Isaiah 64:1-9 “Tear open the heavens and come down” Isaiah implored God. “Rip the skies apart and get yourself down here,” he prayed all those years ago.
My oh my, a violent image with which to begin Advent, isn’t it? Isn’t Advent supposed to be the time in which we prepare for Christmas; for the coming of the Prince of Peace? Sure, Israel had its problems, chasing after other gods and ignoring God’s laws to name a few, but do we really need to think about all that now? Now, when we’re putting up sparkly decorations and humming seasonal songs along with the muzak in the stores? Now, when we’re picking out a pretty sweater for an aunt or the right toy for a youngster in our lives?
Why do we need to begin this season of joy with the image of God rupturing the firmament and doing something about what is going on on earth? Why do we need to consider God coming to earth at all right now? It’s the Christmas season, isn’t it?
Well, yes, the cultural calendar, whose monthly page we turn tonight, does say that it’s Christmas time. But the liturgical calendar tells us that this is actually New Years day and today, as we were reminded in the Call to Worship, we begin the four-week and a few days long period of Advent.
Now, I have no doubts who would win the cage match between the secular Christmas lead-up and Advent. Red and green are the colors we see, not the more subdued and reflective purple associated with the liturgical season. It’s all twinkly lights to brighten the ever-growing darkness, not a group of candles which are lit one by one over time. We’ll spend our time over the next 24 days shopping and dressing up for parties and decorating rather than meditating, praying, and getting ready for the coming of that Prince of Peace I mentioned.
No, compared to Christmas Incorporated, Advent is a weakly, pale opponent who is bound to lose each and every time. Personally, I tend to compartmentalize around this time of year, going along with the culture to a degree while trying to remember what Advent is all about. I allow myself to live in both worlds mostly because it’s almost impossible not to be taken in by Christmas Inc., while reminding myself that I really do want, and need, the more contemplative quiet that I associate with Advent.
So, yes, I’m a bit of a sell-out, if the truth be told, but I don’t think I’m alone in doing this; there are others who do exactly the same thing. And let’s get this straight, I’m not talking about the millions of people across the globe who celebrate Christmas Inc. and do so without any belief or faith in Jesus, or Christ, or even God. I’m referring to fellow, self-professed Christians who buy into Christmas Inc. while doing the balancing act with their faith life and trying to observe an Advent of preparation and expectation. They’re, um, you’re, out there, I know.
And so I know that I and you and all the others who try will find a way to integrate these two competing sides will do so, to varying degrees of success; varying from person to person as well as from year to year. And that’s pretty much okay, I guess.
But then…but then, something happens that throws things out of whack; that upsets the balance and makes me stop and wonder just what am I doing.
Just two days ago, at a Wal-mart store on Long Island, New York, the employees were preparing for the opening of the store at 5 a.m. for what has come to be known as Black Friday. Among them was 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour, who was a temporary maintenance worker from Jamaica, Queens. Of course most of you know what happened: The crowd at the doors, hundreds of people, rushed the store and Damour was actually trampled to his death by shoppers on their way to the bargains that were advertised. According to an article on the website of the New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html?page=0), four others, shoppers themselves including one pregnant woman, were also injured and taken to a local hospital. The Daily News article quotes Jimmy Overby, another Wal-mart employee who was at the store also, talking about the mob event:
He was bum-rushed by 200 people. They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down, too ... I didn't know if I was going to live through it. I literally had to fight people off my back.According to the Daily News, a cop at the scene reported that even officers who arrived to perform CPR on Damour were stepped on by shoppers. Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said, "When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since Friday morning!' They kept shopping." The Daily News reported that the Long Island store reopened at 1 p.m. that day…and was packed within minutes.
It’s all very well and good for us to sit here, 3,000 miles away and shake our heads as we mutter, “what a shame…isn’t it awful.” And frankly there’s not much we can do. I’m sure also that we all like to think that we would have acted differently; that we would have stopped; that we would have not trampled another human being. And, likely we wouldn’t if given the opportunity, but we weren’t in Long Island at 5 in the morning last Friday so those statements do ring a bit hollow.
But then I think about my own part in Christmas Inc.; there’s my own complicity in this secular celebration that is all about consumerism and advertising and bargain-hunting and greed. I can see myself, at least components of myself, as part of a mob that cares more about saving $10 than it does about someone else’s life and my “tut-tuts” at this particular incident seem a little too high-handed on my part.
So that violent image of God ripping open the heavens is nothing compared to the violence that Christmas Inc. has wrought. We’re not so different after all from those Israelites all those centuries ago who turned to other gods and turned away from the laws that called for care and concern for others. The gods they strayed to and began to worship had funny names to our ears but our contemporary are all too familiar sounding: the gods of money, accumulation, things, to name just a few.
It all makes Advent, the real Advent in which I penitentially prepare myself and pray for the coming of the Christ into our midst, seem all that more important. The Advent in which I implore God to rip open the heavens and just get down here, quick.
Jdimytai Damour has been offered up as a martyred sacrifice to these consumerist gods; needlessly, tragically. Christmas Inc. roles along, devouring anyone who might get in the way. Somehow, I need to work on that balance between the secular celebration and the holy one. I need to work on the ordering of importance and not get caught up on the wrong side of the cage match. And you know what? That’s what Advent is all about. Lucky, huh?
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