Mouth Watering Anticipation. Sermon for First Sunday of Advent.

On the first Sunday of Advent, I compare the Advent season of four weeks of waiting with arrival at a restaurant. The food is not served yet, but the anticipation has begun. 

What are you waiting for this year? What do you anticipate?

“Mouth Watering Anticipation”
Sermon, Year B, Advent 1, November 30, 2014
Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI 
© Rev. David J. Huber
Focus Scripture: Mark 13:24-37 

(you may also listen to the sermon)

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, that four weeks of preparation and anticipation that leads us into Christmas. This is a time of anticipation and preparation. Waiting. Keeping awake. Paying attention. We are in a broken in a world. A world that is not yet what God has imagined for it. We have not achieved what God has imagined for this world. We are a broken world that longs for mending and longs for repair. We heard that even in the Psalm we read. This longing for mending and for repair goes back thousands of years. Longing for the dark places to be lit up and healed and made whole.

We await the birth of Jesus. We are in the advent of Jesus, waiting, waiting for Christmas. We've begun our yearly journey toward Christmas. The radio, TV, and stores started their journey in September. The Hallmark Store had their Christmas ornaments out in July. They started Christmas a long time ago, and for them, Christmas will end on December 25. But we who follow Jesus know that Christmas begins on December 25 and then lasts for 12 days after. The Twelve Days of Christmas like in the old song. We celebrate for twelve days until Epiphany. So we are not in Christmas yet, we are in the time of Advent. The time to prepare ourselves to be ready to greet and meet the baby Jesus when he comes. 

We can think of today, the first Sunday of Advent, as that we have come to a restaurant. We have come to a restaurant while we have been so hungry and had such need of being filled and fed. We have been so hungry. We've been invited to come to this restaurant, and have been looking forward to it for weeks. We are excited. Maybe we've been thinking about what to wear for it. What will we wear for that meal? What will be served? What will be on the menu? What do we have to look forward to? So the day comes, and we put on our best clothes. Our best clothes might be a suit and tie, maybe a tuxedo, or perhaps a pair of shorts and a polo shirt that doesn't have too many stains on it. Maybe it is an evening gown or a Little Black Dress, or maybe the best clothing is a pair of jeans and a sweater with not so many holes in it. Whatever it is, you've put it on.

We arrive at the restaurant and see the outside. It's beautiful, lit up from the inside so you can see through the windows, and it has large impressive doors on the front. The valet takes your car, and he somehow knows your name. He's also been waiting for you, keeping awake, waiting for you to come and he takes your car. Then the doorman swings the doors wide open for you, and he also calls you by name and has been waiting for you. He says, “Thank you for coming, go on in!” The maître d’ has been waiting as well for you, greets you by name, and takes you to your table and pulls out the chair. You sit, he pushes the chair in. He tells you, “The chef has prepared a very special meal for you tonight. She knows exactly what you need. Exactly what you have been longing for.” And he leaves a menu on each of your places around the table. 

Do you feel your mouth watering in anticipation? You have had all this preparation coming in to the restaurant. The experience of the meal began as you pulled up in the car. When you saw the restaurant, and when you were greeted. Anticipation. Preparation. 

I was in Los Angeles a number of years ago. I was there to see some friends. I'd never been there. I was in between places, moving from Hawaii back to NYC, so I thought I'd stop in LA and see my friends Patty and Juan and see the city. I spent a few days with them, and while I was there, they said, “We know this restaurant that we want to take you to.” I don't remember the name of it, but they wanted me to experience it. They asked me, “Do you like garlic?” I said, “Oh, I love garlic! Love it! Can't get enough garlic.” And they said, “Then this is the restaurant for you. We'll take you there tonight on the way to the airport.” My mouth was already watering in anticipation of the meal. A restaurant that is known for its garlic! Exciting! Maybe not for you, but for some of us. It was so exciting! So we did whatever it was we did that day, and went to the restaurant for supper. As we pulled into the parking lot, I saw the restaurant's sign. It was whatever the restaurant's name was, and then in large letters was their motto: “We flavor our garlic with food”. I am in the right place! 

[edit: the restaurant’s name is The Stinking Rose. I also had the motto incorrect; it's actually “We Season Our Garlic With Food®”. The phrase under the restaurant's name is “A Garlic Restaurant” which is also in itself pretty mouth-watering, and the motto shows up on menus and other visible places in the restaurant.]

“We flavor our garlic with food”. [edit: “We Season Our Garlic With Food®”.] That anticipation started when I saw that sign. Oooh, this is going to be an experience! Think of how Disneyland and Disneyworld begin their experience in the parking lots. Many places do. Even churches begin their experience in the parking lot. As people come in, what do they see? What do they experience? 

So back this restaurant that I had you imagine you are at, where the maître d’ has left the menu on your table, you pick it up and see it is a fixed menu. It is simply telling you what the chef is going to be bringing you. Not a menu from which you choose, but the chef has prepared this meal for you. You look, and you see that what she is preparing, what you are looking forward to, are Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. 

That's the first Sunday of Advent. We've looked at the menu. We've heard what is to come, and have been shown what we are to receive: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. And we sit in anticipation to be wowed, to be fed, and to be filled. 

That is what the first Sunday of Advent is like. Not to the feast yet, but we know what is coming. 

Hope. Peace. Joy. And Love.

That's what we have to look forward to in Christmas when Jesus arrives again, coming into our world to bring love, healing, and wholeness with the hope, peace, joy, and love.

Thanks be to God. 

Amen.