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"Slow Down. Quiet. It's Advent"

by Clancy Nixon

December 11, 2005

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.holyspiritdulles.org

Slow down. Quiet. It's Advent.

I wonder sometimes about all the things Christians do to prepare for Christmas. I wonder

where it is all heading. Travel with me in your imagination on a trek into the stars and Christmas

in the 23rd century: [Bill plays star trek theme]

[Bill]: "Christmas preparation: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the crew of

the starship "Christian Free Enterprise." Its four week mission: To seek out scarce copies of X-

box 360; to explore strange new shopping malls; to get less sleep, miss more quiet times, buy

more presents, send more Christmas cards, and boldly go into more debt than any man has gone

before!"

Does this sound a little like your Advent? Have you sped up into "warp factor 9?" On

the show Star Trek, whenever Captain James T. Kirk got into deep trouble, he would push his

ship to speeds beyond what it was designed to go. To escape from the Klingons, he would tell

his Chief Engineer, Mr. Scott, that he needed to go still faster. He'd say, "more power, Scotty,

give me more power!" Scotty would reply, "I'm givin' her all I've got Captain, she won't take

much more of this!" The starship Enterprise would shake violently from the stress, and after

everyone sweated bullets, eventually they would reach safety. So the macho wisdom of the

swashbuckling Captain Kirk was affirmed: when pressed, go beyond what you think are your

limits of endurance, and you'll reach safety. Oh, and warp speed power is a nine plus.

How about you? What is powering you through Advent? Does your power come from

Captain Kirk's attitude that you will just take on more and more and more, no matter the cost

to you or your family, or else Christmas might disappoint someone? You may find that your time

with God has evaporated, and your equilibrium, lost. That's what happens at warp speed 9. A

senior lawyer once said to me, "When you're pressed, you just suck it up and work harder." I

know that strategy well: I used to work for a Wall Street law firm for 70 hours a week. There,

sucking it up and working harder is a way of life, no matter the season. Don't get me wrong, I

do believe that there are times and places for very hard work. The question is: should Advent be

one of those times? Just what are we preparing for, anyway?

The word "Christ-mas" means the mass of Christ, or the worship of our Lord Jesus

Christ. Think about your preparation time so far this December: has your Advent been a time of

preparing for the arrival of your King at the end of all things? Has it been a time of preparing

again for the birth of the Christ child in your heart? Or has it been more like a time of preparing

your house, your tree, and buying gifts? Not that those are bad things, not at all. It all depends

on your attitude towards them.

Ginger brought to our family a wonderful holiday tradition which I love. She puts out a

picture frame that sits on a chest in our dining room. In the frame is a sign that reads, "Slow

Down. Quiet. It's Advent!" That sign reminds me that in Advent, the Church has historically

called us to spiritual preparation. The commercial frenzy we now know as the month of

December is a 20th century phenomenon. The Church wisely calls us back to the ancient

tradition of Advent, which follows the same principle as Lent and Easter: the best way to prepare

for a great celebration is self-denial. You know it's true. A turkey feast tastes better if you have

not eaten much before you enjoy your meal. In the same way, if your whole December is an

orgy of rich food and loud parties, Christmas itself can seem anti-climactic. Advent is not a

time to suck it up and work harder, but a time to slow down and pray more. It`s not a time to pig

out at holiday parties; it's a time of fasting. I'm not saying it's spiritual to be a grinch before

Christmas; I'm saying that if you want to combat the spirit of the age, you come against it in the

opposite spirit. The spirit of this present age says December is a season of overindulgence,

overspending, and overwork. Isn't that so? Friends, whatever drives this behavior, let's not fool

ourselves into thinking it is somehow spiritual because it is connected to Christmas! Connect

yourself to the path of the ancient church, and let your Advent be a time of self-examination,

confession, and repentance.

I think overwork is often a form of pride thinking you are so important that only you

can do it right, and so you must work yourself to the point of sickness. Contrast that pride with

the humility of John the Baptist. The religious leaders sent a delegation from Jerusalem to

discover what they could about him, since many people were following him. John began by

telling them who he is not. He's not the Christ; he's not Elijah; he's not the prophet that Moses

foretold. There is a lesson here. If we are to know who we are, our true identity, we must begin

by knowing who we are not. You and I are not the savior of the world, and we're not the savior

of our cul-de-sac, we're not even the savior of our families. We count it an honor, like John the

Baptist, simply to be witnesses of Christ, verse 19, who have a testimony.

John said that he was not worthy to untie the sandals of Christ. Now in those days, a

Rabbi could ask his disciples to do many things for him, but never to unite his sandals that task

was reserved for slaves. So John the Baptist tells the Pharisees that compared to Christ, he is

lower than a slave. As my son might say, he is lower than pond scum. Lower than slime on the

pond scum. Even lower than the mold on the slime on the pond scum. Now that's low! You

might think that John the Baptist had a problem with self-esteem. Maybe he did, but his intent in

testifying to the Pharisees is that Christ be glorified. As the Baptist said elsewhere, "he must

increase, and I must decrease."

My friend Charles Hancock said that there are three ways to manage stress in your life.

The first is to take care of yourself: eat right, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and maintain your

daily quiet time. This is almost a cliché, but still, friends, many of us don't do these simple

things! Or if we do, we let them slip during Advent. Big mistake. If you don't take care of

yourself, you will be useless to others. When you are busy, don't stop doing the things that bring

health in your life. Martin Luther used to pray one hour a day, but when he was really busy, he'd

pray four hours a day. I've been praying for more than one hour a day lately, and it is key to

helping me to get through a stressful time.

My dog also helps me to take care of myself. Funny thing about Carlos: can you believe

it? He needs to be walked even when it is bitter cold outside! Yes, I grew up in Pittsburgh, but

let's just say I now prefer hot weather to cold. If it were not for Carlos, I would certainly not

have been outside last evening lingering to notice the beauty. The moon shone on the snow; the

crunch of ice under boots was the only sound on a quiet evening; I allowed myself to enjoy my

neighbor's Christmas decorations without feeling bad that ours were not up yet. The daily ritual

of walking my dog grounds me in God's beauty. The beauty of God's creation is too important

for us to abandon that category to the pagans. Beauty converted C.S. Lewis and Philip Yancey to

Christ, and was critical for Jonathan Edwards. Notice God's beauty all around you. First, take

care of yourself.

The second way to manage stress in your life, Charles says, is to manage your stressors,

the things and people that stress you out. As the popular author wrote the title of her book,

Unplug the Christmas Machine. For example, consider saying "no" to that holiday party. Ask

yourself if you really need to do Christmas cards this year. Remember that fancy decorations

were not present at Jesus' birth. I'll repeat something I've said before: "No" is a holy word. Use

it often. Saying yes to good things can mean saying no to God's best. Don't just say yes when a

nice guy asks you to do something. Pray about it. Once more, remember: Saying yes to good

things can mean saying no to God's best.

Slow down. Quiet. It's Advent.

John the Baptist said he was a voice crying out in the desert, "Prepare ye the way of the

Lord; make straight paths for him." Notice that John was in the desert. He had repaired to a place

away from the crowds to get closer to God. Church tradition tells us that John lived there for

many years before his public ministry, preparing for it. Jesus also went into the desert for forty

days to prepare himself for his public ministry. This wisdom was picked up by the Desert

fathers, like Anthony, who started the monastic movement. If you desire to get closer to God,

consider going to the place of emptiness, stillness, starkness. To us here today, the desert is not

usually a place where we would choose to go. Usually, we fill our ears with music, with TV

background noise, with people, activities, anything to avoid being alone and quiet. The problem

with that strategy is that for most of us, it is harder to hear God when we are busy than when we

are quiet. Elijah heard God in the still small voice, in the wind, in the desert.

John the Baptist is quoting from Isaiah 40, saying he fulfills that prophecy. It says this,

starting at verse 3: "A voice of one calling, "In the desert prepare the way of the Lord; make

straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every

mountain and hill shall be made low; the rough ground shall be made level, and rugged places a

plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all mankind together shall see it."" It is

so easy, particularly in Advent, to let our lives become so cluttered with secondary things that we

crowd the Lord to the edges of our lives. Do you want to see God's glory? To us John calls,

clear a path for God to enter in your life in a new way. If God wanted to get your attention, what

would he have to do to get it? Simplify, simplify, simplify. Manage your stressors. Say it with

me: Slow down. Quiet. It's Advent.

The third way to manage stress in your life, Charles Hancock says, is to change your

perception of the stressors. For example, I've watched the attitude of a few wives when their

husband's jobs transferred them to another city. Some go full of fear and worry, and some go

with a calm faith that God will provide for them in a strange, new place. Your attitude toward the

move makes all the difference.

I'm not saying that you should ignore or deny your pain, or refrain from grieving. We

can't pretend to be Vulcans like Mr. Spock, without emotions, as if that were spiritual. When

you suffer loss, you need to grieve it. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. As 12 step people know,

acknowledging that you can't manage your pain or your life alone is the first step in getting

better. We all need help help from friends, and most of all, help from God. That is the most

important way we can change our perception of our stressors: by remembering that no matter

what we are suffering from, God still loves us and has a plan for our good.

For example, an unplanned pregnancy can be a source of great stress or a source of

great blessing. Focus on God. He is our help. God is our hope. We're not the Savior he is.

Slow down. Quiet. It's Advent. Our real home is not the starship Enterprise, nor the

Starship Christian Free Enterprise our real home is heaven. The lion will lay down with the

lamb.