FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

The Second Sunday in Advent

December 10, 2006

CHRIST AT THE CENTER: THE GIFT OF TIME

Scripture: Luke 2:1-7; Galatians 4:4-7

INTRODUCTION

As we make our way toward Christmas, we are talking together about “Christ at the Center” and the gifts which God has offered to us through the birth of His Son, our Savior Jesus. Last week we concentrated on “The Gift of Trust” and this morning we focus our attention on “The Gift of Time.”

To be honest with you, I can’t think of a more appropriate subject during this “holiday season,” originally described as “the holy days” leading up to the coming of the Christ Child. Sad to say, the month of December seems anything but a “holy and sacred time” today, as we face the frustration of making travel plans, navigating through traffic jams, and trying to survive in the malls which are crammed full of all sorts and conditions of people.

A New Yorker cartoon shows a woman flat on the floor in a department store, and the caption below records an intercom announcement: “Shopper down in aisle five.”

Together with the frustration, we are dealing with heightened expectations of what this time of the year ought to be like: Norman Rockwell paintings of perfect families gathered around the table with everyone smiling; Budweiser commercials on TV which show those Clydesdale horses pulling a wagon through the snow with the song in the background “I’ll Be Home for Christmas;” and how about the expectations of the gifts we hope to receive – a husband stood at the cash register to purchase a pen and pencil set and said to the clerk, “It’s for my wife.” The clerk asked, “Is it a surprise?” to which the husband replied “I’ll say, she’s expecting a new car.”

So our “holy time” is often spent in frustration, and heightened expectation, all the while moving forward with a sense of acceleration as the days leading toward Christmas go by so quickly that we find ourselves saying with T.S. Elliot that we “had the experience but we missed the meaning.”

I

My friends, there are fifteen days until Christmas, and this year, I’d like to suggest a different way to get there. We may not be able to slow down completely, but if we’re willing to open our hearts and minds to receive and unwrap the gift of time which God offers to us, then we can and will discover the joy and the peace, the love and the grace that you and I are looking for.

Our journey begins with taking the time and making the time to watch and pay attention.

According to the Gospel of Luke, that’s what Mary and Joseph did during that first Advent season. Charles Dickens, in his book “A Tale of Two Cities,” could have written the script for them: “It was the best of times and the worst of times” – and surely that was true for Mary and Joseph as they withdrew from the city of Nazareth to return to the city of Bethlehem for the census decreed by Caesar Augustus.

It was the worst of times because the Jews were living under the occupation and oppression of the Roman Empire. But it was also the best of times because Mary was about to have a baby.

So Mary and Joseph watched carefully and prayerfully as they made their journey, paying attention to what was happening around them and more importantly, to what was soon going to happen to them.

It’s the same in our lives today. We ought to be aware of world events and some of us will have the opportunity out there to make a difference. But most of us need to pay more attention closer to home, focusing on those family members and friends whom we love and yet who sometimes feel left out, left behind and alone. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, not only to you but as a reminder to myself: no one at the end of life ever said “I wish I had spent more time at the office.”

You see, the gift of time which God has given to you and to me is not supposed to be kept to ourselves. The Lord wants us to share our time with those who are close to us, so that when our time on this earth is over and done, we can know that we have spent our time well.

And that is also the case with the others whom God wants us to encounter and embrace – the people who cross our path unexpectedly and at first appear to be interruptions in our relentless daily schedules. The Episcopal priest Urban T. Holmes described it this way:

“Many people live in a fairly constant state of noise, with their unresolved past and the uncertain present breaking in on them. They lack a still center and it is only for such a quiet point that we can listen attentively.

When I was in my first parish, located in the middle of a city, a homeless man came into my office and wanted to tell me his story. I sat as if to listen, but I was distracted by something now long forgotten. I remember I was fiddling with a pencil, and the man stopped his story, looked at me and said, ‘Father, the least you can do is to pay attention.’” (From “Spirituality for Ministry” by Urban T. Holmes III)

As we make our way toward Christmas, let’s do that my friends: let’s watch and pay attention with Mary and Joseph to what is happening around us and within us, to those whom we love the most and to the people that God brings unexpectedly close into our lives. That’s what is going to happen on Christmas Eve Sunday morning as we share our time and our stocking gifts with the homeless men, women and children who will come here for breakfast. Why are we doing that? Because Jesus told us, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto me.

II

Watch and pay attention – that’s the first thing, and the second way that we can receive and unwrap the gift of time which God has given to us is to wait and be patient.

Mary and Joseph heard the words of the angels who visited them, announcing that the child to be born would be named Jesus, and that He would deliver His people from their sins. But when all was said and done, that first Christmas couple had to wait patiently for Him to come.

In one sense, nine months of pregnant anticipation is a long time, especially if you are the one having the baby! But the Hebrew people had been waiting for centuries, going all the way back to the prophecies of years gone by. They believed that the long awaited Messiah would bring peace, that He would set them free, and would establish His kingdom on earth. Mary and Joseph were aware of those great expectations, but all they could do was wait patiently with hope and anticipation in their hearts.

All these years later, we Christians believe that the prophecies have come true, that the birth of Jesus split time in two between B.C. and A.D., and that He has established His kingdom, here and now and for all of eternity. But we are still waiting for wars to cease, for those who are oppressed to be released, and for the people of all the nations on this planet to learn to live together in peace.

Waiting isn’t easy, and most of us have a hard time being patient when things take so long to happen. Why? Because we Americans have come to expect instant gratification where things are supposed to happen quickly and without hesitation. When anything takes longer than we think it should, we immediately express our dissatisfaction.

The Christian author Mark Buchanan wrote about that reality in Christianity Today, making note of a letter which a parishioner sent to his pastor in Toronto following a Sunday morning worship service:

“Dear Pastor,

I would appreciate it if you prayed shorter prayers. Your pastoral prayer this past Sunday was 12 minutes, 43 seconds in length. Please strive for greater brevity (so that all of us can finish the service in one hour and make it to brunch on time.)” (From an article entitled “Schedule, Interrupted” by Mark Buchanan, Christianity Today, February 2006, page 43)

Well let me tell you, when Connie Lee prayed the pastoral prayer this morning, she stayed within the typical 3 to 4 minute Presbyterian time frame for a worship service. But if she had gone on 5 or even 10 minutes longer, we still would have been blessed by the Holy Spirit, because prayer is a timeless experience between those who pray and the Eternal God who listens to the prayers we lift up to Him.

That reality was made clear to me this past week during our mission trip to Haiti, where we spent quality time with our Christian brothers and sisters on the island of LaGonave, located 50 miles off the coast of the main island. We have been connected with them for the past 15 years, supporting a thriving church, a school for 500 children, a medical clinic named for our former staff member Bill Rice (rest his soul) and a number of agricultural projects which are making a major difference in the lives of the people who live there.

And let me tell you – they are not in a hurry when it comes to working for the Kingdom of God. They are willing to wait patiently for the Holy Spirit to move among them, they have much to teach us about the gift of time, and their prayers went well beyond the 3-4 minute mark and were an inspiration to us who sere fortunate to worship with them.

As we come to Christmas here in Atlanta, Georgia, let’s discover how to wait patiently upon the Lord, in prayer and in anticipation of all that He has promised to accomplish in our lives. And instead of being in a hurry, let’s decide to give to God our anxieties and worries and trust in Him to work all things together for good, even and especially at Christmas.

CONCLUSION

Christian friends: as we make our way toward Christmas, let us –

Take time to watch and pay attention…

Take time to wait and be patient…

And finally,

Let us make the time for God’s intervention in our lives.

Paul wrote to the Galatians that when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as His children (Galatians 4:4-5). Do you know what that means? It means that when we least expect it, God is ready, willing and able to intervene in the time of our lives and to make His presence known to us.

Last Tuesday morning in a Bible Study group that I am fortunate to belong to, one of our members told about how that happened to him and to his family. They were living in Washington, D.C. It was Sunday, Christmas Day, and they got up and got dressed, and after breakfast and sharing some gifts they went to church. They arrived at 11:00, the usual time for worship, but unbeknown to them, the service had been held earlier at 10:00 that day. They were disappointed and about to turn and go home when the rector of the church, a female priest, found them and said “Let’s have our own Christmas service.” She took that family back into the sanctuary, they gathered around the communion table, just them, celebrated the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and prayed together.

My friend who told the story said that he and his family sensed in a powerful way the peace and the presence of God which intervened on that Christmas Day. What a surprise!

There was a moment in time long ago when God intervened once and for all through the birth of His Son our Savior Jesus, and that’s what we need today – to sense His presence, His peace and His power at work in our lives right now.

Listen – yesterday is over and done. There is nothing that we can do to change it. Tomorrow is yet to come. There is little we can do to control it. But today is right here, right now at this moment in time, and we have the opportunity to live in it fully - that’s why we call it the present. As we make our way to Christmas, let’s receive The Gift of Time God has given to us, let’s unwrap it, enjoy it and share it with others – The Gift of Time through the birth of God’s Son our Savior Jesus.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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