Be Prepared

This sermon was presented at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on December 2, 2007, the First Sunday of Advent.

Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

The Boy Scouts have a motto, be prepared. This explanation about being prepared comes from the Boy Scout Handbook:

“Be prepared for what?” someone once asked (Lord Robert) Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting,

“Why, for any old thing.” said Baden-Powell.

The training you receive in your troop will help you live up to the Scout motto. When someone has an accident, you are prepared because of your first aid instruction. Because of lifesaving practice, you might be able to save a non-swimmer who has fallen into deep water.

But Baden-Powell wasn’t thinking just of being ready for emergencies. His idea was that all Scouts should prepare themselves to become productive citizens and to give happiness to other people. He wanted each Scout to be ready in mind and body for any struggles, and to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges might lie ahead.

Be prepared for life - to live happily and without regret, knowing that you have done your best. That’s what the Scout motto means.[1]

Be prepared, this motto is on every Boy Scout rank insignia after Tenderfoot. By the time a Scout reaches the rank of Eagle, this concept is ingrained in every fiber of their being. The goals of scouting are to help see that Scouts are prepared for emergencies, for service, and for life.

In our reading today, Jesus tells his disciples and the others who were around listening that they are to be ready; be prepared because the Son of Man is coming. We won’t know when because the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour. For that matter, the Son doesn’t even know; so be prepared. Jesus doesn’t say “Get ready,” Jesus says, “Be ready.”

So what is it going to be like when the Son of Man comes? It will be a day just like any other day. Jesus uses the example of the flood from Genesis as a model for the coming of the Son of Man.

Before the flood people were doing what people do every day. They were just taking care of business. They ate and drank. They negotiated the terms of marriages and celebrated weddings. It was business as usual. Of course, Genesis tells us that just before the time of the flood “The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”[2]

Sure, it was business as usual, but business was wicked.

Except for Noah and a remnant of creation, the flood swept it all away. “(The LORD) blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth.”[3]

Merry Christmas everybody! Today is the First Sunday in Advent. This is the day we put the chrismons on the tree and hunt for the Wise Men as they make their way around the sanctuary until they reach the crèche on Epiphany.

And yes, this is the lectionary reading. I’m not preaching this on a bet.

So what are we to do to be prepared?

First and foremost, we are to live our lives. Jesus tells us that when the Son of Man comes, people will be doing what people do, just like in the time of Noah. He says that two men will be working together in the field. He says that two women will be grinding meal together at the mill. People will be doing what people do, just as we do. We get up in the morning and go to work each day. We go home and we tend to our chores. We love our families and we raise our children. So what’s the difference between the ones who are taken and the ones who are left?

The difference is knowing that it’s not “business as usual” as the rest of the world lives its life. We are to be awakened to living our life in the glow and the power of the Lord filled with the Holy Spirit as the body of Christ. And this is a life we are called to live now, because the Lord will come, and come when we do not expect him.

Jesus tells his listeners that the Son of Man will come like a thief in the night. If we knew when a thief was coming into our home, we would be awake and alert. We would prevent our homes from being entered and robbed. But since we don’t know when, Jesus tells us to be awake, to be alert.

This week, Sean Taylor, a defensive back for the Washington Redskins football team, was murdered, shot in his home during a burglary. Immediately after it happened there was a lot of speculation about the circumstances of his death.

As a young man Taylor knew his share of trouble. He was arrested for (and later acquitted of) driving while intoxicated. He had also been arrested for assault and battery with a handgun in 2005.

Antrel Rolle, a childhood friend and member of the Arizona Cardinals football team said, “They’ve been targeting him for three years now.” and “He lived his life pretty much scared every day of his life when he was down in Miami because those people were targeting him.”

There was speculation that, Rolle’s fears had come true, the people who targeted Sean Taylor had gotten him. Sports radio programs were filled with callers who said that this was a matter of lifestyle determining deathstyle, [4] speaking is as if it were a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Does lifestyle determine deathstyle? I say yes, but not in the way Mr. Rolle or the callers thought.

Sean Taylor once had a dangerous lifestyle, but he was moving past that time in his life. He was maturing. He was cutting his ties with the people who had been trouble in his life; the people Mr. Rolle feared were out to get him. Some suspected that he didn’t get out of his old life soon enough, and this old lifestyle had determined his deathstyle. But I disagree. We need to look past this old lifestyle and into his new lifestyle.

Mr. Taylor gave an interview to ESPN radio about eight months ago, not long after the birth of his daughter. I was unable to find the direct quote, so I hope I this paraphrase will do him justice. The birth of his daughter had given him a new perspective and he thanked God for what he had. Taylor said that he had come to see that he had been blessed. He also said that if he died tomorrow he would have no regrets.[5]

He saw love in the eyes of his baby daughter. He saw new possibilities. He saw new life. He didn’t see his old life anymore, he saw new life. He was living a life not for his own desires, but for something else, something different, something important.

And I say that if his lifestyle defined his deathstyle; it was his new life, not the old. His death was no longer defined by some thug life as so many pundits suggested. His death was defined when he rose from his bed to defend his family against a home intrusion burglary. His death was not by the hands of his old contacts as Mr. Rolle feared. His life passed defending his girlfriend and their daughter from danger. His death was caused when he saved his family from intruders. His death was in the name of life.

In the radio interview he said that he was ready to go if he had to. I am sure he didn’t want to go, but he was prepared when his life was taken. He didn’t expect the hour to come, but he was ready. He didn’t expect a thief in the night to take his life, but he was prepared. He was ready because he was living in the light of love and family, not in the darkness of violence and death. He was prepared. He was ready.

Lord Robert Baden-Powell said we are to be prepared for any old thing. Sean Taylor changed the direction of his life and was ready to meet the challenges of life and death with the strong heart Baden-Powell talked about describing the scout motto. Sean Taylor thanked God for the blessings he had received. These men set examples of preparedness worthy of following.

Advent is the season where Jesus is coming. He is coming as a baby in a stall in the City of David. He comes joining us as we live this life. He is also coming as a grown man, up the hill at the place called the Skull. He is coming to the place where he will lay down his life for the sin of all creation, death in the name of life.

So give thanks and live in the light and the love of God. This is how we prepare for life on earth, and the life eternal. We are not told to get ready, we are told to be ready because the Son of Man is coming, he is coming indeed.

[1] BSA, Boy Scout Handbook, 11th edition, publication number 33105, 1998, page 54.
[2] Genesis 6:6-7 (NRSV)
[3] Gensis 7:23
[4] Heard on the Jim Rome program, November 28 and 29, 2007. This statement did not reflect Mr. Rome’s views but those of people who called and sent email.
[5] Reference to the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio. I saw the quote on ESPN’s SportsCenter and heard the quote discussed on the Jim Rome radio show, but I was unable to find the direct quote to use it in the sermon.