“Be vigilant at all times.”
A couple of years ago when my dog, Bella,
was just a couple of months old,
we had one of those California thunder storms.
It just bucketed rain. Just non-stop.
Bella had never, ever seen rain before
so you can imagine this little dog,
a German Shepherd, as fearsome as they can be
just looking up at this rain;
she was cocking her head sideways as if to read each drop of rain.
Then she stuck her head out and
the rain like pounded on her nose and
she moved her nose and stared up at the sky.
Then she’d step out and she’d get wet, and step back inside.
It was hilarious to watch.
It was so wonderful to watch
that I started to look at the rain differently.
Then it dawned on me that
it was the first rain she had ever experienced.
She had never seen rain before
so she was trying to figure out what it was.
She would go outside and do a little dance in the rain
and come back in, shake off.
It was hilarious.
At that moment, I paused and I looked at rain
like I had never looked at rain before.
I wondered what’s it like to look at rain for the first time.
I looked up at the rain, it was really beautiful,really beautiful.
Now I know we need the rain in California.
We have needed it for years and continue to need it
but just in that moment,
I’ve seen enough rain to last a lifetime as I grew up in Ireland
so I don’t need to look at the rain because I have seen enough,
but I did and I saw the beauty of God’s creation.
Rain is different when you look at it with a new set of eyes.
The rain became wonderful.
I noticed recently when we had that rain storm in California
that everyone was smiling and giddy with excitement.
In Ireland, we have rain all the time
but here everyone was smiling when we had the rain.
Everyone was delighted to see rain again.
It is that sense of wonder.
That sense of delight in seeing something with newness and freshness.
It is in that sense that we are called as we begin this new liturgical year
with the sense we enter into this new year,
the wonder of God’s creation
and in particular the wonder of what God has done in Christ
being incarnated as the Word of God.
Yet it’s hard because what happens is
“Oh yeah well, we have done this Christmas thing before.
Okay let’s get it on.
Okay we’ve got Advent.
Okay let’s get to Christmas.”
If we look at the stores, Christmas is already in, right?
We are all fully about Christmas and the Christmas decorations;
in Costco they have been there already for a month.
They have been anticipating Christmas for a month
but that is the commercialization, that is the sales of Christmas.
The irony of it is that we do not celebrate Christmas
until Christmas day or Christmas eve.
Then we celebrate it for 12 days.
Now even longer because we go into the Baptism of the Lord.
The temptation is when we get to Christmas,
we are ready to take down the decorations
the day after Christmas, all the trees go out.
Please. No. No. No.
This the start of it.
Please don’t put your trees away.
Now it last for 12 more days.
Now we celebrate.
But for this season, Advent, we are celebrating now,
we are preparing for Christmas.
The Church says this is such an important feast,
the Incarnation of Christ, the Nativity of Christ
that we spend four weeks preparing for it.
What are we meant to do in those four weeks?
We are meant to be vigilant at all times.
We are meant to again look with new eyes,
the fresh eyes, to the wonder all around us.
What we are celebrating is that God was made present in Christ
and will continue to come again.
We celebrate the Christ who is already among us
and we need to look with new eyes to see that.
And what are we looking for?
We are looking for God’s grace that is already present;
it is here and maybe it is in a dog looking at rain;
or maybe it is us looking at rain when it comes.
Or maybe it is us looking up at the beautiful mountains
or just simply a flower;
or maybe like I did recently with a friend of mine
who has a brand-new baby
and to see the couple delight in this brand-new gift of life
and to see the wonder in their eyes as
they look at everything for the first time.
Can we reclaim a little bit of that wonder
and be vigilant as to where God’s grace is in our lives now, right now
whatever is going on in our life;
whether what is going on is good;
or whether we are suffering;
or whether we have wonderful things happening.
God is present to all of us all the time.
Maybe you could look again at your child
and delight and wonder at their freshness;
the beauty of the way they look at the world
maybe sometimes quirky but it is fun to see things
through the eyes of a child.
Or maybe you look at your spouse and
not see the wrinkles but see the beauty of love;
that they still love you after all these years;
or maybe if you are a child, you can look at your parents
and see how much they do and see the wonder of their love.
All of us are called to look and to look again;
to go a little bit deeper; and to pause.
I am not saying that is easy and at this time,
I mean the world wants to get us all busy about Christmas.
Let’s go. Let’s go.
Get to all the parties.
Buy. Buy. Buy. Buy.
But for us, the Advent season is all about slowing down.
That is why all our music has gotten a little bit slower.
Why? Because we have Christmas coming.
Let’s focus on Christ.
Let’s focus on the presence and the grace of God here and now.
So be vigilant at all times but to what?
To God’s grace.
To God’s beauty right here,
right now in the midst of all of this.
God is among us here.
Let’s notice with wonder and look with fresh eyes
and celebrate the gift of God’s presence today.
“Be vigilant at all times.”
