I don’t know about y’all but, as usual, for the last couple of weeks or so, people keep asking me if I’m ready for Christmas. I might be at the barber shop or standing in line at the grocery store. Or maybe I’m catching up with a neighbor in the cul-de-sac… or on any other sort of mundane occasion, the question is asked: “So, are you ready for Christmas?” And my normal response, the expected response is, “No!” followed by a wan smile. And then… “How about you?” It’s just a kind of seasonal ritual, I guess. And we all know what “ready” means, right? It means, have we got our Christmas shopping done? After all, how often would we ever ask our friends if they were ready for the rebirth of Christ Jesus in their hearts, and in their lives? Not too often, I’m guessing. Not often enough. So how about you? Are you ready for Christmas?
There was a period in my life when I used to intentionally wait until Christmas Eve to do all of my gift shopping. Philippa and I have a little arrangement, you see: I take care of her… and she takes care of everyone else. I’m pretty sure I have the better end of that deal. In any case, I’d set out around mid-morning, take a stroll through shoppers’ ground zero (the mall) buying one thing and another, sipping my once-a-year cup of eggnog latte, just soaking in the ambiance. The noisy hustle and bustle of the morning of the “last shopping day before Christmas” would begin to dissipate after lunch. And as the cacophony of mercantile madness began to fade, it became easier to pick out the words of carols being played over the loudspeakers. Frazzled shop workers began to relax, anticipating the end of their craziest few weeks of the year, and looking forward to some rest and time off with family and friends. It seemed to me that only late in the day on Christmas Eve did people begin to remember “the reason for the season.” I’d visit the kitchen shop, the perfume shop, the shop where you find lotions to put on your hands and face and feet, the shop where they sell “sparkly things” and, of course, the chocolate shop. By late-afternoon, I would typically have found my way to the bookstore, where I would browse the shelves looking for the last couple of items I was afraid Santa might have forgotten. I love the smell of books and this was the quietest place… and the quietest time of the entire Holiday season. There would normally be a couple of young people (elves, perhaps?) wrapping packages next to the check-out stand. As a testament to their industry, the floor beneath their table would be littered with bits of wrapping paper and ribbon and discarded price tags. One thing’s for sure: everyone would be smiling. And after checking out, I’d head home for Christmas Eve festivities and Midnight Mass with family and friends. I always felt as if I had somehow pulled one over on our Capitalist economy by compressing my entire Christmas shopping rush, from frenetic start to a productive and tranquil finish, into about a six-hour timeframe. Now I could say I was ready… or at least as ready as I could be… both temporally and spiritually.
Let’s think for a minute about that second state of readiness, spiritual readiness wherein (if we’re lucky) we can begin to discern the real “reason for the season.” I read something on social media the other day: “With such an emphasis on decorations and shopping, we have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas – The Birth of Santa!” You laugh. We in the twenty-first century are a long, long way from the first incarnation of Jesus Messiah. And I believe it’s safe to say that Mary and her cousin Elizabeth would have a hard time understanding the world in which we live in today. What do you think? Who were these women? How ready were they to become witnesses and participants in God’s plan to save the world by becoming Immanuel (God among us)?
Elizabeth was the wife of a Levite priest named Zechariah. According to Luke’s Gospel, the two were “getting on in in years” and they were childless, though they had prayed to God for a son. As the years passed, they had had likely given up on ever having children to carry on their legacy and care for them in their old age. And yet, they remained faithful, serving God—day in, day out—trusting that their faith would be rewarded (cf. vv. 1:5-24). And then there’s Mary, a peasant girl from a small village in a backwater province of Roman Palestine. As far we can tell from Scripture, there was nothing particularly special about Mary, only that she had somehow “found favor with God.” She was probably young… maybe she was pretty. Or perhaps the hardscrabble village life of Nazareth had already begun to age her: girls in those days married early… and the challenges of trying to eke out a meager existence in a subsistence-level economy could take a toll on a body. And Mary was only one among many such, and yet… and yet, she was chosen by God to do something important, in this case something of the first importance. And what made Mary special was that she said “yes.”
So, were these women ready to take up their new roles in God’s plan for the redemption of the world? Temporally… maybe not so much, but spiritually… I believe they were. Despite years of disappointment and unanswered prayers, despite age and inexperience and poverty, both Elizabeth and Mary were prepared to offer themselves faithfully and joyfully… to be used in accordance with God’s will. And, as he did with Elizabeth and Mary, so also will God do amazing things with us… if we’re faithful, and if we’re willing to say “yes” to what he is asking us to do.
So, are we ready for Christmas? OR… are we ready for it to be Christmas? Maybe both? As we navigate these last few hours of Advent, I hope you will be able to take a time to experience more-fully the reason for the season, which is: God loving the world so much that he sent his only Son, the Eternal Word to show us the way to eternal life (John 3:16). Think about that for a second… God loves us that much. I wish you joy in the time you’ve spent this Advent reflecting upon the mystery of the incarnation (what kind of God would love us enough to give himself completely for us?) and of preparing yourselves, both temporally and spiritually, not only for the celebration of the first coming of our Savior in Bethlehem, but also for the day of his coming in glory.
Towards the end of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus counsels his disciples to “make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (vv. 12:33-34). And then he says, “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those . . . whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will . . . have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so—blessed are those [servants] . . . You must be ready… for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (vv. 12:35-40).
And so, my brothers and sisters, I just have just a couple of questions to ask of you as the season of Advent winds down: How is your heart? Is it strong in faith in the Lord? Are your lamps lit? Are your wicks trimmed? Are you awake? Christmas is coming. Our Messiah is coming. And on the last day, that day of days, when we see our Savior face-to-face, will we be ready to welcome… the Reason for the Season?
A few words from Father Kemper 