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There is one among you with whom you do not recognize.
I am 58 years old now, and I noticed
that I need my reading glasses more and more.
I need really two sets of glasses:
One for reading a book and
another one for reading a computer screen,
because they are slightly different.
I do not really need anything beyond that!
However, I am constantly going between the different glasses,
I decided to get a set of trifocals;
one that has nothing on the top
and then medium for the computer
and the stronger one for the books.
But I am forever taking them on and off
and leaving them somewhere and losing them!
Then when I do pick them up, they are dirty,
and I am trying to clean them.
It gets particularly bad when I am tired
and when there is dark, dim lighting,
like when we have been starting our liturgies this advent.
And so, I have to wear glasses.
I remind myself of my mother when she was really blind!
She needed three sets,
one for the distance,
one for close at hand, and one in between.
And she was forever losing them,
and she would hang all three sets around her neck.
I remember one day she had all three glasses around her neck,
and she says, “Did anyone see my glasses?”
I say, “Mom, they are around your neck!”
And then she would pick them up
and she would say, “Oh my gosh, they are filthy!”
She would wash them under the tap
and then she would clean them off and she says,
“Ah, I can see the world again.”
The reason why I bring this up is because
it is a great metaphor for faith
and how the act of picking up those glasses acknowledges
that we need to see with eyes of faith.
It does not change anything out there,
but it changes our ability to be able to see with clarity,
and we can see the difference,
the real true difference between this or that.
And that allows us to see with eyes of faith.
And when we see with eyes of faith, we see differently.
We can see with clarity the nuances that are super important.
What are some of those nuances?
The act of putting on the glasses is like the act of prayer.
We hear this in today's gospel and
in today's letter from Paul to the Thessalonians
to pray always; to pray without ceasing.
That seems so ridiculously outrageous and impossible to do.
But that is what you are doing when you put on those glasses,
that is your moment of prayer,
to take pause a moment and maybe clean your glasses
acknowledging that you need God to see in this world.
And then we put them on.
Then we pray always throughout the day
because we are seen with eyes of faith.
When we see differently,
then we come to know what we see and receive what we see.
It is like this song that we have been singing for Advent.
The opening song we have been singing for these last several weeks
about how we are coming to see God and to know God,
and if we see him and we know then we can receive Him.
That is all an act of prayer,
prayer being that profound sense of opening mind and heart to God;
that one wants to go a little bit deeper
and to see more clearly and to see more deeply.
Because that is what happens.
When we see, then it is hard to not act on what we see.
When we really see, we really come to know,
and we respond with compassion.
For example, when we look at our elderly parents,
we no longer just see grumpy older people,
but we see people who are lonely,
who may be in pain and struggling
with the adjustment of declining in older age.
And with that new eyesight, then one acts with more compassion.
Or we see our children, we see their exuberance and their energy
not as willful misconduct, but the energy and the enthusiasm for life.
The insight gives us the joy to be able to acknowledge that reality
and to rejoice with that in front of us.
Or to be able to see a neighbor
who may be seem a little bit odd or eccentric.
Instead, we see them as lonely and
acknowledge that their isolation may indeed cause some eccentric,
but their core is they are seeking to connect with others.
When we see with different eyes, we see with the eyes of faith,
and we see the stranger, the homeless,
or the immigrant, or the LBGTQ community member,
and we see them with different eyes,
then we will respond with compassion,
with gentleness, with kindness, with a welcome to all.
Fundamentally that is what the advent season is all about;
to see with eyes of faith,
to see deeper and to see and to recognize
the Christ who is among us.
The temptation is to allow our glasses, the eyes of our faith to get dirty.
They get dirty with busyness and tiredness
and the hustle and the bustle of the season.
It is very easy just to get carried away with it all
and lose the reason for the season.
And so, our call this weekend,
especially in this last week before Christmas,
is that we find, as St. Paul gives advice to his Thessalonian friends,
time to pause and to pray always;
to pick up the glasses of faith
and put them on for the day to see anew,
to see a little bit deeper to come to know and to receive Christ,
and then to attend with compassion to the needs of those around us.
There is one among you with whom you do not recognize.
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