{"id":512518,"date":"2018-11-03T02:18:58","date_gmt":"2018-11-03T06:18:58","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-08-09T11:42:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:42:38","slug":"we-need-a-little-hopefulness-advent-1-c-2018","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/we-need-a-little-hopefulness-advent-1-c-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"We Need a Little Hopefulness, Advent 1 (C) – 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On May 24, 1966, a new musical opened on Broadway. Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, starring Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the story of the madcap life of eccentric Mame Dennis and how her bohemian, intellectual, arty clique is disrupted when her deceased brother\u2019s 10-year-old son Patrick is entrusted to her care. Rather than bow to convention, Mame introduces the boy to her free-wheeling lifestyle, instilling in him her favorite credo, \u201cLife is a banquet, and most [people] are starving to death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point in the course of the play, Mame and her new ward are feeling sad. Patrick is mourning the death of his father, and Mame her brother, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She decides to make happy, leading into the song We Need a Little Christmas. In the midst of the song, Patrick protests, \u201cBut, Auntie Mame, it’s one week past Thanksgiving Day now,\u201d as if to say it is too early to decorate or celebrate Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was 1966, when one week past Thanksgiving was too early for Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to 2018, barely fifty years later. In August, one could encounter Christmas decorations and trees in the local home improvement store. And by November 15th, the Singapore Airport was adorned with \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d banners and the PA system was blaring Frosty, the Snowman. (And that in a country where they recognize four official languages, and the Christians\u2014who are mostly ethnically Chinese\u2014represent less than a third of the population.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most of these United States, the stores have unleashed a frenzy of sales events, special promotions, and cheery ads featuring Santa and his reindeer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hallmark Channel is advertising its Countdown to Christmas movie fest, which began on November 1st.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now there are folks insisting that the twelve days of Christmas begin on December 14 \u2013so they can end on Christmas Day. Traditionally, of course, the first day of Christmas is December 25, and at the end of the twelve days, we have the feast of the Epiphany, on January 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And all of this is not about the birth of a Savior, it\u2019s about spending, spending, spending. And spending a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember the song I\u2019ll Be Home for Christmas? It\u2019s a Bing Crosby song from 1943. It speaks of \u201cpresents on the tree.\u201d These were just little and usually handmade trinkets. Not presents under the tree, huge stacks and piles of purchased merchandise\u2014but simple little gifts that could be hung on the tree\u2019s branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in the midst of all this, the church offers the season of Advent, which is definitely not about shopping for presents. As we heard in today\u2019s gospel story, \u201cPeople will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see \u2018the Son of Man coming in a cloud\u2019 with power and great glory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a prophecy of the end of times, a.k.a. the apocalypse, the Omega, Armageddon, Parousia, the End Times, the promised return of Jesus to judge both the living and the dead. It makes you feel a bit Scrooge-like, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps you too have this odd, peculiar hope. Because we need a little hopefulness:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope that the severity of our political rhetoric is precisely what we need to come out of our illusionary comfort zones into a dangerous world and stand up for what is right and good and just.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope that we can rest in an unshakeable belief that we will be cared for in this life, that we will persevere in adversity, and that we will move on to life eternal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope that we will be freed from our fear and become bright beacons to the brokenhearted, even as we too face the storm, knowing that God has our back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, wait a minute. What about this Christ returning in glorious majesty thing? What about last judgment? When we proclaim, \u201cHe will come again in glory to judge,\u201d should that not make us quake in our boots? So\u2014should we not be afraid that God will punish us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, we need a little hopefulness, but, let\u2019s face it, we are perfectly content to demand revenge when we get hurt, to live fat and happy surrounded by poverty, and to pick fights whenever we are confronted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are not sinister in this, just oblivious. We see only our own materialistic, xenophobic, retaliatory image. Not the image of God, who is quite different from the powers of empire and imperialism:<\/p>\n\n\n\n