Advent 1, November 28, 2021
Introduction
It’s the first Sunday of Advent. Thanksgivings have been made and celebrated, and that means the holidays have begun. Bring on the trappings of the season—especially the Christmas music! Yep, we can finally start listening to the glorious, whimsical, warm-fuzzy Christmas music.
Ok… I have a confession to make…about something I’ve never done… and I’m a little embarrassed. Since early November…just a few days after Halloween… I’ve been listening to Christmas music.
I know! I’ve become like one of those HGTV show personalities where come November 1st they literally projectile vomit Christmas into their homes, and subsequently our homes too. But it just happened. I swear I was still thinking about Thanksgiving the whole time.
It’s just that…well, we live in some anxious times, right? And one day I happened to find on the radio that 105.7 WMJI was already playing Christmas music, and before I could blurt out with great annoyance “It’s still three weeks to Thanksgiving” the whimsical warm-fuzzes hit me, and, well, I started to feel…better…less anxious…even cheery. And so I listened.
I swore it would just be that one time, but before I knew it, I became fixated on listening to more and more Christmas music. I knew it was wrong—but it wasn’t hurting anyone. And besides, no one is writing banger Thanksgiving songs, and so I thought, well, I’ll just listen a little bit. Soon though it wasn’t just in the car. It was with my earbuds in bed. And then the other day, when no one else was home, I blasted Taylor Swift’s “Christmas Tree Farm.” And I sang along.
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Ok, so my embarrassing foray about a pre-Thanksgiving Christmas music habit is meant to be tongue in cheek—but there is still a lot of truth to it all. Listening to Christmas music made me feel better, less anxious, even cheery. And who couldn’t use a bit less anxiety and a bit more cheeriness, right?
That’s what the writer of our text is aiming for in this Psalm that is a prayer—for God to show them the path that will lead them from that which makes them cry out, “…Do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me…do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions…”, to “(God) leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness.”
And that is what the path of Advent is, and does.
It is among the paths of the Lord, and it, like all the other paths of the Lord, leads to God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. And those paths are better, less anxious, even cheery—because they are paths of hope.
And we need a path of hope.
Move 1
We live in anxious times—pandemic, politics, racism—I’ll spare you the laundry list because you know it well—but the bottom line is a lot of anxiety AND fear abounds. And if the list of anxiety inducing items wasn’t already plenty long, I recently found out there is one more item that makes us anxious—one I never would have thought of, but actually makes sense. Sunday nights.
Dr. Sanam Hafeez shares with Journalist Derek Thompson on the website The Healthy saying, “It’s common for people to feel anxious as the weekend winds down. When your mind begins to focus on reports, kids’ activities, and the long list of to-dos, it’s easy to slip into an anxious state of mind. And I like to call the flood of anxiety many of us feel as the workweek approaches the ‘Sunday scaries.’”
Hafeez continues, saying, “This anxiety is linked to the modern psychology of time. We find Sunday to be scary because we embrace a distinctively modern view of time. Today, we have two modes of thinking: ‘productivity mind’ and ‘leisure mind.’ Monday through Friday is when we use our productivity mind, working hard and showing our industriousness. On Saturday and Sunday, we activate our leisure mind, which allows us to rest and play. But on Sunday evening, the two enter into a tug-of-war. We fall into the ‘Sunday scaries’ because we feel guilty about relaxing over the weekend and anxious about the workweek ahead.”
So if you didn’t already have a long enough list of fear inducing anxiety, I just gave you one more—Sunday Night. Or if you are a pastor—Saturday night.
Which is why today’s text becomes relevant and important on this first Sunday of Advent—because Advent is among all the paths of the Lord—paths that lead to God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Paths that lead us away from that which makes us anxious to a place closer to the Divine—a place of hope—a place that reminds us: because Jesus comes everything changes.
The anxious times? Yes, they still come, but with Jesus we know there is a hope-filled path through the anxious, fear inducing times.
Move 2
Psalm 25 is a prayer clearly written in a time of anxiety. The writer is asking for help — for deliverance from enemies, for guidance and instruction, for forgiveness, and for relief from distress. Seems the writer is feeling the Sunday scaries.
In a commentary on this text, Bible scholar Clinton McCann says, “They (the Psalmists) sense the only way out of anxiety induced fear is to turn and offer their life to God in faith and expectation. To offer one’s life to God means to trust God amid threatening circumstances. To offer one’s life to God means also to wait for God, by living with hope.”
Trust God. Wait for God. Live with hope. That is how we traverse any of the paths of the Lord. Trust God. Wait for God. Live with hope. Now that’s a good plan, for sure…but much easier said than done, right? So how does the writer do it? He begins with prayer, but not just any prayer. He cries out to God—pleads with God, cuts himself open, admitting past sins and failures while asking for forgiveness, convinced his frantic, desperate, anxious prayer will lead him to God, who will do what God does.
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.”
The Psalmist is praying to be shown a way through the anxiety and fear. He asks to be led in the truth of God, that God will do what God does— lead him through anxiety and fear. In place of the Sunday scaries, the writer wants healing and wholeness.
This can be our prayer as well. And when it is we discover all “the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.” God shows us, the path away from our anxiety and fear, is a path that goes all the way through the anxiety and fear. Not around it. Not away from it. Not even ridding us of it. But rather getting us through the anxiety and fear. And when we take this path of the Lord, we find God provides the way through the anxiety and fear to where healing and wholeness are found.
Move 3
So there you go. Just follow the path of the Lord. Again, easier said than done, because it’s not easy. In fact I feel over-simplistic even saying this message to you—because I get it. I have a job, a family life with demands, I know what’s going on in the world, I know all about anxious times— I know all about keeping “the plates spinning” as I like to say. (Which I wonder if that’s still an understood analogy. I mean, are plate spinning acts even done anymore?) Nonetheless… I am not so naïve to just say “let go and let God” and think all our anxiety and fears will just magically go away.
But I felt led and compelled to bring this simple message on the first Sunday of Advent—Trust God, Wait for God, Live with Hope, Believe—because where else are we hearing such a message? Just like no one is writing banger Thanksgiving songs—so we listen to Christmas music three weeks before Thanksgiving— we need a message that’s less anxious, cheery even. For some the message they turn to is “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” right after Halloween. But for people of faith, we can turn to the message, “All the paths of the Lord lead us through our anxiety and fear”
If we are going to start walking “all the paths of the Lord” then the first step we have to take is to tell ourselves the path is there to take—and not just in a season, but always.
Conclusion
We are constantly being reminded of all there is to be anxious about—and we are looking for ways to curb the anxiety and fear—the Sunday scaries—because life quickly gets hard, and anxious, and scary, and there is little we can do to stop it. So we have to go through it. And all the paths of the Lord will always lead us.
And among those paths, is the path of Advent. And in the season of Advent we will hear those familiar, yet often forgotten words “fear not” because Advent invites us to put our faith not in ourselves but in Jesus; to believe God really has come in flesh abiding to heal us, help us, and save us by taking us all the way through our anxiety and fear on a path that leads to Jesus.
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So ok, listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving if it helps. And now that we are past Thanksgiving you can really turn up the volume and belt out TaTa and feel a bit less anxious and a bit more cheery. (TaTa=Taylor Swift) Just don’t stop there. Go further. Pray. But not just any prayer. A deep, anguished, vulnerable, desperate prayer that cuts you open, and is determined to find any path of the Lord.
And we can start today, with prayer and the path of Advent. After all, it’s a well-lit path… lit with the light of a star… that will guide us to the very place we long to be… right next to Jesus. For when we take this path of the Lord, then Sunday night, or any night, won’t be scary. It will be filled with hope. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, November 28, 2021, Advent 1
Gracious God, in these anxious times we give you thanks, for in you there is the light of the world, and you are always ready to show us the path to it. Our hope in you rests secure.
We have to admit though, Holy God, we often stray from your path. We want to go a different way we have convinced ourselves will be just as good in taking us where we want to be. But always we get lost. We get turned around and around—even upside down—and quickly the anxiety and fear of it all overwhelms us, and we know not what we are doing, or which way we should go.
So with desperation and fervent prayers we open our hearts to you again. Remove our resistance and then guide our minds and our steps that we might find and follow your path—a hope filled path that will take us through these anxious times of fear, and bring us to a place of healing and wholeness.
And the season of Advent reminds us that place of healing and wholeness is right next to Jesus—the one who comes in the name of the Lord, to set the captives free, and to faithfully turn everything around—even faithfully upside down—so that we, and the world will know when we trust you, wait for you, and live with hope in you and your ways, then nothing can ever again overwhelm us.
We are ready O God. We are ready to walk your Advent path, illuminated with hope filled light. Lead us to Jesus. Illumine us that we may teach your truth. Comfort and encourage us, that we may comfort those who mourn and encourage the poor in spirit. Shepherd us that we may shield the weak and bring back the lost. Forgive us that we may become forgivers. Humble us that we, like you, may humbly serve.
For it is in Jesus that we find the strength to carry on and go through all the anxiety and fear to the place of healing and wholeness.
Hear now, we ask, the prayers of our hearts, shared with you, in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray, in the name of the hope-filled Prince of Peace, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…