Evidently, we need a fresh start at this future-making on a yearly basis. We celebrate Christmas each year, and I guess we need to celebrate Christmas time and time again because the work of shaping God's future is a long-term project that simply cannot be done in one short year or even a life-time of years.

In order to start the work of shaping God's future we need to be prepared. It is not possible to jump into God's future all of a sudden on Christmas Day. We need at least four weeks of preparation to get a sense of what Christmas is really all about, and what God's future might look like. Those poor folk who come to church only on Christmas Eve, and maybe once or twice again during the year, they aren't going to get it. They will never understand. Don't get me wrong, we're happy to have anyone and everyone at church on Christmas Eve, but it is pretty hard to participate in shaping God's future if you have had no preparation for getting started, and if you don't take part in the follow-up.

Preparing for Christmas can be a bit of a challenge in itself. Before we even start to think about getting ready for God's future we are already overwhelmed with an immense list of things to get done just to get ready for our Christmas in our homes and places of work. Gifts to buy; baking to get done; homes to clean and decorate; parties to attend; cards to write. When will we ever find enough time to get all of that done? Then, on top of all that, we are expected to do something for God? Sorry God, you'll have to wait; there is no room for you just now. (Once again, there is "no room at the inn" for God at Christmas time.) Ironically, some of the stuff we are busy with in getting ready for Christmas may actually make us less prepared for God's Christmas. Our gospel reading today contains the following verse: "Be on guard, so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap." (Luke 21:34). This gospel reading is one of the traditional readings for the first Sunday in Advent and it is meant to help us prepare for Christmas. "That day" in the reading is meant to make us think of Christmas day. In that case the reading is warning us to prepare ourselves appropriately so that Christmas day does not catch us up, "like a trap."

I once preached a sermon on this passage and called it "The Christmas Trap," a trap which looks like this: It is Christmas morning, about 11:00 a.m. We are looking into the life of a fairly typical North American family. The children in the family, had been extremely excited in anticipation of Christmas; Mom and Dad as well. Christmas was going to fulfil their greatest hopes and dreams. All of their dreaming had focussed on the Christmas tree and the presents under the tree. Mom and Dad are exhausted from shopping trips and Christmas parties. Nobody got enough sleep in the past week, especially in the past night. Actually everyone's nerves are a bit on edge. Now all of the presents have been opened. The house is a mess with wrapping paper and packaging material strewn about. One of the toys has already run out of batteries. The kids get in an argument about which video game gets to be played next. Mom is not looking forward to all the work for Christmas dinner. Dad discovers his new shirt doesn't fit very well and be heads to the fridge to grab a beer. Two hours later there is domestic chaos in our little scene. They have fallen into Christmas trap and they have come to a place that does not belong in God's future for them.

You have to wonder what sort of preparation might have helped this household be better prepared for God's future on Christmas Day. It is all too easy to fall into a pre-Christmas mode that isn't very helpful at all and in fact there are lots of things that lead us in the wrong direction. Our gospel reading also mentions some of these. It suggests that our hearts can be weighed down with "dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life." Without going too deeply into these three barriers to a heart that is open to God's Christmas, I think that we can at least recognize some of our own pre-Christmas frenzy in these points. Dissipation: the dictionary defines this as a "scattered, frivolous, dissolute way of life." At least somewhat reminiscent, I think, of the shopping sprees in the malls at this time of the year, certainly the so-called "midnight madness." The drunkenness speaks for itself; there is quite a bit of that at this time of the year. The worries of life has got to refer to what we nowadays call stress. The stress level certainly builds this time of year, doesn't it? The midnight madness; the partying; the stress: the bible sees these as things that take us into a Christmas trap; and take away from a healthy preparation for Christmas.

So what can we do to prepare for God's future in a way that will be more helpful? Our gospel reading goes on to provide an answer to this question: It says simply, "Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to face the coming of the Holy One." This may sound a bit pious at first, but we can understand the point: A good preparation for Christmas includes being alert and it includes time for prayer. We do need to be alert; alert to the wonder, the mystery, and the surprises of Christmas. We cannot program a successful Christmas. God needs to be able to get in there somewhere with a surprise. God wants to come into our world with hope and peace and joy and love; not just under the tree on Christmas morning but in every place where these gifts are needed. God knows they are needed in a whole lot of places in this world; but do we know? Are we alert to the potential of peace on earth, goodwill to all? Can we participate somehow in bringing peace and goodwill into this world of ours, even into our own households on Christmas morning? What sorts of Christmas gifts bring peace and goodwill? What sorts of toys? What sorts of Christmas activities bring peace and goodwill? What if, this year on Christmas morning, the first thing that happened in your house was to be the lighting of the Christ candle on the Advent Wreath? What if the gifts under the tree were truly instruments of peace and goodwill; not things that encourage violence, or vanity, or self-gratification? What if the television were to be turned off for the whole day on December 25th and instead everyone participated in some cooperative activity? What kind of Christmas would that be? We are encouraged to be alert to something different, something wholesome, something special this Christmas.