It is the beginning of the dark season, in more ways than one. We have the darkness of the skies. We have the darkness of war and genocide in the world around us. We have the darkness in our nation with inadequate health care for everyone, inadequate quality education for everyone not to mention the large number of people who lack the very basics of food and shelter. I recently heard a speaker from Gleaners food bank talk about the community of people living in boxes under some section of I-75. That is darkness right here in Michigan. We have the darkness of the local economy with not only those who have lost jobs but the plight of those who did not but who are being forced to do more work, to work more hours often for less pay. We have the darkness of how so many people in the corporate world are being treated poorly. We have the darkness of greed and consumption which invades our homes disguised as things that our television sets tell us we have to have. One of our favorite family pastimes on the occasions that we actually watch television is to yell at the television ads. "Okay kids, is this ad telling the truth?" "No", they say, "It is a lie." And indeed it is. The advertising industry is full of lies. How can ten medications claiming to cure the same illness all be the most highly recommended? How can this piece of jewelry or that car or that piece of clothing claim to make our lives better. It is madness. I have a good number of friends who have worked oversees for extended periods of time. They talk about how difficult it is to return to the rampant consumerism of this country. The land of opportunity has become the land of greed and desire. "Gotta have it now!" permeates the very cells of our bodies. Desire, masked as darkness, snakes though our neighborhoods, our schools and our homes.

The first Sunday of Advent always has one of the apocalyptic or end-time readings, a reading about the eschatological times. It is a reading about the coming of the kingdom in its fullness, the victorious return of Jesus There seems to be a lot of debate about what we do know and what don’t we know about the second coming. We don’t know the date, time or hour, despite the attempts of many branches of the Christian faith to predict the end. What we do know, however, is what we are supposed to be doing while we wait. Because we don’t know the day or the hour, we are called to always be ready.

Being ready…means having our hearts in the right place. It means being on the right path. The other day one of our daughters came home from school and announced that a friend she has had since we first moved here in July of 2005 no longer wants to be friends with her because our daughter does not wear the latest fashion in clothing. Our daughter announced that she is not one of the popular girls. The good news is that she announced it with a sense of pride saying: "I don’t care what I wear; I just want to be comfortable." All of us laughed about the absurdity of choosing friends based on the clothing they wear. She is on the right path.

This time of year is, of course, one of the darkest, spiritually, because of the rampant consumerism that is everywhere. One of our greatest spiritual challenges is to work with our children and ourselves around desires for expensive gadgets, expensive electronic games and expensive name brand clothing. A few weeks ago, my other daughter came home announcing: "Nobody likes Limited Too clothing anymore", a brand of clothing that she has been certain was essential to her happiness. "Now everyone is wearing Abercrombie and Fitch," she chimed in. "That’s nice" I said, in my best non-reactive Parenting with Love and Logic voice. This is happening in elementary school!

This week in the New York Times there was an article that had the following opening line: "Cellphones, laptops, digital cameras and MP3 music players are among the hottest gift items this year. For preschoolers." The article went on to talk about how preschool children don’t want play cellphones. They want the real thing. Well my friends, these little kids can get real jobs! How crazy is that? When Christ comes again, and people start being "left behind" as is discussed in this reading from Matthew it will be over justice issues of conspicuous consumption, it will be over things like not providing universal health care, it will be over things like not providing quality education for everyone. Because a converted faith without a converted life simply does not have a lot of meaning. No we do not have to earn our way to heaven, grace is freely given. But the grace that is freely given, if it is faithfully lived results in a life of good works, generous financial giving and serious questions about how one person on this planet doesn’t even have enough water to drink while another feels deprived without the latest gadget or name brand clothes.

This particular gospel reading from Matthew has been all but ruined for me because of the popular Left Behind book series, a series that is sorely lacking in good theology. "Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left." The idea is that those who are living in Christ will be taken to God and those who are not will be left behind to endure the final turmoil. However, elsewhere in his gospel, Matthew makes it perfectly clear that the final judgment will be based upon who feeds the poor and who provides clothing for those in need. I urge you to return to the story of the sheep and the goats if you have any doubt about this.

These are ways we can put our faith into practice, ways that we can be ready for Christ when he comes. Ethical living goes way beyond personal moral choices, as important as those may be. It really does include how we use our money in the context of everyday life. Being ready means being focused on what matters, being prayerful in all of our decisions and letting go of anxiety simply because Jesus tells us to. One of my favorite scripture passages is the one read on Thanksgiving Day from Matthew’s gospel: "Jesus said, ‘Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?’ When we let go of anxiety, we are ready for the light, the light of Christ that has the power to overshadow all of the darkness of this world.

There is a story of a wise old Rabbi who instructed his students by asking questions. He asked, "How can a person tell when the darkness ends and the day begins?" After thinking for a moment, one student replied, "It is when there is enough light to see an animal in the distance and be able to tell if it is a sheep or a goat." Another student ventured, "It is when there is enough light to see a tree, and tell if it is a fig or an oak tree." The old Rabbi gently said, "No. It is when you can look into a person's face and recognize him or her as your brother or sister. For if you cannot recognize in another's face the face of your brother or sister, the darkness has not yet begun to lift, and the light has not yet come."