Monday, April 8, 2013
07 April 2013 “Seeing is Believing” John 20:19-31
07 April 2013 “Seeing is Believing” John 20:19-31
We are, by nature, curious people. My good friend Daniel Everly taught me about our curious nature when he created such an interest in me I went with him a number of years ago on a field expedition with the Rock Art Foundation of Texas. The Foundation is dedicated to the rock art and historic sites throughout the lower Pecos region of West Texas.
Over five millennia, aboriginal artists recorded elaborate scenes on the limestone canvas of canyons and rock shelters in an area defined by the lower courses of the Pecos and Devil’s rivers and their confluences with the Rio Grande River.
That day we drove and drove and then hiked to the Pecos River and a remote rock overhang where I saw in vivid color the painted images of snakes, bear, deer, human like figures, panthers, and the coolest of all, shamans. I had seen pictures of these images in books. But I was so curious to see them first hand in their natural setting and to hear the stories of how and why folk would record such striking images of life long past that I had to see them for myself. They were spectacular.
In today’s gospel, Thomas was faithful to his nature too. He was faithful to his personal drive to know the truth about his life, his world, the experiences he was living and seeing unfold before him as a follower of Jesus. Given the recent turn of events, Thomas was not about to change from his curious ways. He had to see things for himself.
That Jesus had died, he was certain. What his friends were now telling him, he was not so sure. He struggled to believe that Jesus was no longer dead. That he was alive and had actually appeared to them and even spoken to them was beyond belief. He had to see for himself what common sense told him was impossible.
When I taught at Blinn College it was always a struggle to help my students understand the basis for knowing what was indeed true and real in life and what might be suspect. Often, I found, we confuse our own view of what we think is true for what everyone else actually knows to be otherwise.
Often, our personal view is just that, our personal view. Just as often, that view is not what right reasoning knows to be true. Being able to know the difference is a huge accomplishment and for some, why, we spend a lifetime searching for clarity and certainty.
Thomas shows us the right way to approach this dilemma. Ask, “Where is your proof?” Say, “Show me,” which is exactly what he did.
At some point in our lives we all have asked for more proof about God. At some point in our lives we all have realized that just because people we know, people we respect, or even people we love believe certain things about Jesus, they may be wrong.
Their faith claims stops being sufficient proof for us. So we do what Thomas did, we strike out on our own, we study, we read, we pray, we engage in discussion, we expose ourselves to new and different ideas. We begin to define limits for ourselves.
We first discover what we absolutely do not accept as the truth. The wacky sounding claims, the rhetorical clichés, the mainstream ideas. They help us turn to scripture, to respected teachers, to the church even and we discover bits of truth here and there. Bits we file away in our believe system.
Then we discover truths we hold to be absolute and foundational and solid as a rock. These solid truths become strongly held faith and belief certainties that define our Christian way of living.
When it was evening on that day, the disciples were huddled in the upper room. They were afraid of the religious authorities, afraid of the religious folk who resist the message of the Gospel and its light preferring instead to hide in the old ways of holy habit. Even with our rock solid beliefs we Christians can be like this some times. It is easier to hide in our old ways, our comfortable clothing of holy habit.
Jesus comes not to rebuke us or the disciples but, with a word of peace, spoken twice. Jesus has atoned for our sins, died on the cross to ensure our salvation, spoken first to Mary, calling her name, then calling ours.
We cannot avoid this relationship with Jesus. He has done too much for us to take him lightly. He has come back into the life of the living. He returned from the grave to be with his disciples again and he has returned from the grave to be with us, each of us. And like his disciples, we too are being sent out into the world, we too have been breathed upon, we too received the Holy Spirit at our baptism, we too have therefore become his apostles.
Thomas was not there when Jesus came, neither were we. He doesn’t believe until he sees the marks, neither do we – not because we lack faith, remember, we are curious by nature and our skepticism keeps us safe from foolish decisions.
Thomas was like us, he wasn’t different from the others, he wants to see the same thing they saw, he wants to see the same things we want to see, “show me the marks” he says. “Show me the marks,” we also say.
In the same room with the same group, in church, Jesus comes to Thomas and shows him the marks. Then, like John who had entered the tomb and believed, Thomas believes, he says, “My Lord and my God”.
This phrase becomes the later church’s confession and it becomes ours, “My Lord and my God.” This story, we realize, is not only about Thomas it is about us, the church. This is clear from Jesus’ insistence on blessing those who have not seen and yet believe – Jesus embraces us here, the church.
Our society has many like Thomas and they want evidence before they believe. They cannot see the marks of the body of Jesus, but they can see the marks on the body of Christ, on us, the church.
Society and non-believers and those from non-Christian faiths are quick to point this out. We see you church people! We see what you are doing!
Sadly, the marks of today’s Christians do not always convince the many like Thomas in society who want evidence before they believe.
Mahatma Ghandi famously said, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Unless I see the marks, I will not believe.
In the history of Christianity there are marks that would help doubting folk like Thomas believe. The marks we have to show them are the historical stories we tell of our Christian witness. There are many we can tell, stories of people like John Calvin or John Knox or others responsible for the Presbyterian tradition finding its way to America. But, what about ordinary people?
We need look no further than this church to find ordinary people who are heroes in the faith. We need look no further than the marks left by the real life stories of people in our own church. We need look no further than the founding families and the ministers of Trinity and Wilshire Presbyterian Churches. We need look no further than the transformative folk that brought life to Genesis Presbyterian Church. These are the marks those who doubt long to see, our history, our tradition, our ministries. Once they see us, then they will believe.
People come into our church on a daily basis and we show a great deal to them, and much of what we show is good. Before they can believe, they want to see what it is that marks us as the body of Christ, they want to see what marks us as Christians who are like Christ, they want to see that we not only believe in a redeemer, that we act redeemed.
People come into our church on a daily basis and we act like Christ when help them by listening, giving them our love through a kind word or a helping hand. People come into our church on a daily basis and they call our name. They tell us, “Unless I see his mark on you, I will not believe!” They come to worship, we greet them during the passing of the peace, we invite them to our table to take communion with us, we invite them to break bread with us in fellowship at our congregational luncheons, we let them see Jesus’ mark on us when we open our church to them to give them a place of comfort and love when they grieve the loss of a loved one like we did yesterday when we filled this space with folks coming to celebrate the life of the Reverend Clarence Bassett.
These are a few of our marks, there are others, you know about them, you know about the wonderful ministry network we have for taking care of one another, for keeping up with one another, for visiting with one another, for loving one another. You know about our Christian marks.
Can we then feel good enough about these marks that we will open our arms to folk like Thomas, folks looking for what is true and real about God. Folks who come to see our marks so they may believe.
I believe we can and it is obvious we have because those who ask to be shown the marks of Jesus in us want to see the marks in a church, an ordinary church, a safe place, this church. And the greatest truth we show them is the boldly lived claim, “See how they love one another”. See how they love one another and us too.
May we bring them to this church? I think so, for through thick and thin, we love our savior and we love one another.
Jesus said, “Do not doubt, but believe” that through believing all who come this way may have life in his name and have it abundantly. For they will believe and come this way, to this church, knowing Jesus by our love.
What greater gift might we give than to give our love, that others may live.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
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Monday, March 18, 2013
17 March 2013 “Jesus Makes a Home Visit” John 12:1-8
17 March 2013 “Jesus Makes a Home Visit” John 12:1-8
The day before he entered Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus stopped in to see his old friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in the suburb of Bethany. They were a family dear to his heart, two sisters and a brother who seemed to think of him as a brother, too. He loved them, John tells us, although he does not tell us why.
Maybe there is never a “why” to love. They called him Lord, so they knew who he was, and yet they were not his disciples, or at least not in the formal sense. They were his friends, the three people in whose presence he could be a man as well as a messiah.
Just a short time ago Jesus had worked a miracle at their house. “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” The sisters had sent him word, and he had crossed the Jordan to come to them, knowing full well it was too late. Then, after Jesus the man had wept in front of his friend’s tomb, Jesus the messiah shouted him out of it and restored Lazarus to life.
Now he has returned to them with the chief priests hot on his trail. Chatting with Samaritan women is one thing and healing the blind on the Sabbath is another, but reviving corpses is something else altogether. By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus has made it to the top of the “most wanted” list.
His days are numbered and he knows it. When he arrives at this friends’ house in Bethany with his disciples, they can see it on his face. So they take Jesus in and they care for him, shutting the world out for this one night at least. They make him supper.
They make him a supper to comfort and give him a chance to relax but it turns sour. It turns sour like much that has happened in Jesus’ life. It will not be long before someone criticizes something about this gathering too, this gathering around a meal, this gathering where someone will complain about excessive giving.
Last Sunday when the herdsmen in our story lived their lives to the fullest they too were criticized. Excessive giving seemed the order of the day. It was the story of the return of the prodigal son. The younger son was given his excessive inheritance, which he lost, and was criticized. The father was excessive ordering the killing of the fatted calf and ordering a meal for which he is criticized by the older son. The older son was excessive in his response and is criticized for his selfishness.
The message we took from the story was it just may be necessary we give from our stuff, our little and our excess, to those we feel least deserving for all to be saved. But some criticize such giving saying look out for number one, don’t give to those too selfish or lazy to work for what you have earned. Forget them! Hold on to what is rightfully yours!
This Sunday in the scripture the criticism continues. Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus take Jesus in and they make him supper. And true to form, criticism soon follows; criticism for excessive giving on Mary’s part.
The dinner is at Lazarus’ place. One sister, Martha served her guests. The other sister, Mary, is criticized, by of all people Judas, for using an expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. Judas, the one who betrays Jesus, criticizes Mary for what he thinks is an unwise and extravagant gift. In his view, Mary is squandering her gift.
Judas says the money spent on the perfume could have been better spent on the poor. He is saying the poor are more deserving than Jesus. The truth of course is he wanted some of the money spent for himself. His reputation was as one who skimmed a bit for his own pocket. He is angry his profit is being wasted on Jesus.
Jesus, for his part is giving in to Mary’s wishes and her gift. From what we learned in the story of the prodigal son, and like Mary, we are to make available to God all that God needs from us.
At the dinner at Lazarus’ Mary shows us what we have that God needs. God needs the most expensive of our possessions. God needs all of us. God needs our body, our mind, and our spirit. Oh yes, and God needs all of our stuff too.
The dinner at Lazarus’ is also a foreshadowing of the last supper where there was another meal, criticism that led to controversy among the disciples, and the exchange of another extravagant gift.
Jesus served at that dinner. Jesus even serves Judas who will enter into the controversy of betrayal and criticize him to the authorities who will take his life. Jesus is at odds with Judas again. Be it Jesus’ comfort or his life, Judas criticizes and the result is excessive.
Mary is holding a slender clay jar in her hands. Without a word she kneels at Jesus’ feet and breaks the neck of the jar, so that the smell of the perfume fills the room. As everyone is watching she loosens her hair, pours balm on Jesus’ feet, touches him, then wipes the salve off again with her hair.
Mary gives the extravagant gift of her lifelong love for Jesus. And Jesus? Why he will ultimately give the extravagant gift of himself.
The Son of God, given to each of us for the forgiveness of our sin gives his life that we may know a life filled with grace and blessings and joy. That we may know a love lasting for life eternal, for life in God’s kingdom. But there is more. There is something else afoot in these dinners of criticism and excess. There is embedded here a radical new form of worship. There were many forms of worship in Jesus’ day as there are in ours. Some however, may surprise us.
Sunday Worship is worship, of course. Participating in the sacraments, Baptism and The Lord’s Supper, is another form of worship. Living in the faithful covenant of marriage is a life changing form of worship. As is obeying the ten commandments, studying God’s word, prayer, and ministry and service to the church and to one another. All are forms of worship.
But our lives, giving the most extravagant gift we have, our lives, is perhaps the most powerful form of worship in our worship options. We show our love for God in how we live our lives. How we choose to live our lives is our ultimate act of worship to God. It is in the giving of our lives to God that God sees the depth of our love and our gift giving intentions.
Yet criticism comes to us if we do it the right way. If we give gifts from what is ours to those least deserving, our selfless extravagant gifts, criticism will come. Criticism will come when we live our lives, giving our love and more to our neighbor. The ones across the street and the ones across town. Friend and foe alike. Criticism comes to us when we give our time, our talent, and our possessions in ways the world sees as unwise and extravagant.
Oh yes, we will be criticized by people who hold this world secular values. But, Jesus will say to them as he said to Judas, Leave her alone. Leave her alone. She will always have me with her. See how she worship me. See how she loves me.
If we enter into a life of worship in these ways, the power of God’s love, grace, blessing and covenant promises will be revealed to us. Though we were lost, we will be found, and we will always have God with us. Our hearts will be opened to God’s and we will forever be at table with him receiving the extravagant gift of his love and his life for each of us.
So Mary proceeded to rub his feet with ointment so precious that its sale might have fed a poor family for a year, an act so lavish that it suggest more about her excess. Dear ones, there will be more excess to come. There will be nothing simple about the death of this man, just as there has been nothing simple about his life. In Jesus, the extravagance of God’s love is made flesh. In him, the excessiveness of God’s mercy is made alive.
Mary understood this and acted on it. While some of those standing by thought her mad, or wasteful at least, she and the one whose feet she rubbed suspected the truth.
Where God is concerned, there is no need to fear running out of nard or of life, either one. Where God is concerned, there is always more – more than we can either ask or imagine - gifts from our lavish, lavish Lord who in his extravagance holds back not one iota of his love.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen. 031213.gpc
Monday, January 16, 2012
15 January 2012 Glorify God John 1:43-51
15 January 2012 Glorify God John 1:43-51
This morning we will install two session elders, Jeff Woodruff and Duane Hiller for the class of 2015. These two have heard God’s call to serve the church and they have answered that call. I know you will join me in thanking them in advance for their service to God, to this church, and to our wider world.
A day like today may bring memories of those times God nudged you to service in God’s kingdom. God’s serving community has so many faces. Why, our joining with family to be family may have been our very first call. As we grew older God had a way of nudging us on beyond our first family to school, from school to work and perhaps another family, from another family to community and yes, church. So many times we have found ourselves on our knees trying to understand God’s call, trying to discern God’s will.
Often lost in our prayer for discernment is God’s affirmation, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” We do not choose God, but God choses us. God reminds us this morning through John’s gospel this call business is all God’s doings. It is God’s doing that we are found by God and sent into God’s kingdom. It is God who equips us and chooses us for kingdom building. The call of God is to all believers, not just to these two good folks this morning.
The evidence is before us. All in these pews this morning are gifted and equipped by God. Now do not try and deny it! We know it to be true here at Genesis for each of you have unique gifts, a special calling.
Being so gifted by God began with those early disciples whom he desired. God desired to have them and gifted them with three special assignments: to preach the gospel, to heal the sick and to be with him. The first two assignments are task specific, preach and heal. The third, to be with him, is often overlooked.
To always be close to Jesus can be risky. Being with him means we have to be so close that we know where he is going and what he will do next, and with whom. Knowing Jesus took risks with people, places, and events makes us uneasy when we hear God’s call to be with Jesus in his ministry. Knowing Jesus’s ways we may hesitate, we may stand motionless, before we commit to let God use us where God leads. For where God leads we may not want to go.
In our hesitation, our motionless, we may truthfully and honestly wonder. How could this be God calling me to this way? Where did God come to know me so well God can direct my life? We know God know us. God is God after all. But how do we know when it is God calling and not our own desire or that of the evil one?
In our Gospel story this morning Nathanael sounds like us. He asks Jesus, “How do you know me?” “Who have you been talking to about me?” “We’ve never met, have we?” Jesus answers, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” How does Jesus know Nathanael? Jesus knew him before anyone knew him, even before he was born.
One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 139. It begins, “O Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.” God knows us before we know ourselves!
Jesus saw Nathanael under a fig tree before Philip found him. Jesus saw Nathanael before he was born. Nathanael now understands who this Jesus is. Nathanael has experienced the revealing of a deeper truth than he could have ever imagined on a regular day hanging out under a fig tree waiting for his buddies to come by so they could go and do what guys do. No, this will not be that sort of day.
Jesus spoke and it was revealed to Nathanael that his invitation to come and see for himself the one about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth, came not from Phillip, but from the Messiah himself. Jesus invited Nathanael, calling him to come and see, and Nathanael realized Philip was right, they had found the one who was to be Messiah.
With this new found knowledge, Nathanael quickly confesses, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.” Nathanael’s response becomes for us a powerful confessional confirmation of who Jesus is, the one coming to save the world. It also speaks in a real sense of the mutual recognition possible through Jesus, one of knowing and being known, seeing and being seen.
In our Old Testament reading Samuel also has a strange encounter of sorts. He is awakened from his sleep by the Lord calling his name, “Samuel, Samuel,” and he said, “Here I am,” and then thinking Eli had called him he ran to him there in the room where he was asleep. But Eli said, I did not call you, lie down again. This happens two more times before Eli finally realizes that Samuel is hearing the Lord call to him. Eli tells Samuel to go, lie down; and if he calls you again, you shall say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” This response, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” becomes our biblical response when we sense God is calling; first be open to God’s speaking, then listen and respond.
Samuel, like our newly elected and soon to be installed elders, is to be established as the rightful bearer of God’s word and authority. He begins, and we begin the same way, by learning to listen and then learning to respond.
First, to listen and be sure it is God calling and not our own personal messenger and then, to respond, to reach out and attach ourselves to the ministry God has for us. We all belong to God. God uses each of us. God uses our mind, our body, and our spirit in ways that are nothing short of a miracle, in ways that are clearly God’s freely given grace.
I read in a recent Christian Century magazine article that on their own neither Samuel nor Nathanael are able to interpret these strange encounters. Samuel doesn’t recognize God’s voice, and Nathanael is puzzled by Jesus’ origins, and then by his extraordinary ability to know and see.
But both of them are portrayed as truthful, and the childlike innocence in Samuel is reflected in a description of Nathanael as an Israelite in whom there is “no deceit.” No cunning, no spin, no dishonesty, just a purity of heart that helps open their eyes to see God.
The good news for us this third Sunday of the New Year is that in our innocence and with Jesus’ help our eyes have been opened to see God. On our own we are not able to know about these strange encounters. On our own we don’t know if God is calling us or it is some telemarketer or our own driven egos. On our own the competing voices pull us further from God and we lose our authentic Christian selves.
Jeff and Duane have responded to God’s call. They have recognized a kindred spirit in our Lord. They have prayed and listened and heard and believed and realized the risk of accepting a call to serve God’s church as an officer and member of session. A risk they enter into freely, I trust!
The New Testament tells us that when the apostles started churches they appointed elders to govern the congregations in their absence. Although it is not certain what the elders’ responsibilities were in the early church, their position was clearly one of honor. We do know from scripture they were expected to exhibit the highest moral character. Elders were to be compassionate, humble, and eager to serve the congregation like a shepherd, following the example of Christ.
The responsibilities of those we elect as elders is clearly stated in the Book of Order. They are to encourage the congregation in the worship of God, they are to equip the church in mission in the world, they are to comfort and care for the sick with special attention to the poor and the oppressed, and they are to serve in the higher governing bodies of the church.
Our session, with the exception of certain rights and privileges granted to the congregation and pastor, has virtual oversight of all the spiritual, educational, and practical activities of this church.
As Presbyterians, we believe that the Holy Spirit works best in our church through the will of the people as represented by these good folk we install this morning. They are good and faithful shepherds who are concerned solely with the health of our church and the work of God’s kingdom.
I imagine they have been surprised by their encounter with the living God, calling them to a leadership position in this church. We’ve all been there. Surprised and frightened and humbled at the same time. Encounters when God calls us are like that.
For his part, Nathanael was surprised to be invited to come and see for himself that Jesus was the chosen one. What frightened him was the realization he was known so intimately by Jesus. For his part, Samuel thought Eli was calling his name. Instead, it was God calling him.
We are called to come and see this Jesus who knew us before we were born and knows us so intimately know. We may think it is this church or the Nominating Committee perhaps that calls our name. It is God calling us. And we celebrate all those who come and see.
For we see who has called us to servant discipleship. We hear his call every day and we come. We come so we may be authentically who we are called to be, followers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of Israel!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever more. Amen
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This morning we will install two session elders, Jeff Woodruff and Duane Hiller for the class of 2015. These two have heard God’s call to serve the church and they have answered that call. I know you will join me in thanking them in advance for their service to God, to this church, and to our wider world.
A day like today may bring memories of those times God nudged you to service in God’s kingdom. God’s serving community has so many faces. Why, our joining with family to be family may have been our very first call. As we grew older God had a way of nudging us on beyond our first family to school, from school to work and perhaps another family, from another family to community and yes, church. So many times we have found ourselves on our knees trying to understand God’s call, trying to discern God’s will.
Often lost in our prayer for discernment is God’s affirmation, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” We do not choose God, but God choses us. God reminds us this morning through John’s gospel this call business is all God’s doings. It is God’s doing that we are found by God and sent into God’s kingdom. It is God who equips us and chooses us for kingdom building. The call of God is to all believers, not just to these two good folks this morning.
The evidence is before us. All in these pews this morning are gifted and equipped by God. Now do not try and deny it! We know it to be true here at Genesis for each of you have unique gifts, a special calling.
Being so gifted by God began with those early disciples whom he desired. God desired to have them and gifted them with three special assignments: to preach the gospel, to heal the sick and to be with him. The first two assignments are task specific, preach and heal. The third, to be with him, is often overlooked.
To always be close to Jesus can be risky. Being with him means we have to be so close that we know where he is going and what he will do next, and with whom. Knowing Jesus took risks with people, places, and events makes us uneasy when we hear God’s call to be with Jesus in his ministry. Knowing Jesus’s ways we may hesitate, we may stand motionless, before we commit to let God use us where God leads. For where God leads we may not want to go.
In our hesitation, our motionless, we may truthfully and honestly wonder. How could this be God calling me to this way? Where did God come to know me so well God can direct my life? We know God know us. God is God after all. But how do we know when it is God calling and not our own desire or that of the evil one?
In our Gospel story this morning Nathanael sounds like us. He asks Jesus, “How do you know me?” “Who have you been talking to about me?” “We’ve never met, have we?” Jesus answers, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” How does Jesus know Nathanael? Jesus knew him before anyone knew him, even before he was born.
One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 139. It begins, “O Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.” God knows us before we know ourselves!
Jesus saw Nathanael under a fig tree before Philip found him. Jesus saw Nathanael before he was born. Nathanael now understands who this Jesus is. Nathanael has experienced the revealing of a deeper truth than he could have ever imagined on a regular day hanging out under a fig tree waiting for his buddies to come by so they could go and do what guys do. No, this will not be that sort of day.
Jesus spoke and it was revealed to Nathanael that his invitation to come and see for himself the one about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth, came not from Phillip, but from the Messiah himself. Jesus invited Nathanael, calling him to come and see, and Nathanael realized Philip was right, they had found the one who was to be Messiah.
With this new found knowledge, Nathanael quickly confesses, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.” Nathanael’s response becomes for us a powerful confessional confirmation of who Jesus is, the one coming to save the world. It also speaks in a real sense of the mutual recognition possible through Jesus, one of knowing and being known, seeing and being seen.
In our Old Testament reading Samuel also has a strange encounter of sorts. He is awakened from his sleep by the Lord calling his name, “Samuel, Samuel,” and he said, “Here I am,” and then thinking Eli had called him he ran to him there in the room where he was asleep. But Eli said, I did not call you, lie down again. This happens two more times before Eli finally realizes that Samuel is hearing the Lord call to him. Eli tells Samuel to go, lie down; and if he calls you again, you shall say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” This response, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” becomes our biblical response when we sense God is calling; first be open to God’s speaking, then listen and respond.
Samuel, like our newly elected and soon to be installed elders, is to be established as the rightful bearer of God’s word and authority. He begins, and we begin the same way, by learning to listen and then learning to respond.
First, to listen and be sure it is God calling and not our own personal messenger and then, to respond, to reach out and attach ourselves to the ministry God has for us. We all belong to God. God uses each of us. God uses our mind, our body, and our spirit in ways that are nothing short of a miracle, in ways that are clearly God’s freely given grace.
I read in a recent Christian Century magazine article that on their own neither Samuel nor Nathanael are able to interpret these strange encounters. Samuel doesn’t recognize God’s voice, and Nathanael is puzzled by Jesus’ origins, and then by his extraordinary ability to know and see.
But both of them are portrayed as truthful, and the childlike innocence in Samuel is reflected in a description of Nathanael as an Israelite in whom there is “no deceit.” No cunning, no spin, no dishonesty, just a purity of heart that helps open their eyes to see God.
The good news for us this third Sunday of the New Year is that in our innocence and with Jesus’ help our eyes have been opened to see God. On our own we are not able to know about these strange encounters. On our own we don’t know if God is calling us or it is some telemarketer or our own driven egos. On our own the competing voices pull us further from God and we lose our authentic Christian selves.
Jeff and Duane have responded to God’s call. They have recognized a kindred spirit in our Lord. They have prayed and listened and heard and believed and realized the risk of accepting a call to serve God’s church as an officer and member of session. A risk they enter into freely, I trust!
The New Testament tells us that when the apostles started churches they appointed elders to govern the congregations in their absence. Although it is not certain what the elders’ responsibilities were in the early church, their position was clearly one of honor. We do know from scripture they were expected to exhibit the highest moral character. Elders were to be compassionate, humble, and eager to serve the congregation like a shepherd, following the example of Christ.
The responsibilities of those we elect as elders is clearly stated in the Book of Order. They are to encourage the congregation in the worship of God, they are to equip the church in mission in the world, they are to comfort and care for the sick with special attention to the poor and the oppressed, and they are to serve in the higher governing bodies of the church.
Our session, with the exception of certain rights and privileges granted to the congregation and pastor, has virtual oversight of all the spiritual, educational, and practical activities of this church.
As Presbyterians, we believe that the Holy Spirit works best in our church through the will of the people as represented by these good folk we install this morning. They are good and faithful shepherds who are concerned solely with the health of our church and the work of God’s kingdom.
I imagine they have been surprised by their encounter with the living God, calling them to a leadership position in this church. We’ve all been there. Surprised and frightened and humbled at the same time. Encounters when God calls us are like that.
For his part, Nathanael was surprised to be invited to come and see for himself that Jesus was the chosen one. What frightened him was the realization he was known so intimately by Jesus. For his part, Samuel thought Eli was calling his name. Instead, it was God calling him.
We are called to come and see this Jesus who knew us before we were born and knows us so intimately know. We may think it is this church or the Nominating Committee perhaps that calls our name. It is God calling us. And we celebrate all those who come and see.
For we see who has called us to servant discipleship. We hear his call every day and we come. We come so we may be authentically who we are called to be, followers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of Israel!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever more. Amen
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Sunday, January 1, 2012
01 January 2012 “What’s up with this?” Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
01 January 2012 “What’s up with this?” Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
It may be the best question to ask this first Sunday of the New Year. What’s up with this? Was Jesus really born for us to treat him this way?
How far have we gone from worship to silly human distraction?
David Davis of Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, NJ tells the story of a Christmas pageant with significant issues. Mrs. Smith, the pageant director, was only in her first year as the volunteer in charge, and if David is honest, it would probably be her last.
As David tells it, “Nightmare” might be too strong a word to ever use for a Christmas pageant, but that years might qualify. After all, the term “perfect Christmas pageant” is an oxymoron. Christmas pageants are going to have rough edges. However, on this particular evening, as the pageant played on, Mrs. Smith was just a bit taken aback by the sharpness of those edges.
Mary had been sick all morning and the bucket next to the manger was for her. Joseph was thirteen now and decided about ten days ago that he wasn’t going to enjoy this pageant at all. When the animals arrived behind the shepherds, any hope of heavenly peace vanished. They took over the whole chancel and elevated “lowing” to a new, loud, hip-hop, rap sounding art form.
Right near the end, just before everyone was to sing “Joy to the World the Lord is come” and “He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness,” the narrator, Jerod, literally fought his way to center stage for his last line. He stepped on and over sheep and cows. Mary was reaching for the bucket, and Joseph had rolled his eyes so many times they just about fell out of his head.
So Jerod had to shout over the barnyard noise. Finally, in desperation, he put his folder down and stretched out his arms and with no little amount of exasperation, yelled, “Christ was born for this?”
Mrs. Smith, now fully exhausted, said to no one in particular, “it was an exclamation point, not a question mark.”
However, some years it does feel more like a question mark, doesn’t’ it? Christ was born for this? Some years the pageantry of life seems to not be like a chancel drama, but a pageant of life itself.
That is how William Muehl once described it. “This rich pageant of life is often fouled up,” “Fouled up by our rigid moralism, and the cross is hidden beneath the flimsy fabric of our simple piety . . . Our flesh drives and afflicts us from birth to death.”
You and I, we find ourselves stepping on and over so much as we make our way across life’s stage. Every year in this family of faith, somebody heads to Bethlehem by way of the grave, because death has an unceasing part to play. Every year, for some it is Christmas carols and tears as the earthiness of the flesh has torn at relationships, or the brutality of disease has torn at the flesh. Christ was born for this?
This year, like every year, we come face to face with flesh not just torn but destroyed. There are places in our world destroyed by war, torn by economic distress or natural disaster and nations proving something other than the “glories of his righteousness.” Yet we sing “peace on earth and good will to all,” not just once or twice, but over and over again.
It was not too long ago that Jesus made the cover of both Time and Newsweek. When such an appearance happens to be around Christmas, we can expect some conversation about the birth narratives found in the gospels of Luke and Mark. The headlines tell the story, “Behind the First Noel: How the story of Christ’s birth came to be” and “The Birth of Jesus: from Mary to the manger, how the Gospels mix faith and history to tell the Christmas story and make the case for Christ.”
Writers in both magazines engaged scholarly opinions to raise critical issues surrounding the Virgin Birth, and the importance of Bethlehem, and the questions of numbers in terms of the Magi, and whether or not the star was Haley’s Comet.
When turning to the question of why this all makes a difference, both magazines looked to the message of the angel in Luke: “For to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
“A simple, joyous proclamation of salvation,” one writer concluded. “On earth peace, good will toward all,” cited the other writer, calling it “a promise whose fulfillment is worth our prayers not only in this season, but always.” One concludes with a simple proclamation of salvation; the other a sweeping prayer for peace. As important as both may be we still find ourselves asking, Christ was born for this?
The reader of Time and Newsweek ought to be turning pages looking for more, looking for what is missing, looking for why this nativity of Christ would have anything to do with you or me.
Perhaps what they fail to consider is that Christ came that you and I might be justified by faith. “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,” the scriptures tell us. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
That is what is missing. If you “belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” These words come to us from the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians. It is his approach to the birth of Jesus. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” No angels; no shepherds; no Magi; no star. You and I, we are adopted as children of God. Christ was born for this!
We can remember growing up and as recently as this past Christmas Eve standing in our sanctuary to sing “Silent Night.” The candlelight would spread, and some would sing with tears streaming down their cheeks. The pew might even shake a bit. We might even say that was the night we learned it was safe to cry in church.
But we learned something far greater about faith and God’s promise. “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” That is God’s promise, hear and now, in the very earthiness of life. Such fullness of time belongs to God in those moments when in that exact earthiness of our lives, we come face to face with the promise of God. “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” The nativity of the Christ Child enters into our own mundane lives and there are additional truths that become self-evident.
God has promised us; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)
“I am persuaded that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39)
“I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20)
“My peace I leave with you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (Jn 14:27)
“Come unto me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt 11:28)
“I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”(Jn 6:35)
“This is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Lk 22:19)
Somewhere this rich pageant of life is unfolding. Somewhere a child of God is moving to center stage, stepping on and over more than an abundance of life’s joys and challenges clawing at her feet. Few will pay attention and she will have to shout over the world’s noise. But for her, it is the fullness of time, with a heart stretched out to God, she will proclaim, not with a question mark, but with an exclamation point: “Christ was born for this!”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever more. Amen
Additional sources:
“Lectionary Homiletics,” Volume XVII, Number 1, 45-47.
010112.gpc
It may be the best question to ask this first Sunday of the New Year. What’s up with this? Was Jesus really born for us to treat him this way?
How far have we gone from worship to silly human distraction?
David Davis of Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, NJ tells the story of a Christmas pageant with significant issues. Mrs. Smith, the pageant director, was only in her first year as the volunteer in charge, and if David is honest, it would probably be her last.
As David tells it, “Nightmare” might be too strong a word to ever use for a Christmas pageant, but that years might qualify. After all, the term “perfect Christmas pageant” is an oxymoron. Christmas pageants are going to have rough edges. However, on this particular evening, as the pageant played on, Mrs. Smith was just a bit taken aback by the sharpness of those edges.
Mary had been sick all morning and the bucket next to the manger was for her. Joseph was thirteen now and decided about ten days ago that he wasn’t going to enjoy this pageant at all. When the animals arrived behind the shepherds, any hope of heavenly peace vanished. They took over the whole chancel and elevated “lowing” to a new, loud, hip-hop, rap sounding art form.
Right near the end, just before everyone was to sing “Joy to the World the Lord is come” and “He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness,” the narrator, Jerod, literally fought his way to center stage for his last line. He stepped on and over sheep and cows. Mary was reaching for the bucket, and Joseph had rolled his eyes so many times they just about fell out of his head.
So Jerod had to shout over the barnyard noise. Finally, in desperation, he put his folder down and stretched out his arms and with no little amount of exasperation, yelled, “Christ was born for this?”
Mrs. Smith, now fully exhausted, said to no one in particular, “it was an exclamation point, not a question mark.”
However, some years it does feel more like a question mark, doesn’t’ it? Christ was born for this? Some years the pageantry of life seems to not be like a chancel drama, but a pageant of life itself.
That is how William Muehl once described it. “This rich pageant of life is often fouled up,” “Fouled up by our rigid moralism, and the cross is hidden beneath the flimsy fabric of our simple piety . . . Our flesh drives and afflicts us from birth to death.”
You and I, we find ourselves stepping on and over so much as we make our way across life’s stage. Every year in this family of faith, somebody heads to Bethlehem by way of the grave, because death has an unceasing part to play. Every year, for some it is Christmas carols and tears as the earthiness of the flesh has torn at relationships, or the brutality of disease has torn at the flesh. Christ was born for this?
This year, like every year, we come face to face with flesh not just torn but destroyed. There are places in our world destroyed by war, torn by economic distress or natural disaster and nations proving something other than the “glories of his righteousness.” Yet we sing “peace on earth and good will to all,” not just once or twice, but over and over again.
It was not too long ago that Jesus made the cover of both Time and Newsweek. When such an appearance happens to be around Christmas, we can expect some conversation about the birth narratives found in the gospels of Luke and Mark. The headlines tell the story, “Behind the First Noel: How the story of Christ’s birth came to be” and “The Birth of Jesus: from Mary to the manger, how the Gospels mix faith and history to tell the Christmas story and make the case for Christ.”
Writers in both magazines engaged scholarly opinions to raise critical issues surrounding the Virgin Birth, and the importance of Bethlehem, and the questions of numbers in terms of the Magi, and whether or not the star was Haley’s Comet.
When turning to the question of why this all makes a difference, both magazines looked to the message of the angel in Luke: “For to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
“A simple, joyous proclamation of salvation,” one writer concluded. “On earth peace, good will toward all,” cited the other writer, calling it “a promise whose fulfillment is worth our prayers not only in this season, but always.” One concludes with a simple proclamation of salvation; the other a sweeping prayer for peace. As important as both may be we still find ourselves asking, Christ was born for this?
The reader of Time and Newsweek ought to be turning pages looking for more, looking for what is missing, looking for why this nativity of Christ would have anything to do with you or me.
Perhaps what they fail to consider is that Christ came that you and I might be justified by faith. “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,” the scriptures tell us. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
That is what is missing. If you “belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” These words come to us from the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians. It is his approach to the birth of Jesus. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” No angels; no shepherds; no Magi; no star. You and I, we are adopted as children of God. Christ was born for this!
We can remember growing up and as recently as this past Christmas Eve standing in our sanctuary to sing “Silent Night.” The candlelight would spread, and some would sing with tears streaming down their cheeks. The pew might even shake a bit. We might even say that was the night we learned it was safe to cry in church.
But we learned something far greater about faith and God’s promise. “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” That is God’s promise, hear and now, in the very earthiness of life. Such fullness of time belongs to God in those moments when in that exact earthiness of our lives, we come face to face with the promise of God. “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” The nativity of the Christ Child enters into our own mundane lives and there are additional truths that become self-evident.
God has promised us; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)
“I am persuaded that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39)
“I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20)
“My peace I leave with you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (Jn 14:27)
“Come unto me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt 11:28)
“I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”(Jn 6:35)
“This is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Lk 22:19)
Somewhere this rich pageant of life is unfolding. Somewhere a child of God is moving to center stage, stepping on and over more than an abundance of life’s joys and challenges clawing at her feet. Few will pay attention and she will have to shout over the world’s noise. But for her, it is the fullness of time, with a heart stretched out to God, she will proclaim, not with a question mark, but with an exclamation point: “Christ was born for this!”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever more. Amen
Additional sources:
“Lectionary Homiletics,” Volume XVII, Number 1, 45-47.
010112.gpc
Sunday, December 25, 2011
25 December 2011 “Keep Unwrapping” Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
25 December 2011 “Keep Unwrapping” Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)
I believe it would be the perfectly normal thing to come to church on Christmas day, feeling all warm inside from the joy of the morning, and expect at worship to have that joy sustained and even, if possible, raised a bit.
Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. It is a time of anticipation and celebration. It is a time we unashamedly celebrate in our hearts the birth of the baby Jesus. While tinged with anxiety, a baby being born is also a time of celebration. And the Christmas birth is no exception.
We love hearing the familiar story and the eye witness accounts of the scene in the stable. And we can imagine the first time the baby Jesus must have cried and those standing by smiled and longed to pick him up and comfort him in any way they could.
We also realize more than just a baby has been born this day. Jesus becomes a man, a different sort of man. He becomes a man of peace, conviction, wisdom and moral fiber. This day a savior is born!
Shortly after his birth there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Than an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.”
I can only imagine how those shepherds must have felt when the angel of the Lord stood before them. Actually, that’s not right, I cannot imagine. Having never knowingly had an angel of the Lord stand before me, I cannot imagine how they felt. But, something caused the angel to say to them, “Do not be afraid!”
There are times we need to hear those same words. In the midst of real suffering we long to hear, “Do not be afraid.” In our darkest hour we pray an angel will come to comfort us saying, “ Do not be afraid, for see I bring you good news of great joy for all the people.”
Good news of great joy. This is the emotion at the heart of Christmas, great joy. Not a joy that creates pleasure or euphoria. No, this is a joy that creates in us a new desire, an enthusiasm, a passion, an eagerness. This Christmas emotion of great joy is God’s joy, it is a joy that comes from a God who still cares for this creation and all those faulty selves that live in it.
Often we read in scripture of the importance of having wisdom about these things. If knowledge is the makeup of things and wisdom the significance of things, we learn through Luke’s gospel the importance of this Jesus who comes to us first as a baby, then a man, and finally, a messiah.
Let me caution you from the beginning. The story of Jesus’ birth, his life as a man, even as messiah does not tell us the complete story. Jesus has a deeper purpose. He lived to be in relationship with each of us. Which means we are all related to that child and we are all related to one another. This truth is hard to fathom. The world we live in is not a world that sees and acts and does things as if we were all related. On the contrary, we hear proclaimed every day, there are foreigners in our midst.
Janet and I have been blessed with the births of seven grandchildren and I can tell you, families come together at a birth like at no other time. Others of you have had similar experiences with a family, or friend, or neighbor. It is not that we don’t always get along, it just seems that at a birth particularly we find ourselves excited to see even the most cantankerous brother or sister, aunt or uncle. For they have come to see the baby and they too have traveled from afar, they have come bearing gifts of glad tidings. With each birth comes great hope and a new chance to love innocently again.
God really started the whole thing. From the very beginning, God creates. And that creation has not stopped. That is what God does. And babies may be the crown jewels of God’s creation. It should come as no surprise to us that God’s redemptive act often begins with the birth of a child. For Abraham it was Isaac, for Hannah it was Samuel and for Isaiah and all the people of God the promise again is through the birth of a child.
This child then becomes a man. A different sort of man. A man of peace, conviction, wisdom and moral fiber. Yet, there is more to this Jesus than this. Who among us is without sin? No one. Who among us is without material possession? No one. Who among us is wiser than the wisest ruler, wisest priest, wisest sage, and wisest truth teller. No one.
This man Jesus lives like no other before him. He was a teacher. His lesson was about living in this world and the next. He performed miracles. He healed the sick, cured the lame, and raised the dead. He was a prophet. He knew about the kingdom to come. He could see into the future and offered us a picture of a reality greater than the one of this world. He was a priest. He brought passion and gentleness and caring and healing to a bitter and frightening world. He was a peacemaker. He found gentler ways to respond to violence and terror and threats. He was a ruler. He ruled with love and justice and mercy. He was a sage. He was a wise man. He knew the significance of things and he committed his entire life to bring truth to a world torn by illusion longing for understanding.
This Jesus, this man of human flesh and blood, born to us again this Christmas is the truest compass to the good ever known to mankind. This Jesus, if we have ears to hear, teaches right living in the eyes of God. Right living with all of God’s creation. He excluded no one. He includes us and everyone around us and everyone known and unknown to us and everyone who has come before us and everyone who will come after us. Everyone is included in Jesus’ world both here and in the world to come.
His message is simple, yet impossible at the same time. Simple in theory, but impossible in reality. Simply to say, I can do that, impossible to actually do. Impossible if we dare take life on alone. Absolutely possible if we unite with the one who desperately desires our company.
With Jesus Christ, born this day to be our savior, all is real. This world and the truth found in our faith, they are real. This Christmas season makes that truth alive.
The zeal in this mornings Christmas story is in the personal nature of God’s promise, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” “To you is born this day”, to you and to me and to all God’s people, our Savior is born.
In the movie “Field of Dreams”, a child of the 1960’s turned Iowa farmer suddenly hears a voice telling him to plow up his fields and build a baseball field. “If you build it, he will come” says the voice. Ray, the farmer, obeys the voice and finishes the field. The voice visits again, telling Ray, “Ease his pain.” Mystified by whose pain he is supposed to heal, Ray begins a long search for the one who will be healed by this cornfield turned baseball diamond. One day, Ray’s father, who had died before Ray had ever had a chance to build any kind of meaningful relationship with him, appears on the field for a game with several other ballplayers. With tears in his eyes, Ray believes he has finally found the one in need of healing. “Ease his pain,” murmurs Ray. As his father steps across the field Ray says, “It was for you Dad that I built this field.” “No Ray,” says one of the players gently. It was built for you. “It was for you.”
It was for you and for me that Jesus came this Christmas season. It was for our hurts, our sins, our failings, our broken heart, our doubt, our grief, our anger. We were in the dark and he wanted to be the light to guide us back home.
The transforming moment of Christmas comes when we claim our place at the manger. When we realize that the Christ Child has come, not just for the world, but for us. It is not just world peace that he promises, but our peace.
My prayer this Christmas is that we will accept this gift, that we will realize our exhaustion is good, for our weakness is God’s strength. Our emptiness gives God room to enter in to our lives and to allow us to take our place alongside the manger and join with the heavenly host who proclaim, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and his is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen
122511.gpc
I believe it would be the perfectly normal thing to come to church on Christmas day, feeling all warm inside from the joy of the morning, and expect at worship to have that joy sustained and even, if possible, raised a bit.
Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. It is a time of anticipation and celebration. It is a time we unashamedly celebrate in our hearts the birth of the baby Jesus. While tinged with anxiety, a baby being born is also a time of celebration. And the Christmas birth is no exception.
We love hearing the familiar story and the eye witness accounts of the scene in the stable. And we can imagine the first time the baby Jesus must have cried and those standing by smiled and longed to pick him up and comfort him in any way they could.
We also realize more than just a baby has been born this day. Jesus becomes a man, a different sort of man. He becomes a man of peace, conviction, wisdom and moral fiber. This day a savior is born!
Shortly after his birth there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Than an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.”
I can only imagine how those shepherds must have felt when the angel of the Lord stood before them. Actually, that’s not right, I cannot imagine. Having never knowingly had an angel of the Lord stand before me, I cannot imagine how they felt. But, something caused the angel to say to them, “Do not be afraid!”
There are times we need to hear those same words. In the midst of real suffering we long to hear, “Do not be afraid.” In our darkest hour we pray an angel will come to comfort us saying, “ Do not be afraid, for see I bring you good news of great joy for all the people.”
Good news of great joy. This is the emotion at the heart of Christmas, great joy. Not a joy that creates pleasure or euphoria. No, this is a joy that creates in us a new desire, an enthusiasm, a passion, an eagerness. This Christmas emotion of great joy is God’s joy, it is a joy that comes from a God who still cares for this creation and all those faulty selves that live in it.
Often we read in scripture of the importance of having wisdom about these things. If knowledge is the makeup of things and wisdom the significance of things, we learn through Luke’s gospel the importance of this Jesus who comes to us first as a baby, then a man, and finally, a messiah.
Let me caution you from the beginning. The story of Jesus’ birth, his life as a man, even as messiah does not tell us the complete story. Jesus has a deeper purpose. He lived to be in relationship with each of us. Which means we are all related to that child and we are all related to one another. This truth is hard to fathom. The world we live in is not a world that sees and acts and does things as if we were all related. On the contrary, we hear proclaimed every day, there are foreigners in our midst.
Janet and I have been blessed with the births of seven grandchildren and I can tell you, families come together at a birth like at no other time. Others of you have had similar experiences with a family, or friend, or neighbor. It is not that we don’t always get along, it just seems that at a birth particularly we find ourselves excited to see even the most cantankerous brother or sister, aunt or uncle. For they have come to see the baby and they too have traveled from afar, they have come bearing gifts of glad tidings. With each birth comes great hope and a new chance to love innocently again.
God really started the whole thing. From the very beginning, God creates. And that creation has not stopped. That is what God does. And babies may be the crown jewels of God’s creation. It should come as no surprise to us that God’s redemptive act often begins with the birth of a child. For Abraham it was Isaac, for Hannah it was Samuel and for Isaiah and all the people of God the promise again is through the birth of a child.
This child then becomes a man. A different sort of man. A man of peace, conviction, wisdom and moral fiber. Yet, there is more to this Jesus than this. Who among us is without sin? No one. Who among us is without material possession? No one. Who among us is wiser than the wisest ruler, wisest priest, wisest sage, and wisest truth teller. No one.
This man Jesus lives like no other before him. He was a teacher. His lesson was about living in this world and the next. He performed miracles. He healed the sick, cured the lame, and raised the dead. He was a prophet. He knew about the kingdom to come. He could see into the future and offered us a picture of a reality greater than the one of this world. He was a priest. He brought passion and gentleness and caring and healing to a bitter and frightening world. He was a peacemaker. He found gentler ways to respond to violence and terror and threats. He was a ruler. He ruled with love and justice and mercy. He was a sage. He was a wise man. He knew the significance of things and he committed his entire life to bring truth to a world torn by illusion longing for understanding.
This Jesus, this man of human flesh and blood, born to us again this Christmas is the truest compass to the good ever known to mankind. This Jesus, if we have ears to hear, teaches right living in the eyes of God. Right living with all of God’s creation. He excluded no one. He includes us and everyone around us and everyone known and unknown to us and everyone who has come before us and everyone who will come after us. Everyone is included in Jesus’ world both here and in the world to come.
His message is simple, yet impossible at the same time. Simple in theory, but impossible in reality. Simply to say, I can do that, impossible to actually do. Impossible if we dare take life on alone. Absolutely possible if we unite with the one who desperately desires our company.
With Jesus Christ, born this day to be our savior, all is real. This world and the truth found in our faith, they are real. This Christmas season makes that truth alive.
The zeal in this mornings Christmas story is in the personal nature of God’s promise, “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” “To you is born this day”, to you and to me and to all God’s people, our Savior is born.
In the movie “Field of Dreams”, a child of the 1960’s turned Iowa farmer suddenly hears a voice telling him to plow up his fields and build a baseball field. “If you build it, he will come” says the voice. Ray, the farmer, obeys the voice and finishes the field. The voice visits again, telling Ray, “Ease his pain.” Mystified by whose pain he is supposed to heal, Ray begins a long search for the one who will be healed by this cornfield turned baseball diamond. One day, Ray’s father, who had died before Ray had ever had a chance to build any kind of meaningful relationship with him, appears on the field for a game with several other ballplayers. With tears in his eyes, Ray believes he has finally found the one in need of healing. “Ease his pain,” murmurs Ray. As his father steps across the field Ray says, “It was for you Dad that I built this field.” “No Ray,” says one of the players gently. It was built for you. “It was for you.”
It was for you and for me that Jesus came this Christmas season. It was for our hurts, our sins, our failings, our broken heart, our doubt, our grief, our anger. We were in the dark and he wanted to be the light to guide us back home.
The transforming moment of Christmas comes when we claim our place at the manger. When we realize that the Christ Child has come, not just for the world, but for us. It is not just world peace that he promises, but our peace.
My prayer this Christmas is that we will accept this gift, that we will realize our exhaustion is good, for our weakness is God’s strength. Our emptiness gives God room to enter in to our lives and to allow us to take our place alongside the manger and join with the heavenly host who proclaim, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and his is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen
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Sunday, December 11, 2011
11 December 2011 Waiting for the Light John 1:6-8, 19-28
11 December 2011 Waiting for the Light John 1:6-8, 19-28
Along with age, we would hope, should come wisdom. While wisdom is often elusive, I have come to the understanding, sometimes the hard way, learning patience in the meantime can be helpful.
When younger, I liked cars. I had a 1955 Chevrolet that I wanted to ‘fix up.’ I was not patient about it. I wanted it fixed up immediately. It was a costly lesson.
My next ‘schooling’ was when we had children. Being patient with children is like trying to mix oil with water. When babies, they need immediate attention to keep them dry and fed and not crying. They will not wait. When two, they want what they want when they want it, which is, as you know, immediately. Being patient is a foreign notion in the world of young children.
Despite the immediate nature of life and family and work and play we can learn about patience. We can learn it may help keep us out of trouble. That too we may have to learn the hard way. We may also learn being patient is instructive. How often have we hurriedly packed for a trip then patiently waited for others to finish their packing, only to remember something we had forgotten. Having a time of patient waiting is a good thing.
Today is the third Sunday of the advent season. We have learned these past two Sundays about being prepared, holding vigil, waiting and watching for the coming of our Lord Jesus. He is to come at first for his birth and then again for his second coming. We may be surprised how taking a moment, waiting, and being patient may help in our preparation.
The thought of Jesus’ coming at Christmas brings joy and excitement with thoughts of family and celebration . And we cannot wait! The though of Jesus’ coming to judge us, on the other hand, can bring a fair amount of anxiety. For that we could wait many life times.
Preparation for Christmas offers honest delight. Memories from before. Hope for the time to come. Preparation for the second coming offers a wholly different preparation. It is about living our lives as faithful covenant people, following God’s commandments, loving one another, praying and being penitent. Sometimes patience and waiting seem to have no place in either.
When in High School, our son Kevin, was in the play “West Side Story”. It is a musical about a New York street gang, the Jets, and the return of one of their former members, Tony. At first Tony doesn’t want to return to that old life, but then his enthusiasm builds. In his excitement about being back with his old friends and the new adventures they will have, he sings a song called “Something’s Coming.”
This could easily be our theme song for advent. Something’s coming, a messiah, Jesus, who will be our savior and our judge. But, we have to wait. We have to wait until the 25th for Christmas and we have to wait for a second coming we have no date for. With built in excitement for one and anxiety for the other, I wonder how patient we will be.
Tony sings on, “There is something due any day, it may come cannon balling down through the sky, gleam in its eye, bright as a rose! Who knows?”
In the gospel reading this morning we learn who knows. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. Bright as a rose! Who knows?
Like Tony, our excitement for this season is building, but unlike Tony, we are not being asked to return to an old life, we are being called to an alternative life, a new one, to a new place, a place of hope and expectation. “Something’s coming,”
Last Sunday, John was identified for us in Mark’s gospel as a baptizer. This Sunday, in John’s gospel, his role has changed. Here John is to be a witness to Jesus. Through John’s witness, the world will come to know the presence of God in Jesus. Through John’s witness, the world will come to know the presence of the light to the world. The light in the ancient world was a symbol for recognizing God and life everlasting. In the New Testament, the light is Christ, the light of the world who calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light.
The good news this Christmas season is this marvelous light has already entered into many of us. Here, in our heart and soul, we have received the light of Christ. Our entry point to this truth is our baptism.
Baptizing babies, all dressed in white, doesn’t appear to be so life changing on the surface. Without it, however, we are lost to a world of darkness. John warns us, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.” Here is a clear and powerful critic of our lost world of darkness and sin. John’s voice is crying out to tell where he is and where we are also. It is from our wilderness of sin that we are to make straight the way of the Lord. Our baptism becomes our entry way to making our life straight, making an alternative lifestyle.
Our conversion to this new life will only be successful through the steady, patient, there is that word again, intentional, prayerful, and worship filled new life that we Christians testify will draw us closer to Jesus and indeed make us safe and joyous. That alternative life is one grounded by scripture and enacted through the tradition of the church. We have both at hand here with us this morning.
The preparation we face today is one of living and practicing this new life by remembering the baptismal light that is alive in our very soul, then living as if this truth makes a difference. Every step we take in our preparation for the coming of the babe is a step toward a life dedicated to our new life as an apostle, as a disciple, as one who loves Jesus more than life itself. Every step we take in our preparation, in our ministry, as beloved followers of Jesus Christ, is a step to improve our baptism by living with increasing singularity of purpose and commitment to honor our calling as children of God.
God’s Spirit will work where it will and accomplish its purposes. But often what stands in our way is our own impatience and our belief that the Spirit in us cannot be stirred and that we cannot be opened to new possibilities. When we cover over and deny our impatience, our faith grows hard and we find ourselves committed to the wilderness without the grace to rethink our position.
The Old Testament theologian, Walter Brueggemann, says, “The darkness in our life hides the source of the grace we need to live in the light.” Our darkness hides God’s grace, Jesus’ love and the power of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that indwelled us at our baptism is not a wall, it is like the wind. It is not coercion, it is possibility. It is not a threat, it is our opportunity, our guiding light, to this new life of hope and expectation.
It is vital and necessary that we have this advent season. It is our time to prepare ourselves for a life with Christ because, when we are honest with ourselves, we are simply not prepared. Who among us can truthfully say, take me today Lord, I am ready. This is truth telling about the shape we are in. And that truth telling makes us free. Free to live a life of new possibility.
“Who knows?” Tony sings in the musical, “I got a feeling there’s a miracle due.” The Christian writer, Vicki Lumpkin, agrees, “The Light of the world stands in our midst. In taking a human body, Jesus has blessed our humanity and given tangible form to God’s reconciling love.” Isaiah 61:9 also agrees, “We are truly the people whom the Lord has blessed. We are blessed by God’s presence, by God’s intervention in our lives, by God’s grace and love given to a people who often fail to recognize it.”
John tells us that the One for whom we wait often stands unrecognized. He often appears in unexpected places and acts in surprising, unexpected ways. What then are the things that prevent us from recognizing this miracle? Living in our public life perhaps. Needing to slow down. Being patient enough to open our eyes to see the miracle before us.
The Epistle reading for today calls us to live in a state of intimacy and communion with God, to do that which is good and avoid what is evil. We may have more straightening out to do than we realize. But there is hope filled good news!
The wilderness in our lives is also a place of holy encounter – holy ground. The ‘wild place’ we inhabit on a daily basis is also the dwelling place of one who is extraordinary. We have not been abandoned. We don’t have to wait until some future date to experience the miracle of God’s grace.
Tony sings, “And something great is coming!” Indeed, something great is coming, something beyond our wildest expectation is coming. It is right around the corner. God has spoken a Word of love, made it real, and set it in our lives. It is an incarnate, an en-fleshed Word of justice, mercy, and restoration. His name is Jesus.
“Who knows!” Tony sings, “Maybe tonight . . . ” The message of John is “maybe today!” And this is a message worth waiting patiently for; this is a message worth our preparation. Someone great is coming, his name is Jesus.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever. Amen.
Additional resources:
“The Christian Century,” November 29, 2005, pg. 22.
“Preaching and Worshiping in Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany,” pg. 108.
121111.gpc
Along with age, we would hope, should come wisdom. While wisdom is often elusive, I have come to the understanding, sometimes the hard way, learning patience in the meantime can be helpful.
When younger, I liked cars. I had a 1955 Chevrolet that I wanted to ‘fix up.’ I was not patient about it. I wanted it fixed up immediately. It was a costly lesson.
My next ‘schooling’ was when we had children. Being patient with children is like trying to mix oil with water. When babies, they need immediate attention to keep them dry and fed and not crying. They will not wait. When two, they want what they want when they want it, which is, as you know, immediately. Being patient is a foreign notion in the world of young children.
Despite the immediate nature of life and family and work and play we can learn about patience. We can learn it may help keep us out of trouble. That too we may have to learn the hard way. We may also learn being patient is instructive. How often have we hurriedly packed for a trip then patiently waited for others to finish their packing, only to remember something we had forgotten. Having a time of patient waiting is a good thing.
Today is the third Sunday of the advent season. We have learned these past two Sundays about being prepared, holding vigil, waiting and watching for the coming of our Lord Jesus. He is to come at first for his birth and then again for his second coming. We may be surprised how taking a moment, waiting, and being patient may help in our preparation.
The thought of Jesus’ coming at Christmas brings joy and excitement with thoughts of family and celebration . And we cannot wait! The though of Jesus’ coming to judge us, on the other hand, can bring a fair amount of anxiety. For that we could wait many life times.
Preparation for Christmas offers honest delight. Memories from before. Hope for the time to come. Preparation for the second coming offers a wholly different preparation. It is about living our lives as faithful covenant people, following God’s commandments, loving one another, praying and being penitent. Sometimes patience and waiting seem to have no place in either.
When in High School, our son Kevin, was in the play “West Side Story”. It is a musical about a New York street gang, the Jets, and the return of one of their former members, Tony. At first Tony doesn’t want to return to that old life, but then his enthusiasm builds. In his excitement about being back with his old friends and the new adventures they will have, he sings a song called “Something’s Coming.”
This could easily be our theme song for advent. Something’s coming, a messiah, Jesus, who will be our savior and our judge. But, we have to wait. We have to wait until the 25th for Christmas and we have to wait for a second coming we have no date for. With built in excitement for one and anxiety for the other, I wonder how patient we will be.
Tony sings on, “There is something due any day, it may come cannon balling down through the sky, gleam in its eye, bright as a rose! Who knows?”
In the gospel reading this morning we learn who knows. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. Bright as a rose! Who knows?
Like Tony, our excitement for this season is building, but unlike Tony, we are not being asked to return to an old life, we are being called to an alternative life, a new one, to a new place, a place of hope and expectation. “Something’s coming,”
Last Sunday, John was identified for us in Mark’s gospel as a baptizer. This Sunday, in John’s gospel, his role has changed. Here John is to be a witness to Jesus. Through John’s witness, the world will come to know the presence of God in Jesus. Through John’s witness, the world will come to know the presence of the light to the world. The light in the ancient world was a symbol for recognizing God and life everlasting. In the New Testament, the light is Christ, the light of the world who calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light.
The good news this Christmas season is this marvelous light has already entered into many of us. Here, in our heart and soul, we have received the light of Christ. Our entry point to this truth is our baptism.
Baptizing babies, all dressed in white, doesn’t appear to be so life changing on the surface. Without it, however, we are lost to a world of darkness. John warns us, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.” Here is a clear and powerful critic of our lost world of darkness and sin. John’s voice is crying out to tell where he is and where we are also. It is from our wilderness of sin that we are to make straight the way of the Lord. Our baptism becomes our entry way to making our life straight, making an alternative lifestyle.
Our conversion to this new life will only be successful through the steady, patient, there is that word again, intentional, prayerful, and worship filled new life that we Christians testify will draw us closer to Jesus and indeed make us safe and joyous. That alternative life is one grounded by scripture and enacted through the tradition of the church. We have both at hand here with us this morning.
The preparation we face today is one of living and practicing this new life by remembering the baptismal light that is alive in our very soul, then living as if this truth makes a difference. Every step we take in our preparation for the coming of the babe is a step toward a life dedicated to our new life as an apostle, as a disciple, as one who loves Jesus more than life itself. Every step we take in our preparation, in our ministry, as beloved followers of Jesus Christ, is a step to improve our baptism by living with increasing singularity of purpose and commitment to honor our calling as children of God.
God’s Spirit will work where it will and accomplish its purposes. But often what stands in our way is our own impatience and our belief that the Spirit in us cannot be stirred and that we cannot be opened to new possibilities. When we cover over and deny our impatience, our faith grows hard and we find ourselves committed to the wilderness without the grace to rethink our position.
The Old Testament theologian, Walter Brueggemann, says, “The darkness in our life hides the source of the grace we need to live in the light.” Our darkness hides God’s grace, Jesus’ love and the power of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that indwelled us at our baptism is not a wall, it is like the wind. It is not coercion, it is possibility. It is not a threat, it is our opportunity, our guiding light, to this new life of hope and expectation.
It is vital and necessary that we have this advent season. It is our time to prepare ourselves for a life with Christ because, when we are honest with ourselves, we are simply not prepared. Who among us can truthfully say, take me today Lord, I am ready. This is truth telling about the shape we are in. And that truth telling makes us free. Free to live a life of new possibility.
“Who knows?” Tony sings in the musical, “I got a feeling there’s a miracle due.” The Christian writer, Vicki Lumpkin, agrees, “The Light of the world stands in our midst. In taking a human body, Jesus has blessed our humanity and given tangible form to God’s reconciling love.” Isaiah 61:9 also agrees, “We are truly the people whom the Lord has blessed. We are blessed by God’s presence, by God’s intervention in our lives, by God’s grace and love given to a people who often fail to recognize it.”
John tells us that the One for whom we wait often stands unrecognized. He often appears in unexpected places and acts in surprising, unexpected ways. What then are the things that prevent us from recognizing this miracle? Living in our public life perhaps. Needing to slow down. Being patient enough to open our eyes to see the miracle before us.
The Epistle reading for today calls us to live in a state of intimacy and communion with God, to do that which is good and avoid what is evil. We may have more straightening out to do than we realize. But there is hope filled good news!
The wilderness in our lives is also a place of holy encounter – holy ground. The ‘wild place’ we inhabit on a daily basis is also the dwelling place of one who is extraordinary. We have not been abandoned. We don’t have to wait until some future date to experience the miracle of God’s grace.
Tony sings, “And something great is coming!” Indeed, something great is coming, something beyond our wildest expectation is coming. It is right around the corner. God has spoken a Word of love, made it real, and set it in our lives. It is an incarnate, an en-fleshed Word of justice, mercy, and restoration. His name is Jesus.
“Who knows!” Tony sings, “Maybe tonight . . . ” The message of John is “maybe today!” And this is a message worth waiting patiently for; this is a message worth our preparation. Someone great is coming, his name is Jesus.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever. Amen.
Additional resources:
“The Christian Century,” November 29, 2005, pg. 22.
“Preaching and Worshiping in Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany,” pg. 108.
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04 December 2011 Wilderness Survival Mark 1:1-8
04 December 2011 Wilderness Survival Mark 1:1-8
I admit to a wave of nostalgia every time I hear the old 60’s protest song, “Abraham, Martin, and John.” It may sound familiar, “Has anybody here seen my old friend John? Can you tell me where he’s gone? He freed a lot of people but it seems the good die young. I just look around and he’s gone.” The song, first recorded by Dion, is a tribute to the memories of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John and Robert Kennedy.
“My old friend John” refers to the late President John F. Kennedy. But I wonder if during this second week of Advent we might consider a reference instead to John the baptizer? Has anyone here seen our old friend John? The one who first appeared in the wilderness.
Perhaps John is someone like Jason Cole, the associate pastor at Parkway Baptist Church in Natchez, Mississippi who happened to answer the phone when National Public Radio called in late September 2005, and he spoke for the heroism of a church that was in its fourth week of providing shelter to hundreds of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Jason reported, “We have said several times during our worship services that we don’t want to go back to being ‘normal.’ People have stepped up to be involved in ministering to people. We have seen a lot less self-centeredness and a lot more servant hood. We’ve grown very close to the people taking shelter at the church; we’ve loved them as if they were our own family.”
Pastor Cole and his congregation have learned a valuable lesson. In the midst of providing Christian witness to people who were taken from the comfort of their homes and their cities by a fierce force of nature and then thrown into a place of desperate isolation without resources, a strange and imposing wilderness, both groups have answered the Advent call and are preparing the way of the Lord. Normal will never be the same normal again. Jesus’ path has been made straight.
In the midst of a violent wilderness, peace and tranquility had a chance to overcome sin. Repentance was given a chance in the form of the challenge to provide for those in desperate need. Repentance was given a chance in the form of the challenge to accept assistance from that desperation.
I wonder, where has our friend John the Baptist gone now? The one proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John is Jesus’ break out prophet. He lived in Judea and had close contacts with the wilderness where he began his public ministry by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In obedience to the words of Isaiah, John was in the wilderness crying; “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
The wilderness of Judea was the center of religious hope as well as a place of refuge. It was the symbol of the wilderness in which God had led his people for forty years before bringing them to the Promised Land. In the wilderness, the way of the Lord was to be made straight, and some believed the Messiah would first appear there. Jesus had been baptized by John in the Jordan River. He did not really have any sins to confess. He was baptized as a sign that he was willing to obey God fully.
Following his baptism, Jesus remained in the wilderness for forty days. His waiting represents a period of waiting upon the Lord, a period of temptation and discipline corresponding to the forty-year period of preparation Israel spent in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. Sounds like an Advent time doesn’t it?
From my earliest recollection I have this image of our John as that of a wild man. He looks and sounds like a hairy fire and brimstone preacher, whose breath smells of locust and honey. Not a likely candidate to attract us to baptism, I dare say, especially if we have to go to the wilderness to find him.
The wilderness. Just speaking it brings thoughts not to dissimilar to those of John. Wild looking, wild acting, unpredictable and potentially dangerous. The wilderness can be a very dangerous place.
As we sit here this morning in the comfort of our sanctuary, I do wonder, where is our friend John? The one who freed a lot of people. The one who told us that Jesus, who is more powerful, is coming after him.
About this time of year Christmas begins to take our attention from such questions whether we want it to or not. Christmas certainly isn’t the enemy here. But the preparation for Christmas with lights, sales, parties and Christmas cards is not the sort of preparation the gospel calls us too this Advent season. Admittedly, for many of us, the holiday preparation becomes a real distraction from our Christian witness.
But we are here and our minds, hopefully, have the time for the question. Where is our friend John? It seems he has left us. We won’t find him rushing about town at Wal-Mart or Target. John’s words of repentance, his good news preached in the wilderness doesn’t sell well in the days before Christmas at the shopping mall. Christmas and the shopping mall are normal for us. We know what to get there. Presents and stuff. Gifts for loved ones and ourselves too.
But John is not at the mall. John offers something the mall doesn’t offer. What John offers we can only get in the wilderness where the message is different. Something quite different.
John promised that someone was coming, someone so spectacular that it was not enough simply to hang around waiting for him to arrive. No, this is no pre-Christmas sales line to get in. But, it is time to get ready, to prepare the way in our hearts, our minds and our actions, so that when he comes he can walk a straight path right to our doors.
This is the good news John brings. Yet, one of the striking things about John is, he was not near a church or synagogue. He was in the wilderness and only those willing to go there were able to taste his freedom.
I suspect John the Baptist would not be welcome in most churches today. He wouldn’t be affirming, sensitive, or inclusive. He’d peak out loudly and forcefully and tell us to mend our ways. His message is short, unmistakable, and simple: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Admittedly his message is inconvenient. It is demanding. Most of us would rather forget it. But this message is the key to our completely new life. That is why crowds poured out of Jerusalem to hear John’s preaching. They confessed their sins to John and begged him to baptize them.
For his part, Jesus did not seek the counsel of a scribe or Pharisee – Jesus turned instead to John. His counsel was to baptize Jesus and open his life to receive the Holy Spirit. That was John’s counsel.
Advent reminds us that the Christian life means “living toward a vision.” That vision revealed to us at Christmas only means something when we see it as part of the larger story, God’s story. From Abraham and Sarah, to David, to Isaiah, to Peter and Paul, our faith has always strained forward to God’s future, God’s vision. The Christian community is always a waiting, longing, hoping people, looking beyond the horizon of the daily news to a God who has great plans for the creation.
Advent hope isn’t some pleasantry that sets us nodding off in our Christian comfort zone. People of hope don’t just shrug their shoulders at violence or injustice, or AIDS, or the poverty in our own community, or people displaced by hurricane or wildfire or economic collapse. People who walk in the light of the Biblical hope refuse to accept the world as it is, normal, because they cannot forget the vision of what it will be. Every time we reject violence, or feed the hungry, or hug those who weep, or work for reconciliation, we are living toward the vision, we are walking in its light.
Jim Wallis the founder of the Sojourner’s community says, “The new order of the kingdom is breaking in upon you and, if you want to be a part of it, you will need to undergo a fundamental transformation . . . God’s new order is so radically different from everything we are accustomed to that we must be spiritually remade before we are ready and equipped to participate in it.”
Perhaps it is time we consider the wilderness before us. Rhonda Van Dyke Colby tells a story of meeting John the Baptist one day at the Kmart. Kmart can be a scary place. Her John the Baptist was in the person of a disheveled man, a bit wild in the eyes, standing on the corner at the entrance to the store. He held a sign made out of a torn-up cardboard box. It read, “It’s time for a change.”
Once inside Rhonda didn’t think about him again. On her way out she heard someone ringing a bell, thinking it was the Salvation Army she turned to see her John the Baptist ringing the bell and still holding his sign, “It’s time for a change.”
‘Nice sign,’ she said as she reached in her purse for some change.’ Are you prepared,’ he asked her. ‘Well,’ she replied, ‘not yet. That’s what all these packages are about. I’ve got a lot of decorating to do, and my husband and I have our annual Christmas open house, and I haven’t even started baking. It’s more than a little overwhelming. So, I’ve started a list of things I simply must do to be prepared.’
‘Let me help you,’ he said. ‘Let me help you take your packages to your car. Then I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.’ When Rhonda opened the car door he saw her daily planner and said, ‘better bring that with you.’
Back in the snack bar at the store he leafed his way through my life – my lists and schedule. Most of the time, he just shook his head. Then he brightened up. ‘O.K. here is something I like. Get rid of clutter. Clear a path. Tell me about that,’ he asked.
I explained the den was stacked with boxes of Christmas decoration and I needed time to sort out the Santa place mats from the nativity scenes and clear a path through the den. He was clearly disappointed.
When he had finished he turned to a new page and with his old pencil stub he wrote, ‘Do List, number 1, hold a baby.’ Before I could ask him to explain I heard a woman let out a squeal. Her toddler had crawled under a table and was about to bump his head. Without a word, she passed me her newborn to hold as she ran after her little crawler. For a moment I wasn’t in Kmart but in Bethlehem. The tiny hand was the hand that would reach out to embrace the cosmos.
I looked back at my planner and saw Number 2, ‘Wonder.’ Wonder? Wonder what? Wonder why God chose a helpless little baby to bring salvation into a hostile world. Wonder why after thousands of years we still haven’t gotten the message. Wonder when Christ will come again.
I looked back at my planner and saw Number 3, ‘Look to the Stars.’ What did that mean? As I walked out of the store I looked up to see a clear sky, full of stars. There were thousands of them. They took my breath.
There in the parking lot, looking into the night sky, I had a strong sense that I had been looking in the wrong place for Christmas. I had been too busy rushing around to look up. I had been so busy worrying about what I had to do that I forgot to appreciate what had already been done for me. I had been so preoccupied with following the crowd that I had neglected to follow a star.
No matter how your Advent season is going so far, it is not too late. Not too late to hold a child, to wonder, to look up, to follow a star. It is not too late for a change. I learned it the night I met John the Baptist at the Kmart.”
The child is coming. Advent is our time to search for our John the Baptist. Advent is our time to find our real star. And thanks be to God, Advent is our time to be found by that baby who will come to be born in a manger.
I pray during this time of expectation our gracious Lord God will open our eyes and open our ears and open our hearts so we will not miss the miracle that awaits us. So that once found, we will walk in his way this day and for ever more.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit one God now and forever. Amen
Additional resource:
Lectionary Homiletics, volume XVII, Number 1, p. 11.
120411.gpc
I admit to a wave of nostalgia every time I hear the old 60’s protest song, “Abraham, Martin, and John.” It may sound familiar, “Has anybody here seen my old friend John? Can you tell me where he’s gone? He freed a lot of people but it seems the good die young. I just look around and he’s gone.” The song, first recorded by Dion, is a tribute to the memories of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John and Robert Kennedy.
“My old friend John” refers to the late President John F. Kennedy. But I wonder if during this second week of Advent we might consider a reference instead to John the baptizer? Has anyone here seen our old friend John? The one who first appeared in the wilderness.
Perhaps John is someone like Jason Cole, the associate pastor at Parkway Baptist Church in Natchez, Mississippi who happened to answer the phone when National Public Radio called in late September 2005, and he spoke for the heroism of a church that was in its fourth week of providing shelter to hundreds of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Jason reported, “We have said several times during our worship services that we don’t want to go back to being ‘normal.’ People have stepped up to be involved in ministering to people. We have seen a lot less self-centeredness and a lot more servant hood. We’ve grown very close to the people taking shelter at the church; we’ve loved them as if they were our own family.”
Pastor Cole and his congregation have learned a valuable lesson. In the midst of providing Christian witness to people who were taken from the comfort of their homes and their cities by a fierce force of nature and then thrown into a place of desperate isolation without resources, a strange and imposing wilderness, both groups have answered the Advent call and are preparing the way of the Lord. Normal will never be the same normal again. Jesus’ path has been made straight.
In the midst of a violent wilderness, peace and tranquility had a chance to overcome sin. Repentance was given a chance in the form of the challenge to provide for those in desperate need. Repentance was given a chance in the form of the challenge to accept assistance from that desperation.
I wonder, where has our friend John the Baptist gone now? The one proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John is Jesus’ break out prophet. He lived in Judea and had close contacts with the wilderness where he began his public ministry by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In obedience to the words of Isaiah, John was in the wilderness crying; “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
The wilderness of Judea was the center of religious hope as well as a place of refuge. It was the symbol of the wilderness in which God had led his people for forty years before bringing them to the Promised Land. In the wilderness, the way of the Lord was to be made straight, and some believed the Messiah would first appear there. Jesus had been baptized by John in the Jordan River. He did not really have any sins to confess. He was baptized as a sign that he was willing to obey God fully.
Following his baptism, Jesus remained in the wilderness for forty days. His waiting represents a period of waiting upon the Lord, a period of temptation and discipline corresponding to the forty-year period of preparation Israel spent in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. Sounds like an Advent time doesn’t it?
From my earliest recollection I have this image of our John as that of a wild man. He looks and sounds like a hairy fire and brimstone preacher, whose breath smells of locust and honey. Not a likely candidate to attract us to baptism, I dare say, especially if we have to go to the wilderness to find him.
The wilderness. Just speaking it brings thoughts not to dissimilar to those of John. Wild looking, wild acting, unpredictable and potentially dangerous. The wilderness can be a very dangerous place.
As we sit here this morning in the comfort of our sanctuary, I do wonder, where is our friend John? The one who freed a lot of people. The one who told us that Jesus, who is more powerful, is coming after him.
About this time of year Christmas begins to take our attention from such questions whether we want it to or not. Christmas certainly isn’t the enemy here. But the preparation for Christmas with lights, sales, parties and Christmas cards is not the sort of preparation the gospel calls us too this Advent season. Admittedly, for many of us, the holiday preparation becomes a real distraction from our Christian witness.
But we are here and our minds, hopefully, have the time for the question. Where is our friend John? It seems he has left us. We won’t find him rushing about town at Wal-Mart or Target. John’s words of repentance, his good news preached in the wilderness doesn’t sell well in the days before Christmas at the shopping mall. Christmas and the shopping mall are normal for us. We know what to get there. Presents and stuff. Gifts for loved ones and ourselves too.
But John is not at the mall. John offers something the mall doesn’t offer. What John offers we can only get in the wilderness where the message is different. Something quite different.
John promised that someone was coming, someone so spectacular that it was not enough simply to hang around waiting for him to arrive. No, this is no pre-Christmas sales line to get in. But, it is time to get ready, to prepare the way in our hearts, our minds and our actions, so that when he comes he can walk a straight path right to our doors.
This is the good news John brings. Yet, one of the striking things about John is, he was not near a church or synagogue. He was in the wilderness and only those willing to go there were able to taste his freedom.
I suspect John the Baptist would not be welcome in most churches today. He wouldn’t be affirming, sensitive, or inclusive. He’d peak out loudly and forcefully and tell us to mend our ways. His message is short, unmistakable, and simple: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Admittedly his message is inconvenient. It is demanding. Most of us would rather forget it. But this message is the key to our completely new life. That is why crowds poured out of Jerusalem to hear John’s preaching. They confessed their sins to John and begged him to baptize them.
For his part, Jesus did not seek the counsel of a scribe or Pharisee – Jesus turned instead to John. His counsel was to baptize Jesus and open his life to receive the Holy Spirit. That was John’s counsel.
Advent reminds us that the Christian life means “living toward a vision.” That vision revealed to us at Christmas only means something when we see it as part of the larger story, God’s story. From Abraham and Sarah, to David, to Isaiah, to Peter and Paul, our faith has always strained forward to God’s future, God’s vision. The Christian community is always a waiting, longing, hoping people, looking beyond the horizon of the daily news to a God who has great plans for the creation.
Advent hope isn’t some pleasantry that sets us nodding off in our Christian comfort zone. People of hope don’t just shrug their shoulders at violence or injustice, or AIDS, or the poverty in our own community, or people displaced by hurricane or wildfire or economic collapse. People who walk in the light of the Biblical hope refuse to accept the world as it is, normal, because they cannot forget the vision of what it will be. Every time we reject violence, or feed the hungry, or hug those who weep, or work for reconciliation, we are living toward the vision, we are walking in its light.
Jim Wallis the founder of the Sojourner’s community says, “The new order of the kingdom is breaking in upon you and, if you want to be a part of it, you will need to undergo a fundamental transformation . . . God’s new order is so radically different from everything we are accustomed to that we must be spiritually remade before we are ready and equipped to participate in it.”
Perhaps it is time we consider the wilderness before us. Rhonda Van Dyke Colby tells a story of meeting John the Baptist one day at the Kmart. Kmart can be a scary place. Her John the Baptist was in the person of a disheveled man, a bit wild in the eyes, standing on the corner at the entrance to the store. He held a sign made out of a torn-up cardboard box. It read, “It’s time for a change.”
Once inside Rhonda didn’t think about him again. On her way out she heard someone ringing a bell, thinking it was the Salvation Army she turned to see her John the Baptist ringing the bell and still holding his sign, “It’s time for a change.”
‘Nice sign,’ she said as she reached in her purse for some change.’ Are you prepared,’ he asked her. ‘Well,’ she replied, ‘not yet. That’s what all these packages are about. I’ve got a lot of decorating to do, and my husband and I have our annual Christmas open house, and I haven’t even started baking. It’s more than a little overwhelming. So, I’ve started a list of things I simply must do to be prepared.’
‘Let me help you,’ he said. ‘Let me help you take your packages to your car. Then I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.’ When Rhonda opened the car door he saw her daily planner and said, ‘better bring that with you.’
Back in the snack bar at the store he leafed his way through my life – my lists and schedule. Most of the time, he just shook his head. Then he brightened up. ‘O.K. here is something I like. Get rid of clutter. Clear a path. Tell me about that,’ he asked.
I explained the den was stacked with boxes of Christmas decoration and I needed time to sort out the Santa place mats from the nativity scenes and clear a path through the den. He was clearly disappointed.
When he had finished he turned to a new page and with his old pencil stub he wrote, ‘Do List, number 1, hold a baby.’ Before I could ask him to explain I heard a woman let out a squeal. Her toddler had crawled under a table and was about to bump his head. Without a word, she passed me her newborn to hold as she ran after her little crawler. For a moment I wasn’t in Kmart but in Bethlehem. The tiny hand was the hand that would reach out to embrace the cosmos.
I looked back at my planner and saw Number 2, ‘Wonder.’ Wonder? Wonder what? Wonder why God chose a helpless little baby to bring salvation into a hostile world. Wonder why after thousands of years we still haven’t gotten the message. Wonder when Christ will come again.
I looked back at my planner and saw Number 3, ‘Look to the Stars.’ What did that mean? As I walked out of the store I looked up to see a clear sky, full of stars. There were thousands of them. They took my breath.
There in the parking lot, looking into the night sky, I had a strong sense that I had been looking in the wrong place for Christmas. I had been too busy rushing around to look up. I had been so busy worrying about what I had to do that I forgot to appreciate what had already been done for me. I had been so preoccupied with following the crowd that I had neglected to follow a star.
No matter how your Advent season is going so far, it is not too late. Not too late to hold a child, to wonder, to look up, to follow a star. It is not too late for a change. I learned it the night I met John the Baptist at the Kmart.”
The child is coming. Advent is our time to search for our John the Baptist. Advent is our time to find our real star. And thanks be to God, Advent is our time to be found by that baby who will come to be born in a manger.
I pray during this time of expectation our gracious Lord God will open our eyes and open our ears and open our hearts so we will not miss the miracle that awaits us. So that once found, we will walk in his way this day and for ever more.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit one God now and forever. Amen
Additional resource:
Lectionary Homiletics, volume XVII, Number 1, p. 11.
120411.gpc
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