Today's Gospel

Unwrap Your Gift

Mae West was right. Too much of a good thing can be wonderful. At least that's how Anita's family feels about Christmas. Anita's my wife, and with her family, there's no such thing as too much food, too many people, too many presents, too big of a crowd. It's a free-for-all at her house. Anyway, I've come to enjoy every year doing Christmas with her family because my mother-in-law gives a goodie box to each person in the family. A goodie box is to be highly desired and coveted. It's not for friends or fiancés. You've got to be legally a part of the family to get a goodie box. On Christmas morning, the question on everybody's lips is, what do you think's in your goodie box? It's the highlight of the day. Each person gets a large box from her, and inside that box is an assortment of gifts. Every child, every grandchild, every in-law each gets their own box. Simply by showing up for Christmas, you receive a wonderful assortment of gifts. My mother-in-law has done all the work. She shops all year long. And she works to find out what you need, what you want. She sifts through catalogs. She walks through malls. She's so thoughtful because giving these gifts gives her great joy. It's exciting to watch her not sleep for almost the entire month of December because she's so excited to give you that goodie box. So on Christmas morning, we go around the room one by one, and we watch as each person opens their goodie box. And you're amazed at how thoughtful her gifts are. She never rushes just to buy something, and she's never at Walgreens the night before just trying to fill up the goody box. The gifts are thoughtful, well-planned, and generous. She loves to give.

But the greatest gift as advent begins may surprise you because it doesn't come in a goodie box. It's the gift of repentance. That's why the first Sunday of Advent starts right here with repentance, to turn around, to change one's mind, to feel sorrow for sin, a complete turning around. Repentance means I stop moving my way, I turn around, I express regret and remorse, and I move forward on God's way. And so it's important to get clear here on the first Sunday of Advent before the frenzy of December overwhelms you. It's important to get clear on what matters most and what matters least. That's what repentance does. It brings clarity, self-awareness, and humility.

Because we each have a tendency to turn away from God by the choices we make when we decide to nudge God aside and put ourselves at the center of the universe. And that part of us that thinks that we don't need God, we put ourselves where God alone should be, in the center. That part of us that causes us to resist or even reject what is right, even to reject God himself. Sometimes it's our pride. We think so much of ourselves that other people just aren't as significant as we are. We love to think about ourselves. We love to compare ourselves to other people. And spiritual arrogance is probably the worst sin of all because instead of having God at the center of our lives, we replace him with self. Or maybe what you and I need to repent of is anger, an uncontrollable passion that just gets away from us. It happens to all of us. Or maybe it's lust, passions that are so uncontrollable that they govern our lives, an appetite that's just insatiable because you and I live in a sex-drenched culture where pornography is now mainstream, and it's become, I think, close to a $100 billion global industry that equals that of all of Hollywood's major film releases. But the problem isn't so much society, is it, as it is the wayward human heart.

Repent. To change course starts with a simple decision. A decision to repent, to stop, to turn around, to express remorse to God, and to move forward on God's way. It's a gift. When asked what his message was, Jesus said, "Repent the kingdom of God is here." That was it. In Luke 5, he says, "I came not to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance." In Luke 13, he says, "Unless you repent, you will perish." In Luke 15, he says, "There's more joy in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than 99 righteous people with no need to repent. Repent, to stop, to turn around, to express remorse to God, and to move forward on God's way." The first Sunday of Advent is very, very clear. The Lord is coming. It's time to get ready. Repent. Tell God you're sorry for the ways that you've placed anything or anyone, even yourself, before Him in your life. Be honest with yourself. Take time to look at your life, how you invest your life. It's time to clean up your house, repent, and ask for forgiveness. One way to do that is to do some things that humble you, to serve somebody who needs your help, to serve someone maybe you don't even like, to serve. I experienced that in a special way once, and anybody who knows me knows that I am no expert on humility. But I was sitting in a hospital room at Lakeland Regional Medical Center with my dad. He was in the last days of cancer, the last days of his life. And it was a sacred special moment as we took turns as family members sitting with him: my mom, my brother, and I. On one of my dad's last days, I noticed that his face really needed shaving. And all my life, I knew that the first thing my dad did every day was shave. First thing. He said he didn't feel right, that his day just didn't go well if he hadn't shaved. It made him feel good and feel fresh. So I asked him. I said, "Dad, would you like me to shave you?" And he gently nodded his head.

So I took out the little razor, and I slowly lifted his face, and I shaved it. He then mentioned softly that his fingernails were driving him crazy, and would I mind clipping those for him also? So I took out clippers and I gently took each of my father's fingers and I trimmed his nails. As I look back now, I realized there was a lot to that moment. As I cleaned and shaved and trimmed my father's dying body, God softened my self-centeredness and my self-importance. And he taught me gentleness and love and even a little bit of humility. There for a moment on a day, ironically in advent, years ago, my dying father's request helped me to clean up my own house and prepare for the coming of Jesus. But even better, as I shaved my dad, one of his last wishes, something that had made his day every day of his life, something that had gotten him off to a good start every day. Something that made him feel fresh and ready, I realized I was actually getting him ready so that he could greet the coming King. Because not long after that, my dad died, and he saw the Christmas gift face-to-face.

I don't know much about humility. I admit that. But I do know this. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was asked, "What are the keys to the Christian faith?" He said, "There's four. Humility, humility, humility, and humility." He's right. Take some time to get ready to clean up your house right here, right now. Welcome to Advent.