love each other.”
“If you want to worship God, you have to show kindness to his creation,” said Kazi. “He created us to treat each other with kindness and love… worship is not just you isolate yourself in the temple, mosque, church where you just sit and do worship. Worship is a lot of action that you do in your life.” (https://twitter.com/wfaa/status/1065681459044917249)
Cast away the darkness from your life. Put on the armor of light and share the love. Live in wonder. Find blessings in sunsets. Remember your mothers & help the homeless. Such signs of our God urge us to look deeper, to see beyond ourselves and our needs and expectations, to be thankful for our lives and keep alert for God around us. In the signs of the good we give and receive, we stand to behold God’s Spirit of humility and wisdom, transforming our lives in the hope and peace of Advent. May this season of Advent help us recapture a sense of wonder & behold the miracle of God’s love in both the gifts of this good earth and in all of creation — and in one another. May our lives reflect God’s light into a dark world. Amen.
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