Sermon in the Garden, 12 03 2006 Advent 1
The Rev. Aron Kramer Advent 1 December 3rd, 2006
How many of you have heard the story of Charlie and the MTA as told by the Kingston Trio? The chorus of the song goes like this: “Did he ever return? No he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned. He may ride forever beneath the streets of Boston; he’s the man who never returned.” You see, Charlie needed one more nickel in order to get off the train and because he didn’t have it, he was stuck forever, or until he paid, on the MTA. It is another of my favorite songs, I love the Kingston Trio in particular, and this song is sort of an advent song, a song of waiting, a song of anticipation, what will happen to Charlie, will he ever return or is he forever lost to us?
Advent is a time of waiting, it is a time of anticipation, I have never really figured out what that meant, it has in the past been a penitential time, not on par with Lent, but penitential none the less. They way I understand Advent is that we are in the time when Jesus has not yet arrived, a now but not yet time, we are in a time where there is little hope for our future, when there is little understanding of God’s compassionate love for us. Advent is a time of liminality, a time of being in the desert. Often in these times of waiting we get a little nervous, how are we going to do mission, how are we going to live together, who is going to lead us? We try hard to put down stakes in the sand, in the middle of the desert, in the hopes that certainty and assuredness will come to us. Alas, the sand is like water and those stakes tend to crumble and fall away, and we move on to the next place, all the while ringing our hands with trepidation.
But Advent is not a time of passively waiting, it is not a time for waiting to see who will step to the plate and who will take charge for us, as Christians, after all, we know how the story goes, and we know who will, eventually, lead us. Advent is a time of active anticipation, there are a few ways to describe anticipation, one way is to look into or remember our children’s eyes as Christmas approaches, as it gets closer and closer to the time to open all those presents that slowly are showing up underneath the tree, and those presents that Santa will bring on Christmas Eve. That is also a passive anticipation, waiting to see. My favorite use of the word anticipation comes from my soccer playing and coaching days. In soccer, as in all other team athletic sports, you have to be aware of your surroundings, constantly. You have to be aware of your opponent’s moves, plans and anticipate what is going to happen next so you can step in and steal the ball or beak up a play. My high school coach tried to teach us all about anticipation, and how to try to be alert and aware of what our opponents were going to do next.
Now, take the opponent out of the picture, because in the larger scheme of things we are of course, all on the same team, but we still have to be aware and alert of what is coming as we live our lives as Disciples of Christ. Jesus says so in today’s Gospel, “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.” Listen again, “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.” Advent is a time of leaving our worries behind, leaving our worries here at the altar, leaving our worries and anticipating the future, preparing for what is to come, and knowing that what is to come will be extraordinary, and wonderful. What is it that we are anticipating anyway, are we preparing for the return of Christ, or are we preparing ourselves for the future arrival of the little baby born in a manger? Or are we preparing our community for life together in this world that God created and we have been called to care for?
Today we welcome many new members of Gethsemane, it is exciting to have you all here, and I anticipate what the future will bring with great eagerness. You are all now part of a team that will continue to do God’s work in the world, hand in hand with other people throughout the world, hand in hand with the people sitting around you in these pews. There is much work to be done, but before we go out together to do that work, we must pray, above all that is what Advent is all about. Advent is about prayer, prayer is not simply a way to remember those who are in need or those who have died. Prayer is a way to call upon God and receive God into our hearts. Prayer is a way of asking for God’s help, or asking for courage to ask for others’ help. Advent, to me, is a season of prayer much more so than all the other liturgical seasons we celebrate. Prayer is the ultimate tool to learn abut what it means to anticipate the future, to prepare for what is to come. Prayer is what we are called to accomplish this Advent. We will try to have the Church open as much as possible this Advent for prayer, for nourishment, for the opportunity to hear from God about what our future holds. I would encourage you all to gather together in groups to pray with each other, eat dinner and pray, wake up and pray, before you go to sleep pray with those you love. If you would like to help us offer this place as a sanctuary for the 20,000 or so people that walk or drive by everyday, please call the office and let me know.
Let’s, together, take some time to breathe this Advent, let’s together make a commitment to not let the worries of this life weigh us down, as if we were drunk. Let’s together commit to prayer for this beautiful and cold, season of Advent. Let me know what the Church can do to help you receive this peace, this calm before the storm. What do you need to be able to experience as fully as you can, the peace of the season, the peace of Advent, a place of respite and calm for your soul. It is not as hard as we make it out to be, let us together, breathe in, fill our souls with peace and prayer and live together as a community in love.
One of the verses of the song MTA by the Kingston Trio says, “Charlie’s wife goes down to the Scully street station everyday at quarter past two, and through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as the train comes rumbling through.” I have always wondered why she didn’t just put a nickel in one of those sandwiches. One nickel and he would have been able to get off the train, return to his family and his home, and been able to rest. We, like Charlie and his wife, get caught up in the thinking that there is nothing we can do to make our lives better, or different, being busy is a point of pride, a point of joy for us, is that because we are scared to imagine what getting off the train might be like? Because we are worried about what we will hear God saying to us in the silence of the peace we feel? If you need a nickel, next time you rumble through the station, let us know, we can help and we will welcome you to this life of rest, peace and prayer.
How many of you have heard the story of Charlie and the MTA as told by the Kingston Trio? The chorus of the song goes like this: “Did he ever return? No he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned. He may ride forever beneath the streets of Boston; he’s the man who never returned.” You see, Charlie needed one more nickel in order to get off the train and because he didn’t have it, he was stuck forever, or until he paid, on the MTA. It is another of my favorite songs, I love the Kingston Trio in particular, and this song is sort of an advent song, a song of waiting, a song of anticipation, what will happen to Charlie, will he ever return or is he forever lost to us?
Advent is a time of waiting, it is a time of anticipation, I have never really figured out what that meant, it has in the past been a penitential time, not on par with Lent, but penitential none the less. They way I understand Advent is that we are in the time when Jesus has not yet arrived, a now but not yet time, we are in a time where there is little hope for our future, when there is little understanding of God’s compassionate love for us. Advent is a time of liminality, a time of being in the desert. Often in these times of waiting we get a little nervous, how are we going to do mission, how are we going to live together, who is going to lead us? We try hard to put down stakes in the sand, in the middle of the desert, in the hopes that certainty and assuredness will come to us. Alas, the sand is like water and those stakes tend to crumble and fall away, and we move on to the next place, all the while ringing our hands with trepidation.
But Advent is not a time of passively waiting, it is not a time for waiting to see who will step to the plate and who will take charge for us, as Christians, after all, we know how the story goes, and we know who will, eventually, lead us. Advent is a time of active anticipation, there are a few ways to describe anticipation, one way is to look into or remember our children’s eyes as Christmas approaches, as it gets closer and closer to the time to open all those presents that slowly are showing up underneath the tree, and those presents that Santa will bring on Christmas Eve. That is also a passive anticipation, waiting to see. My favorite use of the word anticipation comes from my soccer playing and coaching days. In soccer, as in all other team athletic sports, you have to be aware of your surroundings, constantly. You have to be aware of your opponent’s moves, plans and anticipate what is going to happen next so you can step in and steal the ball or beak up a play. My high school coach tried to teach us all about anticipation, and how to try to be alert and aware of what our opponents were going to do next.
Now, take the opponent out of the picture, because in the larger scheme of things we are of course, all on the same team, but we still have to be aware and alert of what is coming as we live our lives as Disciples of Christ. Jesus says so in today’s Gospel, “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.” Listen again, “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.” Advent is a time of leaving our worries behind, leaving our worries here at the altar, leaving our worries and anticipating the future, preparing for what is to come, and knowing that what is to come will be extraordinary, and wonderful. What is it that we are anticipating anyway, are we preparing for the return of Christ, or are we preparing ourselves for the future arrival of the little baby born in a manger? Or are we preparing our community for life together in this world that God created and we have been called to care for?
Today we welcome many new members of Gethsemane, it is exciting to have you all here, and I anticipate what the future will bring with great eagerness. You are all now part of a team that will continue to do God’s work in the world, hand in hand with other people throughout the world, hand in hand with the people sitting around you in these pews. There is much work to be done, but before we go out together to do that work, we must pray, above all that is what Advent is all about. Advent is about prayer, prayer is not simply a way to remember those who are in need or those who have died. Prayer is a way to call upon God and receive God into our hearts. Prayer is a way of asking for God’s help, or asking for courage to ask for others’ help. Advent, to me, is a season of prayer much more so than all the other liturgical seasons we celebrate. Prayer is the ultimate tool to learn abut what it means to anticipate the future, to prepare for what is to come. Prayer is what we are called to accomplish this Advent. We will try to have the Church open as much as possible this Advent for prayer, for nourishment, for the opportunity to hear from God about what our future holds. I would encourage you all to gather together in groups to pray with each other, eat dinner and pray, wake up and pray, before you go to sleep pray with those you love. If you would like to help us offer this place as a sanctuary for the 20,000 or so people that walk or drive by everyday, please call the office and let me know.
Let’s, together, take some time to breathe this Advent, let’s together make a commitment to not let the worries of this life weigh us down, as if we were drunk. Let’s together commit to prayer for this beautiful and cold, season of Advent. Let me know what the Church can do to help you receive this peace, this calm before the storm. What do you need to be able to experience as fully as you can, the peace of the season, the peace of Advent, a place of respite and calm for your soul. It is not as hard as we make it out to be, let us together, breathe in, fill our souls with peace and prayer and live together as a community in love.
One of the verses of the song MTA by the Kingston Trio says, “Charlie’s wife goes down to the Scully street station everyday at quarter past two, and through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as the train comes rumbling through.” I have always wondered why she didn’t just put a nickel in one of those sandwiches. One nickel and he would have been able to get off the train, return to his family and his home, and been able to rest. We, like Charlie and his wife, get caught up in the thinking that there is nothing we can do to make our lives better, or different, being busy is a point of pride, a point of joy for us, is that because we are scared to imagine what getting off the train might be like? Because we are worried about what we will hear God saying to us in the silence of the peace we feel? If you need a nickel, next time you rumble through the station, let us know, we can help and we will welcome you to this life of rest, peace and prayer.
Comments
It is so nice to be able to read the sermon. Sometimes the distractions of thought and place do keep the Word away. These are good words. keep on writing them down for us.
Justin