Magrey deVega - Almost Christmas: A Wesleyan Advent Experience

A WESLEYAN
ADVENT EXPERIENCE

MAGREY R. DEVEGA INGRID MCINTYRE
APRIL CASPERSON MATT RAWLE

Almost Christmas
A Wesleyan Advent Experience

Copyright 2019 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019910694

ISBN 978-1-5018-9057-4

Scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org/

Scripture quotation noted (NIV) is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Hymn numbers are from The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville, TN: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989).

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2810 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Additional resources, including Advent and Nativity hymn suggestions, litanies for lighting the Advent wreath, and prayers that can be used in worship and small group settings are available at https://www.abingdonpress.com/Almost-Christmas-Downloads.

In a particular episode of the classic comic strip Dennis the Menace, Dennis is standing in the living room on Christmas morning, brightly decorated tree in the corner, with stacks of empty boxes and shreds of wrapping paper all around him. Having opened up his mountains of Christmas gifts, he stands there, arms outstretched and yelling at the top of his lungs for all in the house to hear: Is that all?

Of course, we want to tell Dennis that he missed the point. Wed prefer to remember that Christmas is not about receiving presents, checking off your wish lists, and getting everything you want. Despite what holiday retailers would want us to believe, Black Friday does not define Christmas Day.

Yet, if we are honest, we do find ourselves resonating at a certain level with dear Dennis. As we go through a December filled with the frenzy of gift-buying, party planning, house cleaning, home decorating, and one-social-gathering-after-another, we can see ourselves stepping back from the madness of it and saying to ourselves, Is that all? Is this all there is to Christmas? Isnt there something more that should define our observance of this season?

As it turns out, there is. Tell that Dennis the Menace inside you to look under the tree one more time, because there is a gift that you may not have noticed before, and your name is on it. But notice that its not next to the To: line. Its next to the From: line.

This gift is not for you. Its intended to come from you. It is not a gift for you to open; it is a gift for you to deliver. It is a gift for God, and it is the gift of yourself.

It is the gift of your wholehearted, freely given commitment to God, allowing God to shape your life in the way that God intends. Many of the main characters in the story of the birth of Jesus experienced exactly this. They were transformed not by what they received, but by what they surrendered.

Zechariah gave up his confusion and disbelief. Joseph gave up his fear and conflicted feelings. Mary surrendered her whole selfbody, mind, and heart. The shepherds gave their joyous praise to God. The magi gave their most precious gifts to the baby, and then chose to turn away from Herod. The Christmas story, time and again, is about the great lengths God went to in drawing near to us, and the joyous obedience to God we are called to offer in return.

It is not about the gifts we give. It is about the gifts we become to God and to others.

And if that sounds antithetical to what the world would want us to believe about Christmas, it should. To be sure, we come awfully close to getting it right. We practice goodwill and cheer, and basically try to be decent toward others. Thats good. We observe the essential practices of the Christian faith, going to worship and remembering the Christmas story. Thats good, too. And we have a sincere desire to do our best for God. Good intentions are better than nothing.

But if that is all that constitutes our observance of Christmasbasic goodness, basic practices, and basic sinceritythen John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, would have a word to describe our efforts: Almost.

Wesley preached a sermon to his fellow Oxford University colleagues at St. Marys Church on July 25, 1741, called The Almost Christian, in which he described a person who, on the surface, had all the outward appearances of godliness. This person did all the basic things right: practiced decency toward others, went to church, abstained from bad behavior, and sincerely tried to do his best. But Wesley would say that as commendable as that person might be (and wouldnt it be great if everyone were at least that good), he would only be almost a Christian. If all of these good things and more characterized our lives, Wesley would stand before us today, hold a mirror to our souls, and in his best Dennis the Menace impression, say to us: Is that all?

He would say, Is that all youve got to give God? Doesnt God deserve more? Isnt it possible that God has given you his Spirit and empowered you to do more than just the basics, and has called you to make an extraordinary impact for the Kingdom? Doesnt God want nothing less than your whole heart?

Second, he calls them to fully love others, including and especially those who have wronged us, and those whom we have wronged. Third, he calls them to have a full trust and confidence in God, so that faith is not just an exercise in intellectual conviction, but a holistic offering of mind, body, and spirit. An altogether Christian is one who unreservedly and wholeheartedly trusts God and puts that trust into action.

If this all seems formidable, then it should be. If this seems like a much taller order than just preparing for Christmas, thats because it is. But the good news is, that is what Advent is for. Despite our inclinations to skip ahead to the manger and get to Christmas as soon as possible, these four weeks of Advent are meant to recalibrate us away from merely living an almost kind of life and toward an altogether commitment to Christ.