“Starbucks Got It Right”
Allen Wyly, Dec 13, 2015
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are
sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver
us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and
glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18
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“Starbucks Got It Right”
In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy.
That great Starbucks Red Cup Controversy! Remember? Who would like to
refresh us? Yeah, pretty silly wasn’t it? Or not? Just a plain ol’ red cup this
year. No Christmassy snowflakes. Yep, said to be one more sinister, wellplanned humanist/atheist skirmish within the so-called ‘war’ against Christmas.
Hasn’t anyone read Dr. Seuss? That ol’ Grinch try as he might just couldn’t
steal Christmas – those silly Hoos just kept on singing and celebrating – if the
Grinch couldn’t do it, how could Starbucks?
But you know what? Within the context of the liturgical calendar we use, upon
reflection, planned as such or not, seems to me Starbucks actually got it right. I
mean in the context of what we long time Episcopalians have heard time and
time again, year after year at this time - We’re not in Christmas yet! It’s only
Advent for crying out loud! Are we singing carols yet? No… Are we decked
out in Christmas finery with holly and ivy and wreaths and Nativity scenes in
this space today? Don’t think so; well, we do have most of our Advent candles
lit, but how festive is that? And what is Advent other than something we do that
seems to keep us from joining in all the Christmas fun others already are
having? Yeah, for us, just lots of work: all that introspection, planning, soulsearching and preparation stuff – but also a season for joyful expectation as we
look forward to an amazing life changing, world changing, universe changing
event to come. So in modern lingo, a prequel? I’ve heard Advent referred to as
a ‘mini-Lent”, well perhaps in terms as a time for reflection: but with Lent we
deal with an impending sorrowful, tragic event that looms before us in contrast
to our Advent - an expectation of something wonderful, awesome in scope, an
almost unimaginable joy soon to ensue but not yet clearly and fully
comprehended. And all the time the excitement builds! So back to our
Starbucks analogy: Red Cup? Change! Something exciting is happening! No
snowman? Star? No printed “Merry Christmas”? Hey, it hasn’t happened yet!
Something to plan for, to become excited about in wonderment – “what will it
be like?” If on Christmas Day Starbucks should happen to reveal a new cup that
displays all the Christmassy décor that goes with it – then I’d say they really
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got it right! – the message being: He’s here! It’s happened! Will they? I don’t
know, we’ll just have to wait and see, and once again as far as Advent is
concerned, that too gets it right; now’s the time for waiting and watching.
My field education when at CDSP in Berkeley back in the 90’s, as many of you
know, was to act as assistant Chaplain for the Contra Costa County jail. One of
my duties was on Wednesdays to go to their Marsh Creek facility for low-risk
inmates who either were given short sentences, or on the verge of completing
longer, and preside for their weekly service. There was also opportunity for
individual counselling, prayer, talking. It was a scary time for them, to be thrust
back into the world of temptations that brought many too soon back. It was a
time for planning. And at the end of each week’s service we had a special time
for our “blessing of the free” when all gathered to lay hands on and pray for
those scheduled for release over the next week, and always very moving, lots of
wonderful words and thoughtful prayers said – I shall never forget that time. So
during Advent that year that’s what I planned each week’s service around –
preparation for release, breaking free not only of the confines of jail but those
bars and chains that keep one from being truly free, and not to return. All about
making plans, and introspection, and action. How to avoid those old places,
friends, and activities that lead back to bondage. Bondage of addiction, of
crime, of hopelessness, of greed, envy, of lack of worth. A plan for housing. A
plan for support. A plan for job search and identifying the positive God-given
skills and talents that can be put to use positively, lawfully, and profitably.
And that Advent planning – isn’t it, or shouldn’t it, be the same for all of us?
What shackles and chains are holding each of us back? Keeping us from
sharing and joining in the love God shows us, coming to us in the form of Jesus
who can lead us and show us how? A month ago was Veteran’s Day with much
discussion of the chains of addiction, PTSD, isolation, despair, homelessness,
forged from experiences of war and other challenges that bind and the societal
and political will needed to assist in connecting with VA and other services
designed to release our Veterans from these, their prisons. But don’t we all
dwell in our own prisons, beset by our own demons, often of our own making,
or brought on by abuse/bullying/victimization, our doubts, our guilts. Release
comes with the need to identify, plan, and act upon each. Jesus is coming!
Coming to set us free! – coming to break those chains that imprison: our chains
of addiction, greed, pride, envy, guilt – all those sins by which we create and
build on our own personal hells. Advent: the time to identify and form our
own, individual action plans, like Scrooge, to keep us from recidivism back to
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those jails and prisons from which Jesus comes to set us free, twelve days from
today.
Nope, hasn’t happened yet, but (as our children, grand-children, TV, malls, and
Santas everywhere keep reminding us) it is coming – and soon! And before you
know it, it’ll be next year and coming again! Advent: not just about 12 days
from now; no, it’s far more. We started two weeks ago with emphasis on
preparation for the end times, eschatology, the second coming if you will and
preparedness for that as nothing to be feared, but rather embraced in the context
of God’s infinite and on-going creative love bringing us ever closer to God’s
very self. Then last week and today, it’s all about John the Baptist in the
wilderness who, not unlike that Starbuck’s red cup, proclaims something good
is coming soon in the form of the Lord but we don’t know exactly how or what
that will mean, God’s presence with and among us on this earth - and then next
week, when we’re almost there, the time and means by which that will happen
becomes clear with emphasis on Mary and the Annunciation.
What a wonderful thing to have our Liturgical calendar to follow as we
worship, a liturgy through which we get to live vicariously the full cycle of
those amazing years when Jesus came to us reminding again and again of His
ever coming, of his ever resurrecting, of His ever presence, and of His infinite
love for us - the constant reminder: “Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will
come again.” When? No one knows so as directed in Matthew’s Gospel (25.13)
we “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the time nor the hour.” So
we wait, not just for 12 days from now, but also for “that day and hour no one
knows, neither the angels of heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt.
24.36) Will you be prepared? Will I? Will the one sitting next to you? Can you
identify your chains, know your personal demons, and what you need to do to
release them? Are you willing to ask for help, and to give it with understanding
and empathy if asked? With Advent comes the planning, the preparation, for
joyful release of which Dickens so masterfully portrayed and which is
Christmas. And to those who wonder: “What should we do to break those
chains those chains that bind us, that keep us at bay, imprison us?” We heard it
already, from this crazy guy John. How? We can begin simply, begin by
thinking and doing beyond self: “Whoever has two coats must share with
anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise…and be
satisfied with …[what you have been given]…” The challenge afterwards will
be to keep them, these same demons, at bay. They have a way of sneaking ever
so stealthily back into our lives, as our liturgy continues to remind us Sunday
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after Sunday, year after year, cycle after cycle, reminding us again and again to
prepare and plan to loose the chains that otherwise shackle us and hold us back
from responding with joy and unfettered hearts to that which is to come. How
we plan and act on our plan will determine our continuing joy here and
hereafter, our cups now decorated with all the bells and wreaths and songs and
stars and nativities - symbols reflective of our joy! “Hark a thrilling voice is
sounding, ‘Christ is nigh,’ it seems to say;…” (Hymnal #59) Will you be
prepared?
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