{"id":3022,"date":"2014-11-30T14:18:59","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T22:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=3022"},"modified":"2016-10-06T17:08:23","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T00:08:23","slug":"donkeys-and-moonwalking-bears-homily-for-the-first-sunday-of-advent-year-b-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/donkeys-and-moonwalking-bears-homily-for-the-first-sunday-of-advent-year-b-2014","title":{"rendered":"Donkeys and Moonwalking Bears: Homily for the First Sunday of Advent &#8211; Year B 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TFL Viral - Awareness Test (Moonwalking Bear)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xNSgmm9FX2s?feature=oembed&#038;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s a video that\u2019s been online for about five years now,<br \/>\nthat I like to show to my students.<br \/>\nIt starts in a big parking garage<br \/>\nwith two street basketball teams,<br \/>\none wearing white t-shirts and sweats, the other wearing black.<br \/>\nAs they stand there in one line, each team with its own basketball,<br \/>\nthe announcer\u2019s voice begins,<br \/>\n\u201cThis is an Awareness Test.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cHow many passes does the team in white make?\u201d<br \/>\nA voice yells, \u201cGO!\u201d and suddenly the teams start running around,<br \/>\nweaving in and out, passing the basketballs to each other.<br \/>\nSo my students start counting, \u201cOne, two, three,\u201d<br \/>\ntrying to keep their eyes on the white team\u2019s ball,<br \/>\ntrying not to get distracted by the other ball.<br \/>\n\u201cEleven, twelve, thirteen\u2026\u201d<br \/>\nSuddenly, the video freezes.<br \/>\nThe announcer says, \u201cThe answer is thirteen.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cYes,\u201d my students pump their fists in the air, \u201cgot it!\u201d<br \/>\nAnd then they\u2019re surprised when the announcer suddenly continues:<br \/>\n\u201cBut\u2014did you see the moonwalking bear?\u201d<br \/>\nWhat?<br \/>\nThe announcer rewinds the video<br \/>\nand they watch the teams pass the ball again,<br \/>\nbut this time they watch the entire scene, looking at the big picture.<br \/>\nSuddenly, from the right side of the screen<br \/>\na person dressed in this outlandish bear costume<br \/>\ncomes strolling through the middle of the action,<br \/>\ndoing the wave arm dance<br \/>\n\u2014and yes, moonwalking!<br \/>\nThe bear makes its way across the scene,<br \/>\nfinally disappearing off to the left.<br \/>\nNow, I\u2019ve shown this to dozens of students<br \/>\nand the first thing they all ask<br \/>\nis to rewind the video to the very beginning and show it again.<br \/>\nThey don\u2019t think the bear was really there the first time.<br \/>\nSo I rewind it, and there it is moonwalking across the parking garage.<br \/>\nThey were so focused on the basketball passes,<br \/>\nthat they missed the amazing sight of the moonwalking bear.<br \/>\nThe video ends with this simple statement:<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s easy to miss something you\u2019re not looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, the video is intended to raise our awareness<br \/>\nof bicyclists on the street, so they don\u2019t get hit by cars,<br \/>\nbut it\u2019s also a good illustration for us as we begin Advent.<\/p>\n<p>The Advent season is like an awareness test,<br \/>\nand Jesus is the moonwalking bear.<br \/>\n\u201cBe watchful!\u201d he says.<br \/>\n\u201cBe alert!\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cI say to all: \u2018Watch!\u2019\u201d<br \/>\nIn other words, \u201cIt\u2019s easy to miss something you\u2019re not looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once, long ago, a chosen people looked for their God to come to them,<br \/>\nas he had promised.<br \/>\nWe hear their longing in today\u2019s liturgy.<br \/>\n\u201cOh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,\u201d they groan.<br \/>\n\u201cReturn for the sake of your servants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They kept alert, they kept watch, looking for the Messiah.<br \/>\nBut they formed their own idea of what he would look like:<br \/>\nA mighty king, born of important parents,<br \/>\na warrior who would raise an army and free them from their oppressors.<\/p>\n<p>And so, when a little baby was born in a food trough for animals<br \/>\nto humble newlyweds,<br \/>\nthe world didn\u2019t recognize him as the Messiah.<br \/>\nWhen he began spending his time with the poor,<br \/>\nthe outcasts, the unclean,<br \/>\nthe authorities rejected him.<br \/>\nThey were looking for someone else.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s easy to miss something you\u2019re not looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here today, in the beginning of this Advent season,<br \/>\nthe same longing for God that the Israelites felt<br \/>\ndwells in each of us.<br \/>\nThere is inside each of us a fundamental restlessness,<br \/>\nan unquenchable thirst,<br \/>\nan unsatisfied desire.<\/p>\n<p>We spend our days chasing after things<br \/>\nthat we think will satisfy that desire:<br \/>\npower, success, possessions,<br \/>\nsecurity, pleasure, perfection;<br \/>\nbut in the end, nothing satisfies<br \/>\nand the desire remains.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an eternal longing that can only be satisfied by an eternal love.<br \/>\nThat eternal love is God.<\/p>\n<p>That eternal love became incarnate, became flesh,<br \/>\nentered into human time and human existence.<br \/>\nJesus came to us.<br \/>\nThis is salvation: a God who came to us to give us fullness of life.<\/p>\n<p>Advent is the time to slow down<br \/>\nand get in touch with our eternal longing,<br \/>\nand with the One who satisfies it.<\/p>\n<p>This time of year we are so often in touch with our surface desires:<br \/>\ncertain kinds of holiday food,<br \/>\nthe gifts we want under the tree,<br \/>\nthe way we want the house decorated.<\/p>\n<p>But below those surface desires are the desires of the heart,<br \/>\nthe longings for connection, relationship, forgiveness, love.<\/p>\n<p>Advent is the time to cultivate those longings,<br \/>\nto spend time exploring the desires that lie deep within,<br \/>\nand to ask God to come into our hearts more intimately this Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Because God has promised to come again,<br \/>\nnot only at the end of time, but right here, right now.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t know when or where or how<br \/>\nJesus will come at the end of time,<br \/>\nbut even more importantly,<br \/>\nwe don\u2019t know when or where or how<br \/>\nJesus will come into our lives<br \/>\nthis very day, this very hour, this very moment.<\/p>\n<p>But we can be sure of one thing: Jesus will come to us this Advent.<br \/>\nIs coming to us right now.<br \/>\nJesus continually invites us to an ever-deepening intimacy,<br \/>\nan intimacy in which all our truest longings are satisfied.<br \/>\nOur salvation is not a moment in time<br \/>\nbut the ongoing action of a loving God.<\/p>\n<p>Even now, Jesus is near to us, breaking into our lives.<br \/>\nBut \u201cBe watchful!\u201d he says.<br \/>\n\u201cBe alert!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Because \u201cIt\u2019s easy to miss something you\u2019re not looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What do we expect Christ to look like?<br \/>\nWhen do we expect to encounter Christ?<\/p>\n<p>Whatever our expectations are,<br \/>\nwe really do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,<br \/>\nand we really do not know what that encounter will look like.<\/p>\n<p>If we\u2019re focusing on counting the basketballs<br \/>\nas they get tossed from player to player,<br \/>\nwe will miss the moonwalking bear.<br \/>\nBut if we look with fresh eyes at the big picture,<br \/>\nwe will see that our heart\u2019s deepest longing<br \/>\nhas been with us the whole time.<\/p>\n<p>The work of Advent is to take a step back and get a wider view.<br \/>\nTo look in a new way at the world around us<br \/>\nso that we can see what\u2019s hidden in plain sight.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t want to be like the customs officers<br \/>\nin the ancient tale of Nasrudin the smuggler:<\/p>\n<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3023\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Nasreddin_17th-century_miniature-270x300.jpg\" alt=\"Nasrudin's Donkey\" width=\"270\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Nasreddin_17th-century_miniature-270x300.jpg 270w, http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Nasreddin_17th-century_miniature-500x553.jpg 500w, http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Nasreddin_17th-century_miniature.jpg 501w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/>Nasrudin used to take his donkey across the frontier every day,<\/em><br \/>\n<em> with the baskets loaded with straw.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Since he admitted to being a smuggler,<\/em><br \/>\n<em> when he trudged home every night,<\/em><br \/>\n<em> the frontier guards searched him again and again.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> They searched his person, sifted the straw, steeped it in water,<\/em><br \/>\n<em> even burned it from time to time.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Meanwhile, it was clear<\/em><br \/>\n<em> that Nasrudin was becoming more and more prosperous.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Finally he retired and went to live in another country.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> There one of the customs officers met him, years later.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> \u201cYou can tell me now, Nasrudin,\u201d he said.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> \u201cWhatever was it that you were smuggling,<\/em><br \/>\n<em> when we could never catch you out?\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Nasrudin replied, \u201cDonkeys.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Advent is the time to notice the donkey and the moonwalking bear.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s an invitation to be alert, to be watchful for Christ hidden in plain sight.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s a time to look more closely at our lives,<br \/>\nto become more aware of our innermost longings,<br \/>\nand of the One who satisfies those longings,<br \/>\nso that when Christmas comes<br \/>\nwe can recognize our God and say,<br \/>\n\u201cYes, this child is the one for whom I long.<br \/>\nThis is the one who takes away the darkness.<br \/>\nThis is Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, and my savior.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_1466\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3022-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/stpeter\/SP-2014-11-30-456.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/stpeter\/SP-2014-11-30-456.mp3\">http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/stpeter\/SP-2014-11-30-456.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/stpeter\/SP-2014-11-30-456.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?powerpress_pinw=3022-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/stpeter\/SP-2014-11-30-456.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"SP-2014-11-30-456.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/feed\/podcast\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><!--powerpress_player-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s a video that\u2019s been online for about five years now, that I like to show to my students. It starts in a big parking garage with two street basketball teams, one wearing white t-shirts and sweats, the other wearing black. As they stand there in one line, each team with its own basketball, the announcer\u2019s voice begins, \u201cThis is an Awareness Test.\u201d \u201cHow many passes does the team in white make?\u201d A voice yells, \u201cGO!\u201d and suddenly the teams start running around, weaving in and out, passing&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[363,532,357,533,534,55],"class_list":["post-3022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-advent","tag-awareness-test","tag-gospel-of-mark","tag-moonwalking-bear","tag-nasrudins-donkey","tag-video","post_format-post-format-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Nasreddin_17th-century_miniature.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-MK","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3022"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3434,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3022\/revisions\/3434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}