Fresh start

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Clare L. Hickman

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Ferndale

November 29, 2020—Advent 1B

Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37

          “Advent: the beginning is near!”

          This is why, of course, we always begin Advent by talking about apocalypse. Because apocalypse may sound like endings, but it’s really about beginnings. May sound like destruction, but it’s really about a new creation. May seem as though it’s inviting us to look at the world to find evidence that the end is near, but it’s really an invitation to see the new world God will someday bring about, and allow that to bring us hope and imagination for our current day.

          Because the beginning is near (near to you as breathing, if you will just turn around, if you will lift up your eyes, if you will stay awake). Because our God is a Creator. Because our savior is the One through whom all things are made and remade, and he is born anew, over and over. Otherwise, how would Advent come back around, year after year after year?

          The beginning is near. Which is just the good news that many of us could use, in a year which has been described as one long scene from Groundhog Day: time on an endless loop that we can’t seem to escape. We just need to know that we are not, in fact, stuck. Isaiah speaks our longing, crying out to God to tear open the heavens and come down: Make the mountains quake! Set the brush afire and the water to boiling! Let all people shake at the sound of your voice, O God, knowing that the truth of our lives will not escape Your notice!

We are terrified at the thought. But still, we beg you to come. Because we desperately need a new beginning. We need to know that we are not stuck here.

This is the human condition. Even in years that aren’t Groundhog Day, we need to believe in the power of a fresh start. This is why we love New Years, and Vow Renewals, and Conversion stories. Because we know that we so often get things wrong, or fall into bad habits, or lose the plot, or let things slide. And if there’s no way to get out of those holes, or ruts, or chasms that we get ourselves into, if there’s no forgiveness, no course-correction, no miraculous grace, then all is lost for us!

We need fresh starts. Over and over and over, we need them. Which is why I’m so unspeakably grateful in the Baptism service, when we all promise, “whenever I fall into sin, I will repent and return to the Lord” Every time, I relax a little, internally. Phew. Okay. There’s hope for me yet! One more time, as many times as I need: God will give me a fresh start.

So how about you? What fresh start do you need? What fresh start, second chance, new leaf, change of direction, another try, whole new ball-game do you long for, as we walk ourselves into another Advent? Something in your career? Maybe your marriage? Your health? Your relationship with God? … It could be a massive change of direction, or just a shift in the way you hold yourself. A move away from someone or something that’s unhealthy for you, or a pivot from ways in which you are hurting others.  

If you were promised a fresh start, in anything you want … what would you ask for?

And … do you know what the biggest obstacle to that fresh start would be? Do you know, that is, what might need to die, for that new beginning to come about? Because something will probably have to die. There is almost always something that has stood in the way of the fresh start we long for, the thing that makes it hard for us to really reach out, to allow ourselves to become that new creation.

Some of us spend a whole lot of time and energy to avoid that fresh start. Which is why they sometimes come crashing in anyway, like the Day of the Lord, laying waste before things can be rebuilt. But God mostly seems content to play the long game, reminding us in scripture that actions have consequences, for us and for those around us. They can create things, and they can destroy things. And if we listen to that voice, and pay attention to the prayer that works itself into our lives, we know when we need a fresh start.

But we are still scared. Because we know that things as they are must die for that to happen. Not to mention that scripture cannot actually tell us what things will look like on the other side. Which is extremely unfortunate, you have to admit!

But our sacred story does promise, over and over, that there will be something new. That our God is the God of fresh starts, of re-creation, of new beginnings. And that’s what we get. Just that fragile, beautiful, shining thread to lead us forward: the promise of … Beginning!

          Preacher Russell Levenson tells a wonderful story about “Ignace Yan Paderewski, the Russian composer-pianist who died in 1941. It seems one evening he was scheduled to perform at a great concert hall. In the audience of black tuxedos and long evening gowns was a mother with her fidgety nine-year old son. His mother brought him in hopes her boy would be encouraged to practice the piano if he could just hear the immortal Paderewski. So, against his own wishes, he had come.

          “As she turned to talk with her friends, the boy slipped from her side, and without much notice from the sophisticated audience, the boy sat down at the stool, staring wide-eyed at the black and white keys, he put his small fingers upon the keyboard.  He began to play "Chopsticks."  The roar of the crowd was hushed by hundreds of frowning faces turned in his direction. An angered audience began jeering at the boy, booing and hissing for him to be taken from the stage.

          “Backstage, the master overheard the sounds out front and quickly put together what was happening. Hurriedly, he grabbed his coat and rushed toward the stage.  Without one word of announcement, he stooped over the boy, reached around both sides and began to improvise a counter melody to harmonize and enhance the tune.  As the two of them played together, Paderewski kept whispering in the boy's ear: "Keep going. Don't quit son. Keep on playing. Don't quit. I'm right here...don't quit!" (http://day1.org/3358-twominute_warning)

          Chopsticks sounds about right: small and insufficient perhaps, as a first step into a fresh start. But trust in the promise of Advent, and keep playing: God will come and improvise a harmony around your faltering tune. God will give you courage to continue, even while you fear what might be dying. God will make your work more beautiful and more powerful than you could ever have imagined. Whispering in your ear for you to keep playing, because He is right here. Don’t quit. The Beginning is near! Amen.