I wonder as I wander

I bet there’s somebody here who knows how many shopping days are left before Christmas! Actually, the math is pretty easy this morning. Today is December 1 and Christmas, of course, is the 25^th. My purpose today is not to put down Christmas materialism. I actually think the joyous sharing of gifts with those whom you love can be a wonderful element in the Christmas celebration. And although I personally was not one of those waiting outside Wal-Mart in the dark Friday morning, I am not anti-shopping. Theoretically at least, as preparation for Christmas, shopping can be an authentic part of Advent. And today is the beginning of Advent. And as we begin Advent, my focus is on the Christmas countdown. All of us, in one way or another, are counting the days. We have all just begun a journey that will take us step by step, day by day, towards December 25^th. We are all counting the days.

It is too bad that this countdown can become a source of stress, because it is godly part of this season of Advent. The church teaches us that Advent is a time of anticipation, of expectancy, a time of holy waiting. We count down the time as each week we light one more candle on the Advent wreath. The windows of an Advent calendar open up day by day as we count the days leading up to Christmas. Advent is a time of preparation—a time to prepare our homes, to prepare our gifts, to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Christ child. One reason the Episcopal church does not sing Christmas carols during Advent is to maintain this feeling of expectant waiting. You don’t open your presents early… That would spoil Christmas. And think about it, it would spoil Advent, too. It would spoil the excitement of this time of hopeful, expectant waiting.

There is a wonderful excitement in this Advent time of counting the days, of anticipating something really awesome that lies still in the future, but is inevitably drawing closer. It’s not Christmas yet, but we know Christmas is coming. And unlike a space shuttle countdown, nothing will stop or delay the Christmas countdown. The excitement of Advent comes from knowing that Christmas will come.

Christmas will come. Twenty-four days from now we will gather here in the evening darkness of winter and sing of the birth of a savior. "Hark the herald angels sing! Glory to the newborn king". And I know that on that night my heart will sing with a sort of blossoming joy that Christmas always brings. I know. I know that as I sit at home at home at Christmas time at night in the silence looking at the lights on my tree I will feel the wonder of light being born in darkness, of hope that is stronger than anything. I know with certainty that I will feel this Christmas hope. I know that as I listen to my Harry Belafonte Christmas CD this Christmas I will fondly remember good family Christmases while I was growing up. That was one of the records played in our family at Christmas time. I know that this music and the memories it evokes will bless me this Christmas. I know.

Much of the excitement of Advent comes because I know what Christmas will bring. I know that it will be good. I know that the familiar activities and experiences will work their miracle once again. I know that hope and joy will be among my Christmas gifts. The delicious anticipation of these Advent days of counting down before Christmas exists because we know the wonder that lies ahead.

We know what’s coming. We know the story. Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to have been a shepherd or a shopkeeper or a soldier as the Christmas story was unfolding in the year that baby Jesus was actually born? What do you imagine that first Christmas was like for those who weren’t expecting it?

This morning’s Scripture readings remind us that God is full of surprises… that God’s actions often do not conform to our expectations. One line in Isaiah’s prophecy caught my attention. The prophet says to God, "When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence." We never expected you, God, to actually come crashing into the world. We didn’t expect sinful behavior to have any real consequences. We certainly didn’t expect you, God, to get quite so hands-on involved in the world. But, the prophet seems to say, now that we know what to expect… now that we know that you are a God who makes the mountains quake… now that we know what to expect, we expect you to come again as you did before, to make the nations tremble, to crush iniquity…

But God did not come as the people expected.  God did not send a crushing earthquake or a fire. God did not come crashing into the world with vengeful wrath as the prophet expected. God sent a baby, his son, not to crush iniquity, but to die so that iniquitous sinners might be redeemed and live. God came into the world; God got involved deeply, intimately, passionately involved in peoples’ lives, but in a way more wondrous and awesome than they ever could have expected.

Mark’s gospel reminds us, too, that we cannot know exactly what to expect. Stay awake. No one knows, Mark says, no one knows when the master of the house will come or what he will bring. Keep awake! You never know just what to expect.

These are funny readings to have during Advent. Advent, which is all about the fulfillment of expectations. So what should we do this Advent? Cherish our expectations or abandon our expectations? Should we cherish the familiar rituals of the Christmas countdown, rich with the expectation of the Christmas wonder that is coming? Or should we abandon all expectations with the realization that we cannot know, we cannot predict God’s actions in the world?  Should we cherish our expectations or abandon our expectations?  Both. The answer is both. We should cherish our expectations. We should make the most of this time of anticipation and preparation. Christmas will come. The child will be born anew in our lives this year.  Our expectations will be fulfilled.

And yet. And yet, who knows what to expect? Who knows what new and unexpected wonders God might provide this year. We do know that God cares deeply for the world, for us. We should certainly expect God’s presence with us; we should expect God to act to make a difference in our lives. God’s actions, though, may come in some wonderfully new and unexpected way. Who knows what to expect of God.  Perhaps this Christmas God will act within the scale of a human heart, touching a heart that has had little reason in the past to expect joy and hope at Christmas time. Perhaps God will find a way for Emmanuel, God with us, to be born this year in one or two or ten hearts that are sad. Or perhaps God will act on the scale of the globe, acting in some way we cannot begin to imagine or expect so that peace may truly reign on earth.

This Thanksgiving I found myself pondering gratefully those gifts in my life that are truly from God. Each time we baptize a new Christian we say a prayer in which we ask that this new Christian may know the seven-fold gifts of the Spirit. My favorite one of the seven gifts is the "gift of joy and wonder" in all of God’s works. It is a wonderful gift to know joy and wonder.  It is a gift to be open to the unexpected wonder of God's world and God's works.

Do you know the traditional Christmas carol "I wonder as I wander"?

Before it happened no one would have ever expected the Son of God to be born into the world so that he might die for poor on’ry people like you and like I.

Enjoy the Advent countdown, secure in the expectation that Christ will be born into our world on December 25. But this Advent I also hope that we all may cherish our gift of wonder and be open to God’s unexpected actions in our lives. Take time this Advent to wander. To wander out under the sky. Wander with no expected destination. Wander with a heart and soul open in wonder. I wonder as I wander… what unexpected miracle God will perform this Christmas.

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