A Message for Advent

The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: "The LORD our justice." Jeremiah 33:14

This may be hard for some of you to believe, but as a child I was quite talkative. And I was really, really bad at keeping secrets. I remember one Christmas in particular when my impulse to blurt out what was in my head caused my parents to . . . well, sigh in disbelief. My maternal grandmother had an old toaster. Some of you remember the type, with doors that opened on both sides where you set the bread. You then plugged it in, and when one side was toasted (and you had to be careful not to burn it), you turned the bread around to toast the other side. It was time for Grammy to have a pop-up toaster, still a pretty cool invention when I was a little kid. My parents saved up their green stamps, and went to the green stamp store on lower Congress Street. They redeemed their stamps for a gleaming, state-of-the-art pop-up toaster. They wrapped it carefully. They were delighted with the choice of gift, and in their enthusiasm they thought it would be OK to share the secret with me. On Christmas Eve, we arrived at my grandmother’s house, and as my parents placed the wrapped gift under the tree, I blurted out, “Grammy! It’s a new toaster! A pop-up toaster!” I could not contain my joy any longer. A gleaming new toaster for Grammy could not be kept secret. I became the herald of good news!

Jesus is not a toaster. Jesus is not a secret. The manger is not Christmas wrapping paper. But I long for the childlike enthusiasm that enabled me to blurt out good news so spontaneously. As Advent approaches, it is really OK for us to tell people what they are getting for Christmas. In fact, keeping Christmas joy a secret is probably not a good thing to do at all. And how could we possibly contain such good news? Jeremiah tells us that God will do what is right and just, and in the coming of the Messiah, we will find peace and security. This is a message our frightened and confused world needs to hear over and over.

As we celebrate Advent and anticipate Christmas, we live in a noisy world that tells us that the season is about money and gifts and more money. We hear many messages of despair and injustice. The world is not at peace. And we have Jesus, fulfillment of a promise, wrapped in poverty and human frailty, beautiful in his simplicity. God’s power in the world made flesh so simply yet miraculously. Jesus is a gift that we cannot keep secret!

Pastor Bill Barter