It’s a Wonderful Life – Endure It!

First Sunday in Advent.
This week begins a series using the film "It's a Wonderful Life."  Each week we are using a brief clip from the film as a part of the sermon.  If you are familiar with the film, you will follow along easily.  If you have never seen the film - Oh my goodness!  What have you been waiting for?  Go watch it!

Matthew 24:36-44     “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

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The old classic film, It’s A Wonderful Life, was not intended to be a classic Christmas film.  Frank Capra, the director, just liked the story and wanted to film it.  He wasn’t even thinking about Christmas.  And it wasn’t intended to be released during the Christmas season – it was supposed to come out in January, but they moved it up in hopes that it would get an Oscar nomination.  Things don’t always happen the way they are supposed to happen. 

That is, in fact, one of the central themes of the story – that things don’t always happen the way we intend, but in whatever way they do happen, they offer us opportunities to live a wonderful life. 

George Bailey, the main character in the film, has big plans for his life.  His father, Peter Bailey, runs a small town Building & Loan.  It’s never been a wildly successful operation, financially speaking, but it serves an important purpose.  The Building & Loan gives its customers a hope of getting out from under debt, getting out from under the weight of poverty.  It gives them hope of getting out from under the oppressive Mr. Potter, who owns half of Bedford Falls and is greedy enough to lust after the other half.

If Charles Dickens were telling this story, Mr. Potter would probably be the main character and there would be some hope for his redemption.  But that doesn’t happen in this story; what we have in this character is essentially the personification of evil.

In the scene we will see today, George is sitting at the dinner table with his father the evening before he is about to leave for college, and they begin by talking about his father’s day and his relationship with Mr. Potter, and then they talk about George’s future. 

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I think Peter Bailey wants the best for his son, just as all parents do.  He wants George to be happy; he wants George to be successful; and he wants him to not only do well, but also to do good. 

George has been dreaming about this day for years – he’s been working and saving and planning and compromising to get to this point.  He has always felt like life is out there, somewhere, waiting for him.  He just needs to endure whatever it takes to get there.  George believes his life has been on hold until he could get everything ready.  And now, at last, it seems like everything is ready.  He can’t wait to get out of Bedford Falls.  He can’t wait to get out of the Building and Loan.  He can’t wait to get out of his parents house.

It’s not that he hasn’t been gracious.  George is a wonderful son, honoring his parents, helping his dad at the Building & Loan for four years.  He is a wonderful older brother to Harry, too.  There was that one time, when they were young boys that he pulled Harry out of the freezing water when he fell through the ice – he saved his life!  George has been there for everyone – except maybe himself.   But now, George firmly believes, it is his turn.

And, you know, I like that George has big ideas.  I like that he has planned well.  I like that he has been committed to his family, that he has good, solid priorities.  We should all do as well.  What I don’t like is this:  when we are too busy making plans for a future we might have, we are failing to live the life we actually have. And I am afraid George is missing out on the life he actually has.

I think we all do it in one way or another. It may be a tendency to let work consume every free moment of the day, something that is especially easy to do now that we have phones that allow us to be at work anywhere, anytime – all the time, in fact.

It may be a tendency to have a to-do list longer than your arm – staying busy!  But as virtuous as busyness might be, it can also be a way to avoid life.

By the way, this is not something that only happens to the ultra-busy – this missing out on life can happen to anyone.  It is entirely possible to miss out on the life you have simply because you are pining for a life you don’t have.

I think of Renee, a student I knew at Bloomsburg University, who never missed an opportunity to tell people that she was SUPPOSED to go to the University of Alabama, but her parents ruined her plans.  Of course, her experience at Bloomsburg University could never, ever match up to the experience she was sure she would have had at Alabama.

There is always the possibility, the dream, of some other life we might have lived.  And yet, when we awake and open our eyes, here we are.

It sometimes takes a hard experience to learn the value of the life we have been given.  It can take a loss to really appreciate what we have, the people we share our life with, the place where we live.  And when we finally do, then we might have those things that Peter Bailey wanted for his son: to be happy, to be successful, and to do good. 

To do good. 

We can do more good in the world by simply being present in the moment we are in, being present to the people we are with, being ready to respond to the needs we see.  And the greatest of these needs, I would dare say, is love.

Of course, George had no idea at the time, but this turned out to be the last conversation he would have with his father.  He went out to the graduation party, danced the Charleston, fell in the pool, and laughed and sang his way home – and later he would find out his father had a stroke that evening that he would not recover from.  Fortunately, George could look back on his last conversation with his dad and recall that he said to him, “Pop, I think you’re a great guy.”

It’s moments like this that, in retrospect, teach us the meaning of being ready.  It means being ready, right where you are, to receive the blessings that are before you. 

Are you ready?

It’s a question we frequently ask one another during the holiday season, but usually in the wrong way: are you ready for Christmas?  And I know it is a question that usually means things like having all the gifts bought and wrapped, having all the cookies baked, having the tree decorated, the lights up, and the holiday DVDs queued up and ready to run.  I still wonder, what if we actually meant this: are you ready to see the Christ?

Are you ready to see the Christ?

It’s not something you can prepare for, because you don’t know when, where, or how it might happen.  So being ready simply means expecting to see him right where you are.

Expecting to see the Christ. Looking at the world in love.  Responding to the need you see.  Living the wonderful life you have been given – not simply enduring it – living it.  This is what it means to be ready.  I wonder if George Bailey ever looks at his life that way.

You know, there is one more thing I’m wondering about.  The last thing Peter Bailey said to his son was, “This town is no place for any man unless he is willing to crawl to Potter.”  It’s exactly the kind of thought that makes George shudder at the idea of staying in Bedford Falls.  Yet I wonder at the truth of that statement.  Is it really true that one has to crawl before Potter to do anything in that town; does anyone ever have to crawl before evil to do well?  To do good?  How is that going to play out?  We will see.

But for today, I ask you this: Are you simply enduring this life, or are you really living it – here and now?  Because when we talk about being ready, that is what we are talking about.