ADVENT Day SIX (Friday, 12/2): Quick Thoughts for Families

First Friday of Advent (Isaiah 19:16-25)

The Prophet Isaiah continues with his theme of the conversion of nations in the reading for the first Friday of Advent. With the coming of Christ, salvation is no longer confined to Israel. Egypt, whose enslavement of the Israelites represented the darkness of sin, will be converted, as will Assyria. Christ's love encompasses all nations, and all are welcome in the New Testament Israel, the Church.

 

I'm going to talk to the kids tonight about the phrase 'once a year Catholics' and ask them if they ever heard of it or if they can take a guess as to what it means.  I think that Catholics get a bum rap as the denomination named in that phrase......it could easily be 'once a year Christians' (and maybe in some denominations it is), but..............I am going to use it as a jumping off point for tonight's message.

 

Let me begin by stating that Isaiah is not an easy place to find a message that can be made relevant to an almost 13 year old and two 11 year olds.  That being said, after our Scripture reading, I went back and placed particular emphasis on Isaiah 19:20.......'...he will send them a savior and a defender and he will rescue them.' And, isaiah 19:22.......'They will turn to the Lord.  He will respond to their pleas and heal them.'

 

The message to the kids then goes like this:

 

So, we've talked about that phrase 'once a year Catholic' or 'once a year Christian.'  And, traditionally it probably explained an individual who showed up at Church, duh, once a year.  When I was a kid, even people who NEVER went to Church, went on Palm Sunday.  I clearly remember that.  Our family ALWAYS attended Mass on Sunday.....but we had friends and neighbors who were Roman Catholic; however, they did not attend every Sunday or for that matter more than once or twice a year.  It was always intriguing to me as an 11 or 12 year old that there were kids on our block who never went to Mass, but they never missed Mass on Palm Sunday.  They would ring our doorbell with literally armloads of Palms, and ask how much we had gotten, and then point out that they had more. 

 

IF we, meaning those of us right here in this living room, are 'once a year' Catholics or Christians, how would we likely respond to someone who thought that Palm Sunday was 'only' for grabbing as many Palm fronds as you could?  How would we likely respond to someone who thought that Christmas was about Santa, writing up a really long list of 'I wants', and amassing a pile of stuff?  Hmmmmm?

 

Let's go back to something I said on the first night of Advent; I said that one year from now (meaning the first night of Advent 2012) I wanted our family to sit and light the first candle, and not have had it be 11 months since we had gathered as a family to pray and seek the Lord.  Can change, big or small, occur in our hearts if we shut the Lord out 11 months of the year or 364 days of the year?  Think about the stable in which Jesus was born.  Remember how we said it was swept clean and ready for the precious baby.  Our hearts should be the same way.  What if Mary and Joseph, having been turned away at the Inn but told there was a stable they night use, showed up, and the stable was a filthy mess?  What if Joseph starts trying to make at least a small clean place for Mary?  Think about it.  What is it like when there is a massive amount of dust and debris and you want to clear it out all at once?  Do you end up choking on the micro-particles that float up from the ground or floor as you sweep?  Do those tiny pieces of this and that make it difficult for you to see?  Maybe you try to wave or fan the cloud out of your face or nose.  Perhaps you cough or try to turn in the other direction only to find yourself surrounded by the very stuff you are trying to clear out of the place.  'Ugh,' you say.  'This is useless.  I can't do this.'  And you walk away.

 

Stay with me:  if we are taking these four weeks before the celebration of the birth of
Our Savior as a time to prepare of place for Him in our lives, perhaps we need a plan.  Well, okay then.  The first part of our plan is to sit here with our family and hope that someone says something that actually has meaning in our lives.  This stable idea that your father brought up on Sunday night is obviously a really good image because I clearly keep bringing it up......don't I?

 

So, if our heart is the stable and it has to be cleaned, we are bright enough to be able to tell from the story above that if we try to do it in one shot, with one quick sweep of the broom, we are only going to get choked with the stuff that we are really trying to get rid of, so that is not the way to proceed.

 

Let's go back to Isaiah -- where he says: ' when they cry out to the Lord, he will send them a Savior and a defender and he will rescue them.'  Sounds like if you are standing there being choked by the junk in your stable, it's time to cry out to the Lord.  How?  Well, you can actually cry out to Him.....and folks certainly do.....and I certainly have.  Or, you can speak quietly to Him in prayer, and you can listen for Him to speak to you in prayer. 

 

You can speak quietly very simply with three little words:  'Lord have mercy.'  THAT,  you can practically do all day long.  Ask me how I know. 

 

You see, G-d isn't Merry Maids or Sunshine Cleaning or ServiceMaster.  He isn't in a hurry, he isn't on the clock, he isn't rushing off to take care of someone else.  He does want to be invited in, and then He wants to stay.  He isn't in a rush.  He doesn't want to be invisible in your cloud of dirt that you are trying to sweep under the rug -- don't even waste your time.  He knows all about your stuff.....and your rug and what is under it.  He's there to help you roll up the rug, get every speck of stuff and dirt out of there, and move into every single inch of your heart.  And, not just for one day.  Because once you let Him do the job His way, you won't want anything coming along and messing things up.

 

When you call out to Him, he will show up, respond, rescue and heal you.  Why wouldn't you want that every single day of the year?   He sent His son to be born in a manger in a stable so that you could be rescued.  THAT is the reason for the season.

 

It's kind of ironic, isn't it, that commercials and advertisements talk about the 'Holiday Rush?'  Well,

G-d isn't in a rush.  The media bombards us at Christmas with a constant message of hustle and bustle, dashing here and there, and so little time to do the things we 'have' to do.

 

THIS is what we HAVE to do this Advent season:  take each and every day of Advent to prepare our hearts to welcome Our Savior.  We have little more than three weeks from right now to do that.  Let's pray and welcome the Lord in our hearts to take inventory and speak to us about where we should begin.

 

To my children and my husband:  I Love You!