Anticipate Snow in Skarsvag, Norway!

Advent 3A

Matthew 11:2-11

St. Matthias

December 15, 2019

           I wrote this sermon while watching it snow in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I also watched it snow this week in upstate New York, in Burlington, Vermont, and even in the French Alps.  The thing is, I never left our house in Birmingham thanks to the miracle of YouTube and Live Stream Cameras.  It’s amazing!  It seems that all over the world they have these cameras in some of the most beautiful places and you can look in on what’s going on at that very moment from your computer.  You can see people get off a cruise ship in Miami or swim in Hawaii. There is a live camera at Bryant Park in New York City, and you can watch people ice skate.  One of my favorite sites is in a place called Skarsvag, Norway which is a fishing village way up on the Arctic Circle and at 2:00 pm in the afternoon there it is totally dark.  They get a lot of snow that far north and that’s what I want to see.  I love snow, but I love Phyllis more and she says we can live anywhere I want as long as it is no further north than Birmingham.  But for it truly to be Christmas – I need some snow – and my computer is the next best thing to actually being there.

           Now I know – I’m not supposed to be celebrating Christmas yet because it’s Advent.  We are told that this is the time we should be preparing for Christmas – anticipating the birth of Christ – but not actually celebrating even though the rest of the world is already fully embracing the Season to be Jolly.  There are 8 more days after today until Christmas Eve when Jesus will be born once more in a manger in Bethlehem.  We will gather in this Church and join with Christians throughout the world in celebration of the miracle of that Holy Night.  There were shepherds and a manager and God became one of us.  Really – not just theologically or metaphorically – but really God became fully human in a baby born in a manger.  Then wise men came, and we know that story and IS there any other time in the year that feels this Holy.  Tis the Season to expect – to anticipate – Christ is going to be born again in Bethlehem.  And watching it snow in Duluth, Minnesota gets me excited. 

           John the Baptist was waiting expectantly in a prison cell for the Messiah in our Gospel reading from Matthew this morning.  Everything, John knew about Jesus told him that here was the Savior everyone had been waiting to come.  The blind would see, the lame walk, lepers would be cleansed, the deaf would hear, and even the dead would be raised.  Already John had baptized Jesus in the River Jordan when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and the voice of God proclaimed that Jesus was His Son.  Last Summer, Phyllis and I stood in that very same River Jordan in what may have been the spot where Jesus was actually baptized.  Now I have stood in lakes and rivers before, but this was different.  There is absolutely nothing special about the Jordan River.  It’s really more of a muddy stream.  It’s not particularly pretty.  But when you first see it – something is different.  It’s not like standing in the water at Gulf Shores or Lake Martin.  Walking toward the Jordan River I can’t explain it, but I just knew that this was going to be special – and it was.  Later we went to Bethlehem – it didn’t look particularly Holy – in fact it looked quite un-Holy.  I called it the Gatlinburg of the Holy Land because there were souvenir shops on top of souvenir shops.  Five different places claim to be the exact spot where Jesus was born.  None of them probably were.  But as I stood and saw everything in Bethlehem – I just knew I would feel the presence of God – and I did.  And I think John the Baptist had that same experience when he first saw Jesus so that even from a prison cell where he would die, John fully expected that this Savior would be different – and he was.

           And now we count the days down until Christmas.  You are probably already celebrating and if you are that is ok.  Humm a Christmas Carol, decorate, eat way too much.  And each time you do – get ready in your heart and mind for Christmas.  Prepare for Christ to be born again – not just in a story about a manger in Bethlehem – but also in you.  Anticipate that on Christmas Eve you will come to this Church and hear the story and believe that it all is real because it was and is.  Believe that God will be here.  Anticipate experiencing Christ born again.  That’s why we get ready.  If all you do is shop and eat and exchange presents for no reason other than that is what you have always done – then what’s special about that.  Instead, get excited because Christ is going to be born again.  Near the Arctic Circle in Skarsvag, Norway, people will gather at the one church in town for Christmas Eve – just like we do here.  The temperature is forecast to be -4 degrees.  They are expecting more snow that night.  They will also be expecting the presence of God who will be here also.  They will look forward to the birth of the Christ Child once more just as we will in this Church.  It’s going to be cold.  It’s going to be exciting.  Prepare for the Birth of Jesus who will be born again in you and me whether we are here or in Skarsvag.   AMEN.