Brief synopsis of the readings: We’re going to spend much of Advent here, but we begin with the beginning of Isaiah. It’s a hopeful reading, talking about the “days to come [where] the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain.” We are invited to climb this mountain where we will be instructed in God’s ways and walk in His paths. We are promised a time of peace where we “shall beat [our] swords into plowshares and [our] spears into pruning hooks. Let us walk in the the light of the Lord. Matthew’s Gospel describes Jesus’ speech to his disciples. He describes a time when “two men will be out in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Jesus warns them to be vigilant for the day the Son of Man returns

So are you ready for Christmas? I have to confess something: I hate that question. I know it’s a throwaway line, something you say when you’re talking with someone this time of year and you don’t know what to say. And I know my answer is supposed to be some variation of: “I can’t believe it’s coming so soon.”

But I want to say this: What does it matter? Christmas is December 25th every year, no matter what. If you’re asking if I’m on track to do all the things I think I’m supposed to do, I’m probably not going get there.

Like the rest of you I’m bombarded by commercials, advertisements, social media, and conversations that tell me I’m not doing enough. On Christmas morning many of us will hold our breath, praying our loved one will unwrap our gift and find it “good enough.”

OK, I’m a big fan of capitalism and I understand that our economy depends on us buying enough stuff and I understand that “Black Friday” means that many retailers depend on the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas to be profitable (“in the black”). And I understand that much of our economy lives and dies on the next five weeks.

That said, I’m going to say something dangerous: let’s not spend a scary amount of money trying to convince those we love that we love them. Let us find another way to express our love. Let us spend these weeks before Christmas choosing not anxiety over expectations, but instead choosing love.

Today we begin the season of Advent, the days between Ordinary Time and Christmas and we don’t give it much thought. Unlike Lent we don’t believe it will change our lives. Nobody “gives up something” for Advent. And truthfully, I don’t think we should.

Lent, the six weeks before Easter, calls us to repent. Advent, on the other hand, calls us to hope. We all live in a history that has witnessed both the birth and resurrection of Jesus. And while we await return of Jesus, we cannot forget the time when we awaited his birth.

Isaiah reminds us of our future when we will all “climb the mountain of the Lord.” We all think that climbing, going uphill, is both challenging and good. And I think there is wisdom to that. From our very beginning we’ve “reached for the sky” and thought of the sky as “the heavens.” The effort it takes to reach our goals is worth it.

Reaching for the sky isn’t simply about ambition, it’s about seeking the light. We know that sunlight comes from a star 93 million miles from us that centers our solar system. Science also explains to us that our planet obits this star with a tilt that causes us to have seasons.

And these readings come long before we understood the science we take for granted. For them the concept of light and darkness meant much more than understanding the path of earth around the sun.

For them the pattern of days growing shorter caused them fear, and the pattern of days growing longer the next month gave them little comfort; they feared that one year the days would continue to grow shorter until there was no light at all. Simply put, they chose fear over hope.

But every year the days after the Winter Solstice grew long. If Advent calls us to anything, it calls us to choose hope over fear. As Christians we know that Christmas celebrates the birth of our Redeemer and while Good Friday acknowledges his death, Easter tells us that life is everlasting.

Easter calls us to recognize our salvation, but we should not ignore that Christmas calls us to recognize that Jesus walked among us. And our celebration of Advent calls us to look forward to that.

Twenty one centuries from these events may well cause us to look in different directions. But while Jesus’ birth likely didn’t occur on December 25th, it did occur in the middle of our darkness

God’s love for us knows no bounds, but God has given us the ability to be generous with each other and our generosity reflects our love for each other and our ability to be light to each other. To bring light to those in darkness.

Let us spend this Advent, and every Advent, recognizing that our love limits us if we let it. Let us recognize that Advent calls us to the time before Jesus, to a time when we sought a redeemer. Let us recognize that our redeemer was born as a tiny child to unmarried parents who sought refuge in a barn and his first cradle was a feeding trough. Let us recognize that Jesus was born long after the Chosen People were exiled, returned, and then conquered by the Greeks and Romans.

None of these events tell us that hope is a good or realistic thing. We often think of hope as a synonym for optimism. But while optimism is evidence based, hope is faith based. Advent means nothing to us if it doesn’t mean that we need to choose hope over evidence. It’s easy to look at our world and believe that we’re not redeemed. We see war, division, hate, and greed wherever we look.

So where do we see Advent? Clearly we don’t see Advent where most of us get our information. But maybe we see Advent in other places. Maybe we see Advent, maybe we see hope, in the smiles of strangers we smile at. Maybe wee see Advent when a white person of European descent greets a women who wears a hijab and makes her feel welcome. Maybe we see Advent when a person of color is made to feel welcome in a land where he wasn’t born but is a land where he can feed his family.

We’re going to spend the next four and a half weeks preparing for the birth of our Redeemer. It’s going to be a crazy time and we’ll be bombarded by messages that try to convince us that our worth is based on how much we spend on our loved ones. Let us respect those messages but not follow them.

Instead let us think about Advent in terms of hope instead of expectation. Let us recognize that we celebrate the birth of the Redeemer in our deepest darkness for a good reason. Let us bring light.