“Physician heal thyself.” “A lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client.” “The cobbler’s children go without shoes.” “Practice what you preach.” These four well-known sayings share a common theme.   They suggest that folk who are well-trained in an area, who are experts in a particular field of study, may employ those skills capable in the world, but they often have difficulty applying the principles in their personal lives. So, the doctor prescribes a healthy regimen for his patients, but overworks and under exercises himself! The shoemaker produces marvelous footwear for clients, but is too exhausted or distracted to keep his own family well-shod. And, the preacher yearly exhorts her congregation to breathe in the season of Advent, to reflect and be still and then finds herself caught in a maelstrom of unrelenting activity. 

I know this phenomenon well! In our household, it’s known as the Advent meltdown. For several years, its arrival was signaled by the annual wreck! Sometime between December 2^nd and December 20^th, I would run over trashcans, back over a mailbox, crash into the garage. One year, when picking Whitney up from ballet, I got out of a moving car I forgot to put into “park.” The year I threw car keys, house keys, work keys in a dumpster and had to climb in and sort through trash to retrieve them was probably the most dramatic and humiliating Advent episode. 

It’s only week two, so my relief may be premature, but I think Wednesday was this year’s day for nonsense. I had a very tight schedule. Every activity was precisely timed. I had no time for distractions or deviations. I jumped out of bed exactly on time and went to put in a new set of new contacts. But they weren’t marked, so I didn’t know which one went in which eye. I called an 800 number and 20 minutes later I could see. I scurried around to make up time. Now, I’m a very healthy person. I don’t take any medicines or vitamins, except…apparently there is some little thing in north Mecklenburg County that I’m allergic to. I’m not even speculating on what it might be, but to survive I have to take one tiny pill daily. Wednesday morning there were no pills. I called the pharmacy in a panic. Can you have a refill ready in 30 minutes? No, probably in 45! Forty-seven minutes later I zoom into the CVS drive-through and my American Express gold car doesn’t work. Of course it works, it always works, it can’t not work. “Well, we’ve been having trouble with our processor…” “Fine, use the Visa.” Seven long minutes later the receipt comes out. Out of the parking lot, across freeway into Starbucks.   Oooh, I love Starbucks products. I’m a huge fan, but I detest their prices. I just can’t bring myself to let go of that kind of money for a cup of coffee. (This is why I love getting their gift cards – guilt-free lattes! But, I digress…)

I’m at Starbucks. After pre-determined rationalization the night before, I’m buying the staff some coffee. There’s been a lot of activity in the office lately and nothing says “you’re appreciated” like a hot, well-made beverage! Out of the car, into store, the American Express card works fine, pick up the tray, back into the car, CAREFULLY back up, all is well, carefully navigate towards the office, then eeeekkkk! Some woman in a black Escalade pulls out in no room in front of me. I slam on my brakes, the tray tips over and that delicious overpriced coffee pours out, saturating my car with mocha cream stuff. So now I have a mess and a presentation of half a gift for everyone. “Thanks for your dedicated service!”

The morning progresses like this. The precise schedule never recovers. Five minute interruptions drag on for 20 minutes. And so it goes. You all have had these kinds of days!!! It’s life in our world. At 1:15, I get away for a 1:30 appointment in Mooresville. I’m very excited. It’s taken a lot of coordination to get this meeting scheduled and now I’m sitting with my spiritual director. I say, “God’s clearly telling me something but I’m just not getting it.” To which the wise person responds, “When I have days like that it generally means I’m not being present to the present.” I’m either focused on the past or on the future. I’m not paying attention to the here and the now.” 

Duh! This is exactly my problem. This is precisely the cause of my annual Advent meltdown. Every year at this time, I lose sight and sense of the present. It’s not hard to understand this forward focus, after all, the Holy Infant arrives in 16 days. There’s a lot to do. There’s a lot to prepare, but this is more than a timing issue. Learning to be present in the present is a consistent universal spiritual dilemma for the faithful. Through all time, we have had difficulty keeping our focus on the time immediately around us. It seems to be our nature to obsess about events in our past – either grievances or glories. And when we can wrestle ourselves away from those things done or left undone back there, we tend to hurl ourselves into the future. We ponder and calculate “What will happen next?” “What will we do if this occurs, or that unfolds?” “How can I prepare for every contingency?” Rotating between the past and the future, the future and the past, the present becomes a blur and we don’t see its meaning and impact. We don’t recognize how its moments and encounters are shaping us now and influencing who we’ll be in the future and how we’ll make sense of the past. 

The present is powerful! God is in the present. God is moving in the here and now. We know this because what we consider coincidence today we recognize as God’s grace in retrospect! Coincidence becomes God-incidence when we look back and see that good or safe outcome, when we realize that unexpected “saving” was no accident. 

The present is God’s primary field of operation. What God works out in us and through us happens today! The opportunities to grow and evolve and transform are in the now. What we did yesterday or the day before or four years ago was based on the person of God we were then. Today is new, full of potential, full of promise. Who we may be tomorrow is unrealized. What we may do in the future is speculation and is absolutely tied to who we are in this moment. Everything builds on what has gone on before, so our future is determined by how we manage our present.

God wants us grounded, focused, attending to the present. His central message to us over and over again is pay attention to the now! If you mind your faithfulness now, your future is insured. If you mind your faithfulness now, your past is redeemed!

Look to me today…Be alert, see me in the everyday, mundane corners of your life. Anticipate, expect to receive revelation this morning and again later in the afternoon. Before the sun goes down today, I will touch your life! Will you be able to name when and how?

We don’t seem to gravitate to this orientation. Being present to the present eludes us. We’re not alone. The ancient Israelites had the same difficulty. The mighty prophet Isaiah was sent to call his people back to the now. In his time, his countrymen were prone to locate God in their past. They would reminisce about the days when Yahweh loved them and cared about them, delivered them and kept them safe. They would harken back to glory days when God stood with them and all was well and fine. 

When looking back became too painful, the Israelites would project God into their future. One day, one day, God will come among us again. One day he’ll show us his face and raise us up out of this pit of disaster. Backwards or forwards, the people looked for God. They were disinclined to do the work of faith in the present. 

So, God sent Isaiah to tell the people, when Israel is in trouble, when Jerusalem is under siege, look to the present.  “The Holy One of Israel says, in returning and rest you shall be saved.” “In quietness and trust shall be your strength!”

When the Assyrians are at your gates, when their plan is to annihilate your infrastructure and decimate your culture and leave you bereft and without identity or roots – turn to your faith.

When Israel and Jerusalem (that Holy dwelling place of God) is threatened from within by unrestrained fear and general lack of faith – turn to your God. Return to the faith of your forefathers.

Isaiah as God’s holy, anointed messenger tells his people, “Faith is trust in God.” “Faith is trust in God.” Faith is understanding that God is powerful, God is active and engaged, God is present in the present. Faith is accepting that God is on the job, working out his will everyday! Faith is believing God is in control and aligning yourself to his plan, whatever it might be. Faith is internalizing that God is. God is present. Present is God’s most central attribute…

Isaiah reminds his people, when Moses encountered God in that amazing, unexpected place on the mountainside – in the flaming bush that would not be consumed – the bewildered man asked “Who are you?” The Holy One replied, “I AM!” The Lord God, the Creator of all matter, the Being before, above, below.” After all time, did not say “I was the one who…” He did not say, “I am He who will…”

Of all the ways he could describe himself, of all the names he could claim, of all phrases to be immortalized through generations, God said the most important, the most true, the most accurate was “I AM.” Present tense…here and now. Look for me, see me, locate me in the present. Keep faith with me now!

Whoa! Clear instruction, imperfect implementation. Isaiah called his people to “present” faithfulness in 732 BCE. 2,739 years later, we’re still struggling with the same issue. Why is it so difficult to focus on God in our daily lives? Why do we fritter our attention on transitory, weak things?

When woke up this morning, God was there. In each of our bedrooms, God was there. In every car that drove up here, God was there. Did you recognize his presence? Today, this moment, God is moving in our lives, keeping the world rotating on its axis. Keeping our cells dividing, keeping us free, fed and in loving relationships. God is at work inside us. The beloved child we are today is different from the child of yesterday and different from the child we’ll be tomorrow. 

This child, the child of today is important and deserves to be recognized and celebrated. The child of God today has something to learn, something to give the world. Do you know who that child is? The Great “I AM” is busy forming the human “I AMs!” Our charge is to focus. What’s being made new here? What can I do today I couldn’t do yesterday? How will God use me this day? 

Yesterday, I was impatient. Yesterday, I was peevish. Yesterday, I was all sorts of things. Today, “I am!” Today, I am alert to God. Today I am dedicated to being faithful. Today, I’m paying attention to the present God.

This orientation to God in the present is our best hope for a certain now and a happy future. The passage we read this morning from 1^st Isaiah speaks of the coming of a peaceful, just and equitable age. The images of a wise and perfect leader are compelling. The picture of harmony between natural competitors is intriguing. The ideal of a world without injustice or danger sparks our imagination and enlivens a glimmer of hope. What might such a world look like? When will God deliver this world?

Isaiah tells us, “There shall be no harm or ruin on all the holy mountain for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” 

The reign of God comes near, the peaceable kingdom is made real, paradise is restored when the knowledge of the Lord is made manifest all over the world. 

“Knowledge of the Lord,” means accepting God as the great I AM and living with God in the present, every day. 

Imagine how our lives would change. Imagine how the world would change if instead of dwelling on the past or propelling ourselves into the future, we returned and rested with God in the present! Imagine! Imagine all manner of wrecks and upsets we’d avoid!