Captives on an Island called Advent:The 3rd Sunday of Advent
[Readers, please note: this is the first draft of a homily that draws upon a teenage discussion of the movie, The Truman Show. Before I deliver the homily this Sunday, I would benefit from knowing your reactions to it. I'm especially interested in knowing whether or not it appeals to a adults as well as adolescents. Feel free to post your comments on the discussion board or directly to me at jms48@fuse.net. Thanks!]
The Third Sunday of Advent
Last Sunday a group of teenagers,
a couple of other adults and myself
got together in the Tekulve Room
and watched some clips from The Truman Show,
a movie starring Jim Carey.
The movie is about a gigantic movie studio
built beneath a dome on the coast of California.
Set within this dome is the community of Seahaven,
an alternate world centered on Truman Burbank,
a happily married insurance salesman.
An alternate universe that is broadcast to the whole world
as The Truman Show through 5,000 miniature cameras.
Everyone in Truman’s life is in on the hoax.
Everyone…his wife, his mother, his best friends are, in fact,
actors in one very large and very expensive entertainment project.
24 hours, 7 days a week, billions of people
tune in to watch what’s going on in Truman’s idyllic life.
All without Truman’s knowledge.
The movie centers on Truman’s realization that his world is not real
and his attempts to escape a perfect world
that is built on lies.
It requires extraordinary persistence and courage
for Truman to escape his very comfortable captivity.
So, what does this movie have to do with the readings
from the Third Sunday of Advent?
Well, the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah,
says that the Messiah of God will come to earth
to release prisoners and set captives free!
Now, when I pointed that out to the teenagers last Sunday night,
they suddenly found themselves engaged.
After all, what teenager doesn’t long for freedom?
Who desires freedom more than an adolescent?
Not only are they tied down by family rules
the high expectations of parents, teachers and coaches
close in around them like high prison walls.
At first they didn’t say much,
but they looked at me as if to say,
“You mean Christ is going to come into my life
and get me out of all this?”
I repeated Isaiah’s words
and reiterated my position:
“Yes, the Messiah comes
to set captives free.
If you are a captive, God wants you to be free.”
Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
It’s hard for us adults to imagine
that teenagers who have so much going for them
and so much given to them could feel trapped by it all.
Don’t they appreciate the comfortable homes,
the good educations
and the loving, though not perfect, families God has given them?
Well, I’m sure they do, perhaps in ways they do not recognize.
But what is front and center in their life
is something that needs to be front and center in the lives of all of us:
God wants us to live a life that is real.
And that’s not easy.
And it is very easy for young people to spot that which is fake.
Last week I mentioned a survey that claims that less than 10%
of Catholic youth consider their religion as very important in their lives.
Now, I don’t tend to put a lot of trust in opinion polls,
but I can’t help but suspect that for a lot of young people…
as well as a lot of other people…
religion is seen as just another boring part
of a predictable world and a predictable life.
And, to their credit, that’s what adolescents can’t accept.
So much of their world, you see,
is circumscribed by curfews and credit hours.
Much of their experience of life,
like that of Truman Burbank’s,
comes pre-packaged:
Eat this kind of food,
do these kinds of exercises,
apply to this college,
undertake this course of study
slat yourself into this level of income
buy a house in this kind of neighborhood…
and on and on it goes!
Wear these kinds of clothes,
strike this kind of pose!!
Now, let me ask you something.
Is this why Christ allowed a lance to pierce his side?
Is this any reason for him to give his life for you?
Did he come into our world
so we all could all have a good and comfortable life?
Not according to Isaiah!
Isaiah said the Messiah would come to set captives free.
But I got to say that talk like this
makes a lot of us, myself included, a bit uncomfortable.
But you know what?
It didn’t make those young people last Sunday a bit uncomfortable.
Why?
Well, I think it has something to do with a real aversion to be held captive.
Ask any teenager
and he or she will tell you that they want to be somebody.
They aren’t exactly sure what that entails,
but they know it means that they have a deep need
to be appreciated for who they are,
not the things they do.
But that’s no way to be free.
The world around them constantly tells them
they have to follow this schedule, achieve this award, follow the guidelines.
But they want you to look them in the eye
and see…someone.
And it’s an amazing thing
when the Spirit of God
comes and sets teenagers free.
It’s pure freedom!
It’s pure freedom when they read in the Word of God
and believe the Word of God when it says:
“I have called you by name.”
“Justin, I have called you by name.
Emily, I have called you by name.
Lauren, I have called you by name.
I don’t care what clubs you belong to
or who you hang with
or what college you plan to go to…
I just want you to know that I know your name…
in fact, it’s carved right here on the palm of my hand.”
That’s what the Good Book says,
that’s what the Good Lord means.
Advent is about freedom.
Advent is about salvation.
Advent is about being released from the falsehood of the world
and realizing that your God comes to you walking in sandals,
sandals that you are too unworthy to carry.
If you are sixteen years old and you follow him,
if you are forty-five years old
if you are seventy-seven years old
and have the courage to thumb your nose at the comfortable world
and break through the bubble of family expectations
and middle class expectations...
if you do this and choose to live as a disciple of his,
you will find, at the end the day,
that this Savior who knows your name and who loves you
with every drop his blood...
this Savior will set before you the vision of marvelous future
called the Kingdom of God
and, on the way to that incredible and majestic Kingdom
where the poor are sheltered and the hungry are fed...
on the way to that place you will find that Christ Jeus,
the strong and mysterious Messiah of God,
has taken you places that you would have never imagined…
places that have invigorated you and tested you
and made you feel alive and real.
Then, on the threshold of the Kingdom,
he will do for you what he did that evening on the day
that he gave to us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood;
this Savior, whose sandals you are unworthy to touch,
will kneel in front of you,
remove your sandals to wash your feet.
And then he will looks up at you and say,
“Aren’t you glad you’ve come along?...
Aren’t you glad you followed your heart?”
The Third Sunday of Advent
Last Sunday a group of teenagers,
a couple of other adults and myself
got together in the Tekulve Room
and watched some clips from The Truman Show,
a movie starring Jim Carey.
The movie is about a gigantic movie studio
built beneath a dome on the coast of California.
Set within this dome is the community of Seahaven,
an alternate world centered on Truman Burbank,
a happily married insurance salesman.
An alternate universe that is broadcast to the whole world
as The Truman Show through 5,000 miniature cameras.
Everyone in Truman’s life is in on the hoax.
Everyone…his wife, his mother, his best friends are, in fact,
actors in one very large and very expensive entertainment project.
24 hours, 7 days a week, billions of people
tune in to watch what’s going on in Truman’s idyllic life.
All without Truman’s knowledge.
The movie centers on Truman’s realization that his world is not real
and his attempts to escape a perfect world
that is built on lies.
It requires extraordinary persistence and courage
for Truman to escape his very comfortable captivity.
So, what does this movie have to do with the readings
from the Third Sunday of Advent?
Well, the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah,
says that the Messiah of God will come to earth
to release prisoners and set captives free!
Now, when I pointed that out to the teenagers last Sunday night,
they suddenly found themselves engaged.
After all, what teenager doesn’t long for freedom?
Who desires freedom more than an adolescent?
Not only are they tied down by family rules
the high expectations of parents, teachers and coaches
close in around them like high prison walls.
At first they didn’t say much,
but they looked at me as if to say,
“You mean Christ is going to come into my life
and get me out of all this?”
I repeated Isaiah’s words
and reiterated my position:
“Yes, the Messiah comes
to set captives free.
If you are a captive, God wants you to be free.”
Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
It’s hard for us adults to imagine
that teenagers who have so much going for them
and so much given to them could feel trapped by it all.
Don’t they appreciate the comfortable homes,
the good educations
and the loving, though not perfect, families God has given them?
Well, I’m sure they do, perhaps in ways they do not recognize.
But what is front and center in their life
is something that needs to be front and center in the lives of all of us:
God wants us to live a life that is real.
And that’s not easy.
And it is very easy for young people to spot that which is fake.
Last week I mentioned a survey that claims that less than 10%
of Catholic youth consider their religion as very important in their lives.
Now, I don’t tend to put a lot of trust in opinion polls,
but I can’t help but suspect that for a lot of young people…
as well as a lot of other people…
religion is seen as just another boring part
of a predictable world and a predictable life.
And, to their credit, that’s what adolescents can’t accept.
So much of their world, you see,
is circumscribed by curfews and credit hours.
Much of their experience of life,
like that of Truman Burbank’s,
comes pre-packaged:
Eat this kind of food,
do these kinds of exercises,
apply to this college,
undertake this course of study
slat yourself into this level of income
buy a house in this kind of neighborhood…
and on and on it goes!
Wear these kinds of clothes,
strike this kind of pose!!
Now, let me ask you something.
Is this why Christ allowed a lance to pierce his side?
Is this any reason for him to give his life for you?
Did he come into our world
so we all could all have a good and comfortable life?
Not according to Isaiah!
Isaiah said the Messiah would come to set captives free.
But I got to say that talk like this
makes a lot of us, myself included, a bit uncomfortable.
But you know what?
It didn’t make those young people last Sunday a bit uncomfortable.
Why?
Well, I think it has something to do with a real aversion to be held captive.
Ask any teenager
and he or she will tell you that they want to be somebody.
They aren’t exactly sure what that entails,
but they know it means that they have a deep need
to be appreciated for who they are,
not the things they do.
But that’s no way to be free.
The world around them constantly tells them
they have to follow this schedule, achieve this award, follow the guidelines.
But they want you to look them in the eye
and see…someone.
And it’s an amazing thing
when the Spirit of God
comes and sets teenagers free.
It’s pure freedom!
It’s pure freedom when they read in the Word of God
and believe the Word of God when it says:
“I have called you by name.”
“Justin, I have called you by name.
Emily, I have called you by name.
Lauren, I have called you by name.
I don’t care what clubs you belong to
or who you hang with
or what college you plan to go to…
I just want you to know that I know your name…
in fact, it’s carved right here on the palm of my hand.”
That’s what the Good Book says,
that’s what the Good Lord means.
Advent is about freedom.
Advent is about salvation.
Advent is about being released from the falsehood of the world
and realizing that your God comes to you walking in sandals,
sandals that you are too unworthy to carry.
If you are sixteen years old and you follow him,
if you are forty-five years old
if you are seventy-seven years old
and have the courage to thumb your nose at the comfortable world
and break through the bubble of family expectations
and middle class expectations...
if you do this and choose to live as a disciple of his,
you will find, at the end the day,
that this Savior who knows your name and who loves you
with every drop his blood...
this Savior will set before you the vision of marvelous future
called the Kingdom of God
and, on the way to that incredible and majestic Kingdom
where the poor are sheltered and the hungry are fed...
on the way to that place you will find that Christ Jeus,
the strong and mysterious Messiah of God,
has taken you places that you would have never imagined…
places that have invigorated you and tested you
and made you feel alive and real.
Then, on the threshold of the Kingdom,
he will do for you what he did that evening on the day
that he gave to us the Sacrament of his Body and Blood;
this Savior, whose sandals you are unworthy to touch,
will kneel in front of you,
remove your sandals to wash your feet.
And then he will looks up at you and say,
“Aren’t you glad you’ve come along?...
Aren’t you glad you followed your heart?”
posted by BlueCollarPreacher at 1:46 PM
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