Scripture Text: Romans 16: 25-27 (Advent 4B)

²⁵Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages ²⁶but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— ²⁷to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

This passage that our lectionary assigns us for the fourth Sunday of Advent is essentially a doxology.  Just like the Old Testament passage that we read a couple of days ago, it usually doesn’t get much attention.  I mean, would you want to hear a sermon on this or the Anunciation?  This comes at the end of Paul’s Letter to the Romans.  Interestingly, though, it’s not found in every translation of the letter and in some it appears in a different place (like after Chapter 14 or something).  So, truthfully, we’re not sure what it is. Scholars think that it is quite possible that Paul did not write these verses but that they were attached to the end of the letter perhaps AS a doxology, a statement of praise and proclamation, by a later redactor.  But regardless of who wrote it, this is a statement of response.  It is, to use Paul’s words, an “obedience of faith.”  The Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ invokes our response; otherwise, it is virtually meaningless.  German theologian Helmut Thielicke said that, “faith can be described only as a movement of flight, flight away from myself and toward the great possibilities of God.”  The whole Scripture in its fullness is about our response, about our movement, our journey.  It is our faith that moves it and opens up the possibilities that God envisioned.

We read this doxology alongside the veritable imminence of Jesus’ birth, the story of Mary as God-bearer, as the one who responded to God’s call to birth the Savior into the world.  The story is about to unfold.  And, yet, the story has been there all along.  As Christians, we come into a story that is already there.  God has been calling and people have been responding for thousands of years before Jesus.   It’s not new; it’s continuing.  The Letter to the Romans is the Apostle Paul’s understanding of that story.  (It’s really incredible.  You should read it “cover to cover”, so to speak, if you haven’t already.  It is truly a masterpiece.)  And at the end, either Paul or someone who read Paul’s letter and then wrote a response of praise, added this doxology.  It was the writer’s praise to God for the unveiling of something for them that had been around from the very beginning.

So why are we reading a doxology?  Doesn’t that come at the end of something?  Isn’t that the point where we pick up our purse or put our jacket back on?  Isn’t that the point where we put our bulletin away and get ready to get out of there first so we can go eat?  Well, here’s the deal.  We are days away from Christmas Eve, days away from the end of all our looking and waiting and preparing for the coming of God yet again.  And part of our preparing is thinking about what comes next, what we’re going to do with all this preparing, all this waiting, all this changing that we’re doing to ready ourselves for God.  See, if you’re not thinking about what you’re going to do with it, what actual response you’re going to make, then the preparation is worthless.  The call means nothing without a response and the proclamation is empty without the doxology.

Advent is not just the “pre-Christmas” season.  This is a real stand-alone season.  These days leading up to Christmas Eve call us to envision what God envisions and then move toward it.  I think it’s a season that teaches us to see through the shadows of the world.  Because this world often seems random and meaningless, full of pain and despair, sickness and loneliness, and even death.  But into this world that is often callous and lacking in compassion, directionless and confused; into our lives that many times are wrought with grief and a sense that it is all for naught; into all of it is born a baby that holds the hope of the world for the taking.  We just have to be ready, open, and willing to take it—and respond.  The great illustrator and writer, Tasha Tudor said, “the gloom of the world is but a shadow.  Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy.  Take joy!”  This is what this doxology says:  All of this that has been laid out for you, all of this that has been created; all of this that has for so long been moving toward your life…take it.  Take joy! 

As we’ve said, Advent is a season of preparation.  It is a season of becoming one who can welcome the Light of Christ, Emmanuel, God-with-us, into our lives.  So, as we come toward that here at the end of this season, we have to clear a path for what is coming into our lives.  We often don’t equate Advent with things like surrendering and letting go.  Those seem to be more “Lentish” to us.  But Advent is about making room and that is about surrendering and letting go of those things that will impede us.  So, put down all those heavy things you carry.  The baby is coming!  Rejoice!  And listen for how you are called to respond. 

The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end in all of us that is not yet Christ.  Thomas Merton

Lyrics: ”The Point of Arrival”, by Carrie Newcomer

First it is a bitter pill
A rubber band stretched til it snaps
Sitting crossed legged on the floor
My empty hands are in my lap
What is to become of me
Here at my surrendering
Where I arrive at the end
The place where I begin again
First we fold in then open out
There is a faith that’s only found in doubt
Acceptance is the closing of the cycle
The end that marks the point of arrival
This is where I lay it down
What I don’t want to haul around
The buzzing of what can’t be seen
And living always in between
First we fold in then open out
There is a faith that’s only found in doubt
Acceptance is the closing cycle
The end that marks the point of arrival
Looking down at my hands
Finally I understand
The empty space has changed somehow
And it’s filled with hallelujah now
Hallelujah hallelu
It’s hard as stone but yet it’s true
Acceptance is the closing of the cycle
The end that marks the point of arrival
If I let go of who’s to blame
Of what can’t be changed
And will never be the same
Close the book with one last look
Letting go of all the time it took
Hallelu hallelujah
Hallelu hallelujah
Hallelu hallelujah

Grace and Peace,

Shelli