Wake Up, Bear . . . It’s Christmas!

The 3rd Sunday of Advent
Today’s Readings: Zeph 3: 14-18; Isa 12: 2-6; Phil 4: 4-7; Lk 3: 10-18

There’s a cute holiday children’s book called Wake Up, Bear . . . It’s Christmas! It’s the story about a bear who decides that instead of hibernating one winter, he’s going to stay awake and see what Christmas is all about. Well, the cold and snow come along, and Bear gets very tired and sleepy. But our hero does manage to make it until midnight on Christmas Eve, when he meets Santa Claus who takes him along on his gift-delivery ride.

Christmas, of course, means that God has slipped into our world. “Emmanuel”—God is with us. Here’s right here on earth!

But just like Bear in the children’s book, as much as we’d like to stay awake and immerse ourselves in the wonder of Christmas, we often fall asleep. God knows that. It’s part of our nature to get all preoccupied with the stuff of life and forget about God. I guess this is just as much a part of our fallen human nature as hibernating is part of a bear’s nature. Yet again, God knows this, and he accepts us as we are. We even manage to bumble along on our own and get some things accomplished. God also knows, though, that to live fully and be all we can be, we must know God’s presence in our lives.

So, every now and then, God rattles us and wakes us up. And he has many ways of doing that.

For Christians, the life and work of Jesus have been God’s greatest wake-up call. Celebrating his birth each year is a reminder. In fact, there may be a blessing in disguise in the over-commercialization of Christmas. At least no one can miss it!

For our spiritual ancestors, God spoke through the prophets as a way to wake up his people, especially in times of trouble. Our first reading today comes from the short Old Testament book of Zephaniah the prophet. It is the 600’s B.C. The southern kingdom of Judah, and especially its capital city, Jerusalem, have become decadent and depraved. Idol-worship and injustice against the underclass are widespread. Through Zephaniah, God vows to inflict his terrible wrath—which actually came to be just a short time later, in 586 B.C., when the invading Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem and carried its leading citizens into captivity in Babylon.

Despite the gloom and doom, however, there is a promising ray of hope in Zephaniah. God has not, and will never, forget his covenant with Abraham. He will save a holy remnant. This is where we tune in today—in the last chapter of the prophecy, Chapter 3. Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully! Be glad and exult with all your heart! The Lord has removed the judgment against you. He has turned away your enemies. You have no further misfortune to fear. Fear not! Do not be discouraged! The Lord is in your midst, a mighty savior. He will renew you in his love.

If you think about it even just a little, you’ll clearly see that even the worst trials of life are a wake-up call to set things right. They are by no means signs of abandonment or condemnation by God. The wise folks among us have learned that God can use diseases like AIDS or cancer to reveal himself and say: Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

A few years ago, at just about this time of year, I had to bury an 18-year-old who got killed in a car wreck. The boy was drinking with his buddies . . . then as he headed home in the middle of the night, he took the icy roads too fast and wound up flying into a tree. He was a good kid. His family was devastated. His mother kept saying, Why? How could this happen? If only we could “rewind the tape” . . .

But what’s very important to remember is that even though God permitted this young man to die, it was not his will . . . any more than he wanted his own Son, Jesus, to suffer and die on the cross. No matter how great the tragedy appears, God will draw good out of it if we let him.

A sudden death, the diagnosis of a terminal illness, some other catastrophic loss—these remind us how fleeting and fragile life is and how much we cannot depend on the things of the present world. We can lose everything in the blink of an eye. But at the same time, we have to remember that life is a great treasure and very precious. Why do you think Jesus keeps telling us to love each other . . . to forgive each other . . . to be patient and merciful and tolerant of each other? Yes! Because he knows that we won’t last forever.

Maybe you sometimes wish, like that poor mother, that we could just rewind the tape. But we can’t. Life moves just in forward . . . sometimes in fast-forward. Every day is important and precious.

But, of course, when life is going well or even if life is just OK, we push these thoughts away. We forget that our God is in the world—always.

So loving Father that he is, God chooses to remind us every now and then. Amid the hustle and bustle of the season, he tugs at us—whether it’s when we see the lights and hear the carols and smell the Christmas cookies in the oven… or whether it’s in a hospital bed or even standing around an icy grave.

During this home stretch of Advent, listen and hear God calling: Wake up! I am with you! It’s Christmas!