Christmastime is Here!
Well, here we are…All of the waiting and all of the preparation have lead us up to this! We are on the verge of the day where we celebrate the birth of Jesus! It hardly seems like it’s really that time…Even with the decorations up and the cold wind, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas to me…Or at least it didn’t until I watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas a few nights ago.
How many are familiar with Charlie Brown’s Christmas? I forgot just how much I love that movie! There are many movies out that portray the birth of Jesus, but I have to admit that I think that Charlie Brown’s Christmas portrays the message of Christmas better than most movies that I’ve seen! Now, this movie doesn’t depict Jesus’ birth like some other Christmas movies do, but they are preparing for their Christmas play which seems to have some of the characters that we know with the Nativity scene…Shepherds, Animals, and even a Christmas Queen! Charlie Brown just isn’t feeling everything though…He’s honored to be asked to be the director of the Christmas play, but is still struggling with what Christmas really is...
He meets Snoopy decorating his house for the “reason for the season”…MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! And Charlie Brown just doesn’t think that’s the reason for the season…Then he meets with his little sister, Sally and helps her with her letter to Santa…As she asks for her gifts and includes lots of money, Charlie Brown gets fed up again and wonders still what is the reason for the season…What is Christmas really about?? Just when Charlie Brown thinks that he has it figured out, he’s chosen to be the one to get the Christmas Tree for the pageant…He picks the scrawniest tree because he feels sorry for it and thinks that no one else will choose it, and wouldn’t that just be awful for this tree to be on it’s own for Christmas…When he brings the tree to the rest of the cast, they call him names and make fun of him for picking such an awful tree! They just knew that a blockhead like Charlie Brown couldn’t do anything right!
I’ve felt like Charlie Brown this year…On just about every talk show, commercial, signs, or advertisements, something is broadcast as the “reason for the season.” I’ve heard that giving is the true reason of the season…I’ve heard that spending time with family is the true reason of the season…I’ve heard that buying and spending money is the true reason of the season…So much, that I can understand why Charlie Brown and others just don’t know what the “true reason for the season.” Really is…It seems like our culture doesn’t know what the true reason is…
The true reason isn’t about ribbons and bows…The true reason isn’t about trees and family dinners…The true reason isn’t about giving or receiving…Those things happen because we celebrate the true reason…What is the true reason? Maybe Charlie Brown and Linus can help us with that question again. (Clip)
The true reason for the season is that this is the celebration of Jesus’ birth….It isn’t bows, ribbons, trees, family or friends…It’s about Jesus…Now, as we celebrate we have all those things, bows ribbons, trees, family and friends, but we celebrate because of this baby.
Now this is more than just any baby…This baby is God with us…Emmanuel…This baby is hope to all people…This baby is the light in the darkness…This baby is a miracle!
Maybe it’s because it’s hard to put into words what this baby means for us today…Sure we may know the story and have heard it many different ways through many different sounds…But hearing it and knowing it are different…We’ve heard that this baby was to be the Prince of Peace, but have we experienced Jesus as the Prince of Peace in our lives? We know that this baby was born to save the world, but have we experienced Jesus as our Savior?
Jesus is the sign of the ultimate hope…The ultimate joy…This baby; this Jesus is the reason that there is a Christmas!
This story that we have of Jesus’ birth reaches so many people…There’s Mary & Joseph who have traveled far to follow the orders of Caesar…And who have been planning for this baby to come for 9 months! They’ve been through everything that new parents go through in addition to ridicule, death threats, and major embarrassment… There were the angels who were trusted with sharing this news to the world…What big news that they had to share! If they were late or didn’t give the message, what would we have then? And they told the message so beautifully and full of joy and happiness! There are the shepherds, who were minding their own business watching their sheep and they were awoken to an angel telling them about the Messiah that was born….It’s very important to know that the shepherds were there when Jesus was born…Jesus, who was God in flesh, Jesus who was the new King…Jesus wasn’t in a large palace with jewels and crowns, he wasn’t sleeping in an elaborate crib…He was laying in a manger, a feed trough…And dignitaries and celebrities weren’t all around him, but these shepherds who probably smelled from being in the fields with their sheep, who were nowhere near the richest people and were not even celebrities, but some of the lowest classes of people in that society…Jesus was surrounded by these shepherds!
This baby, Emmanuel, God made flesh is for all people…even the shepherds in the fields…Even the wise men traveling from the east…Even all the people of the land…Even you and me…Jesus came to bring hope to all the world…
In that attitude of hope, we celebrate…We rejoice not because we got the best present or we give the best present, but we celebrate because of this baby…This Jesus that was born. The baby that contained all of the joy and hope that we could ever know…Now that’s something to celebrate!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
I'm Having a What??
I’m Having a What??
Whenever I read a passage of Scripture, I read several times and each time I try and get into the character’s mind. Sometimes, I’ll read the from the same character’s point of view in different ways. This particular passage, I have read from Mary’s point of view in just about every way that I think I can. I have read her being angry, excited, nervous, sad, curious, apathetic… and each time, the meaning changes a little bit for me. Mary is such an interesting character in the Bible… We know some things about her: Her mother’s name was Anna and her cousin was Elizabeth, who was already 6 months pregnant when Mary heard from the angel… Her husband, Joseph was a carpenter from the lineage of King David… you know King David, the one who wrote most of the Psalms…She talks to angels…She prays…When the angel came to her, she was probably around 13-15, which would have been the normal time for girls in that time to get married and begin to have children…She may have had more children, including at least one other son named James, and well, there’s that other child of hers that I would hope that we know, Jesus…
For all that we think that we know about Mary, we have no idea about how she felt, which is why I often put different emotions into her sayings…
When we look at this passage in Luke, where Gabriel comes to tell Mary of this good news… It strikes me as funny that Gabriel calls it good news at first. I mean think about it… Pretend you’re Mary’s mother or Father and she comes home and tells you that she’s going to have a baby and an angel told her that it’s God’s baby… What is your reaction? Anger… Shame…Confusion…Happiness… We don’t know how Mary’s parents felt about the news. Maybe they felt all those things… They didn’t disown her…
Then there’s Joseph… If your fiancée had come to you before your wedding and told you that she was going to have a baby… But you weren’t this baby’s father, God was the father… What is your reaction? Anger…shame…confusion…happiness… You can watch just about any daytime talk show and see what other people’s reactions would be… We don’t know Joseph’s initial reaction, but we do know what he did later… He married her and raised that baby with love.
Now, both Mary and Joseph had to deal with the gossip and the rumors about her pregnancy and the confusion about their story. If you heard this story today from someone around town, would the first thing that you thought of be that this story must be true!
And, there’s one character in this story that has to deal with the entire situation from the news of the angel to telling her family and fiancée and dealing with the gossip… that’s Mary. Put yourself in her shoes for a minute… An angel comes to you and tells you that you are on earth most blessed and you are going to have a baby that is the Son of God and you will name him Jesus. What do you say? “I’m having a what?” How do you react? “That’s great news!” What on earth is going on?
Well, let’s see… we’ve got the angel Gabriel standing in front of Mary and what’s the first thing that he says to her? “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!” Sounds like he’s trying to butter Mary up a little bit… Like when someone is trying to get you to do something for them and instead of asking right off, they say “You look wonderful today! You are such a nice person! That project that you did turned out just perfect!” There’s the phrase “flattery will get you everywhere”… Do you think that’s what Gabriel was trying to do? Flatter Mary a little bit and before she could do anything, hit her with the news?
Mary was a little bit wiser than that…Mary didn’t quite accept Gabriel’s words… She thought about them and they made her nervous… If he was trying to butter her up, she could see right through him! Gabriel was probably able to sense her uneasiness, so he told her don’t be afraid…. Then, he began to tell her what God had in store for her. He didn’t come right out and say it though… He told her that God had been gracious to her…. And then… then came the news…. You’re going to be pregnant and have a son, you’ll name him Jesus and, by the way… This will be God’s child… Mary did question a little bit, she wasn’t married…so, how can this be?
Gabriel’s just the messenger, so how do you think he was feeling about these questions? When you have to deliver some kind of project to somebody, but you didn’t create the project and you’re confronted with questions, how long does it take before you get fed up and walk away? Well, Gabriel was a little patient, but he had to remind Mary… God can do anything!
The last sentence that Mary says is a very interesting one, depending on how you read it… It could be happy! “I am the Lord’s Servant! May it happen to me according to your will!” It could be fearful… “I am the Lord’s servant…may it happen to me according to your will...” Sad… “I am the Lord’s servant…may it happen to me according to your will…” maybe Mary just wanted to get Gabriel out of there, so she said what she thought would make him happy… “Yeah, I’m the Lord’s servant… May it happen to me according to your will… Yeah, whatever….” Each time we can see Mary differently… So, how did she say it? Well, we really don’t know… but…
There’s another part of Luke, the magnificat…In the magnifact, we have a song that Mary sings about God and how she is completely humbled that God has chosen her. As she shares what God has done, she also recognizes what this baby means for the world and what future generations will say about her. Whatever her emotions were in the beginning of this journey, she has accepted willingly and with joy this baby that she will have.
While we haven’t had the exact experience as Mary, where an angel tells us that we’re going to have a baby! But…we’ve still heard calls from God. Calls from God to do something…Calls from God to reach out to all people…Calls from God to create disciples…Calls from God…Those calls that we hear are a lot like Mary’s news. We may have different reactions to what God is telling us, and we have a choice of what to do…
There are times when you hear that angel or you hear God calling you and you don’t want to do whatever it is… I don’t want to move away from my family! I don’t want to change jobs! I don’t want to listen to you! I’m in control of my life… I know what’s best for me… You stay out of it! If I want to take this job, I will and there’s nothing that you can do about it! You know, the thing is, that’s true to a certain extent… We do have free will and we can tell God “no” or that we don’t want to… But, God doesn’t always take no for an answer…God isn’t always so quiet when we say that we don’t want to do something….It seems easy to be in charge and to feel important by saying that “I don’t wanna…” But, in the end we know what we should do…Even if we do say no; God’s not going to leave our side… God will still be there, and encouraging us to do what God wants and knows is best… Sometimes it takes bruises along the way, but God is there right there to pick us up and waiting for us to sing our magnificat!
Before I accepted my calling to ministry, I went my own way… I told God, “That’s nice that you think I should be in ministry, but I think I should be performing on Broadway, so that’s what I’m going to do…” and “That’s nice that you think I should be in ministry, but I’m working in retail and I’m going to take that manager’s position…” Both were perfectly legitimate careers and what I thought was right and thought that I wanted…But, God had something different in mind… It took me awhile before I could finally say, “I am your servant…Let it be with me according to your will…” And there are often times when I sit back and I say, okay, you got me here… Now what? But like Mary’s magnificat tells the stories of God’s faithfulness and the stories of God’s work in the history of the Israelites , we are reminded of God’s work still…God provides whatever it is that we need… Be it strength, be it courage, be it the right words to say, be it gentleness… Whatever… God will provide…. God provided for Mary...
Having a baby was something new for Mary…She didn’t know how to do this…It was so far out of her comfort zone. But by going out of her comfort zone, she was part of one of the most amazing stories of God…By going outside of her comfort zone, she became the mother of Jesus…The baby who’s birth we celebrate, the Messiah that we rejoice in…By stepping outside of her comfort zone, she allowed God to do wonderful and amazing things through her! What are we willing to do to step out of our comfort zones for God to do wonderful and amazing things through us? It’s not easy to step outside of our comfort zones because they are just that…Comfortable. We like to be in them because they’re what we know and what we like…But how much are we willing to trust that in getting out of our comfort zones that God will be there? That as we are uncomfortable for a bit that we remember God’s faithfulness…It’s not easy and that’s why it’s important to rely on God that much more.
How much ridicule did Mary face? She must have heard so much gossip and whispers behind her back… Joseph even considered leaving her because of it! But, God provided both of them the strength that they needed to get by…God provided the refuge that they needed that night when she had the baby…God gave them all that they needed and all it took was Mary to say “I am the Lord’s servant, let it be with me according to your will…”
It’s not easy to take that step and feel “out of control” to feel like you’re “not in charge” anymore… Who wants to feel like that? But, when you know that God is in control, things just run so much easier… When you call to God and say, “A little help here!” God answers…What do you hear God calling to you today? Have you told God, no or not right now, but that question keeps creeping up? What do you hear God calling Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Church to today? Have we told God, no or not right now, but God won’t be silent? Maybe we should try this…? “I am your servant… Let it be with me according to YOUR will…. According to your will…”
Whenever I read a passage of Scripture, I read several times and each time I try and get into the character’s mind. Sometimes, I’ll read the from the same character’s point of view in different ways. This particular passage, I have read from Mary’s point of view in just about every way that I think I can. I have read her being angry, excited, nervous, sad, curious, apathetic… and each time, the meaning changes a little bit for me. Mary is such an interesting character in the Bible… We know some things about her: Her mother’s name was Anna and her cousin was Elizabeth, who was already 6 months pregnant when Mary heard from the angel… Her husband, Joseph was a carpenter from the lineage of King David… you know King David, the one who wrote most of the Psalms…She talks to angels…She prays…When the angel came to her, she was probably around 13-15, which would have been the normal time for girls in that time to get married and begin to have children…She may have had more children, including at least one other son named James, and well, there’s that other child of hers that I would hope that we know, Jesus…
For all that we think that we know about Mary, we have no idea about how she felt, which is why I often put different emotions into her sayings…
When we look at this passage in Luke, where Gabriel comes to tell Mary of this good news… It strikes me as funny that Gabriel calls it good news at first. I mean think about it… Pretend you’re Mary’s mother or Father and she comes home and tells you that she’s going to have a baby and an angel told her that it’s God’s baby… What is your reaction? Anger… Shame…Confusion…Happiness… We don’t know how Mary’s parents felt about the news. Maybe they felt all those things… They didn’t disown her…
Then there’s Joseph… If your fiancée had come to you before your wedding and told you that she was going to have a baby… But you weren’t this baby’s father, God was the father… What is your reaction? Anger…shame…confusion…happiness… You can watch just about any daytime talk show and see what other people’s reactions would be… We don’t know Joseph’s initial reaction, but we do know what he did later… He married her and raised that baby with love.
Now, both Mary and Joseph had to deal with the gossip and the rumors about her pregnancy and the confusion about their story. If you heard this story today from someone around town, would the first thing that you thought of be that this story must be true!
And, there’s one character in this story that has to deal with the entire situation from the news of the angel to telling her family and fiancée and dealing with the gossip… that’s Mary. Put yourself in her shoes for a minute… An angel comes to you and tells you that you are on earth most blessed and you are going to have a baby that is the Son of God and you will name him Jesus. What do you say? “I’m having a what?” How do you react? “That’s great news!” What on earth is going on?
Well, let’s see… we’ve got the angel Gabriel standing in front of Mary and what’s the first thing that he says to her? “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!” Sounds like he’s trying to butter Mary up a little bit… Like when someone is trying to get you to do something for them and instead of asking right off, they say “You look wonderful today! You are such a nice person! That project that you did turned out just perfect!” There’s the phrase “flattery will get you everywhere”… Do you think that’s what Gabriel was trying to do? Flatter Mary a little bit and before she could do anything, hit her with the news?
Mary was a little bit wiser than that…Mary didn’t quite accept Gabriel’s words… She thought about them and they made her nervous… If he was trying to butter her up, she could see right through him! Gabriel was probably able to sense her uneasiness, so he told her don’t be afraid…. Then, he began to tell her what God had in store for her. He didn’t come right out and say it though… He told her that God had been gracious to her…. And then… then came the news…. You’re going to be pregnant and have a son, you’ll name him Jesus and, by the way… This will be God’s child… Mary did question a little bit, she wasn’t married…so, how can this be?
Gabriel’s just the messenger, so how do you think he was feeling about these questions? When you have to deliver some kind of project to somebody, but you didn’t create the project and you’re confronted with questions, how long does it take before you get fed up and walk away? Well, Gabriel was a little patient, but he had to remind Mary… God can do anything!
The last sentence that Mary says is a very interesting one, depending on how you read it… It could be happy! “I am the Lord’s Servant! May it happen to me according to your will!” It could be fearful… “I am the Lord’s servant…may it happen to me according to your will...” Sad… “I am the Lord’s servant…may it happen to me according to your will…” maybe Mary just wanted to get Gabriel out of there, so she said what she thought would make him happy… “Yeah, I’m the Lord’s servant… May it happen to me according to your will… Yeah, whatever….” Each time we can see Mary differently… So, how did she say it? Well, we really don’t know… but…
There’s another part of Luke, the magnificat…In the magnifact, we have a song that Mary sings about God and how she is completely humbled that God has chosen her. As she shares what God has done, she also recognizes what this baby means for the world and what future generations will say about her. Whatever her emotions were in the beginning of this journey, she has accepted willingly and with joy this baby that she will have.
While we haven’t had the exact experience as Mary, where an angel tells us that we’re going to have a baby! But…we’ve still heard calls from God. Calls from God to do something…Calls from God to reach out to all people…Calls from God to create disciples…Calls from God…Those calls that we hear are a lot like Mary’s news. We may have different reactions to what God is telling us, and we have a choice of what to do…
There are times when you hear that angel or you hear God calling you and you don’t want to do whatever it is… I don’t want to move away from my family! I don’t want to change jobs! I don’t want to listen to you! I’m in control of my life… I know what’s best for me… You stay out of it! If I want to take this job, I will and there’s nothing that you can do about it! You know, the thing is, that’s true to a certain extent… We do have free will and we can tell God “no” or that we don’t want to… But, God doesn’t always take no for an answer…God isn’t always so quiet when we say that we don’t want to do something….It seems easy to be in charge and to feel important by saying that “I don’t wanna…” But, in the end we know what we should do…Even if we do say no; God’s not going to leave our side… God will still be there, and encouraging us to do what God wants and knows is best… Sometimes it takes bruises along the way, but God is there right there to pick us up and waiting for us to sing our magnificat!
Before I accepted my calling to ministry, I went my own way… I told God, “That’s nice that you think I should be in ministry, but I think I should be performing on Broadway, so that’s what I’m going to do…” and “That’s nice that you think I should be in ministry, but I’m working in retail and I’m going to take that manager’s position…” Both were perfectly legitimate careers and what I thought was right and thought that I wanted…But, God had something different in mind… It took me awhile before I could finally say, “I am your servant…Let it be with me according to your will…” And there are often times when I sit back and I say, okay, you got me here… Now what? But like Mary’s magnificat tells the stories of God’s faithfulness and the stories of God’s work in the history of the Israelites , we are reminded of God’s work still…God provides whatever it is that we need… Be it strength, be it courage, be it the right words to say, be it gentleness… Whatever… God will provide…. God provided for Mary...
Having a baby was something new for Mary…She didn’t know how to do this…It was so far out of her comfort zone. But by going out of her comfort zone, she was part of one of the most amazing stories of God…By going outside of her comfort zone, she became the mother of Jesus…The baby who’s birth we celebrate, the Messiah that we rejoice in…By stepping outside of her comfort zone, she allowed God to do wonderful and amazing things through her! What are we willing to do to step out of our comfort zones for God to do wonderful and amazing things through us? It’s not easy to step outside of our comfort zones because they are just that…Comfortable. We like to be in them because they’re what we know and what we like…But how much are we willing to trust that in getting out of our comfort zones that God will be there? That as we are uncomfortable for a bit that we remember God’s faithfulness…It’s not easy and that’s why it’s important to rely on God that much more.
How much ridicule did Mary face? She must have heard so much gossip and whispers behind her back… Joseph even considered leaving her because of it! But, God provided both of them the strength that they needed to get by…God provided the refuge that they needed that night when she had the baby…God gave them all that they needed and all it took was Mary to say “I am the Lord’s servant, let it be with me according to your will…”
It’s not easy to take that step and feel “out of control” to feel like you’re “not in charge” anymore… Who wants to feel like that? But, when you know that God is in control, things just run so much easier… When you call to God and say, “A little help here!” God answers…What do you hear God calling to you today? Have you told God, no or not right now, but that question keeps creeping up? What do you hear God calling Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Church to today? Have we told God, no or not right now, but God won’t be silent? Maybe we should try this…? “I am your servant… Let it be with me according to YOUR will…. According to your will…”
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Advent/Christmas invitations!
Saturday, Dec. 15th-- United Methodist Community Christmas Concert & Ham dinner-- beginning at 4:00 with dinner and concert is at 6:30pm at Sheridan UMC
Sunday, Dec. 16th--Bus trip to Brookfield Zoo-- we'll leave the church at 4:00 pm and get back by 9:00 pm
Sunday, Dec. 23--Christmas Caroling around Sheridan & Youth Christmas party to follow. Meet at the church at 6:00 and we'll be finished by 9:00. Dress warm!
Sunday, Dec. 16th--Bus trip to Brookfield Zoo-- we'll leave the church at 4:00 pm and get back by 9:00 pm
Sunday, Dec. 23--Christmas Caroling around Sheridan & Youth Christmas party to follow. Meet at the church at 6:00 and we'll be finished by 9:00. Dress warm!
Look at all these crooked roads!
Look at all these crooked roads!
The season of Advent is about preparation…We are preparing for the birth of Jesus, the baby who would become a king, the savior, the messiah….Advent is the time when we prepare for that…It’s four weeks of preparation….And it’s more than the preparations that we make for our homes and celebrations—sure we have baking, decorating, shopping, wrapping and other things to do in order to get ready for celebrations of Christmas with friends and families….But it’s also about preparing our lives for the birth of Jesus…For the next 2 weeks we’ll be looking at what it means to make those preparations and some of the words of those who came before Jesus…Those who helped to prepare the way…
We have passages this morning from Isaiah and about John…The two are separated by thousands of years and may seem to have very little in common…If we look at just these two passages from Isaiah and Matthew, the two almost seem like polar opposites! But, that’s just the surface, because these two are more alike than one would think.
Isaiah is promising a vision of hope and a new ruler…The new ruler will be wise, righteous, the Spirit of Lord will be upon him…in contrast to most of the rulers that Israel had in the last few years…They were used to having kings and rulers who were corrupt and not following what God wanted. Isaiah paints a picture of the future…Not just the future of Israel, but God’s future.
And more than Isaiah talking about the future and what maybe, could be, someday, but the future that the people of Israel were to live into…In this future there are beautiful pictures of reconciliation painted in Isaiah’s words. Isaiah paints pictures of animals that wouldn’t normally be seen together as getting along and in peace with one another…The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the cow and the bear, the lion will eat straw like the fox…Beautiful imagery that Isaiah is using about the reconciliation that is to be in the future…Reconciliation that doesn’t happen overnight, but comes with work. It comes by being intentional about reaching out to all people…To not keep anyone away…
Now of course, with any passage of Scripture, there was an audience intended to hear it…In this case, the people of Israel…But, it’s not just the people of Israel that need to hear this message. That’s what makes Scripture a living document…It speaks not only to the times then, but to us now…
As Isaiah talks about reconciliation, we can think of our own world…Surely there are places in the world that are experiencing times where there are troubles and times of hardship, where there is no reconciliation. Places like the Sudan, Congo, and Uganda where thousands of people are being killed…It feels like there is no concept of reconciliation for the world…And reconciliation doesn’t happen at tables and chairs with leaders talking about what’s best…It happens in the actions. In South Africa going back to the 1940’s, apartheid was the norm. Apartheid was a government sponsored racism…The black Africans were treated as lower class compared to the white Africans. It was an unjust system that people lived in…Homes were taken from black Africans because a white African wanted it…People were put into prison, murdered, and many other things happened because of apartheid. When apartheid was overturned, one of the ways to help with healing of the country was to have times of reconciliation…One person who may have wronged another had the opportunity to apologize and ask forgiveness and it would be granted as a way to help in reconciliation…The system has worked fairly well, there is still a lot of pain and hurt from 50 years that doesn’t go away with an apology, but it is a step in working towards reconciliation…When the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the lion shall eat straw…
And while this passage from Isaiah points to the world and places that need reconciliation in the world…It’s also for us as individuals and for us as a community, the Church. Where are we pushing for the wolf to dwell with the lamb…Where are we inviting someone that we wouldn’t normally to join in the fellowship of Christ…Where are we inviting the wolf to dwell with the lamb and the lion to eat straw? Where are we being invited for the wolf to dwell with the lamb and the lion to eat straw? Because the vision of God’s future starts now and is something that we are working to build up and to live into…Living into God’s future…
John almost picks up where some may have misinterpreted Isaiah’s message…Because Isaiah’s message of God’s vision for the future could be interpreted as something that will happen, not something that we take part in…Something that requires something of us…That’s what John is telling people in his sermon…That there is something that we need to do and that we do play a part in the vision for the future—we are living into the future.
But when we’re invited into the future, we have to give up ourselves in the meantime…It’s not our plans for the future, but it’s God’s plan…It’s not what we want to happen, but it’s what God wants to happen. When we join with God, we give up ourselves…We can’t do what God is about to do, but we are invited to join in and in doing so, we give up ourselves. And that’s not easy to do, nor is it something that our society advocates…
What does it mean to give up ourselves? Well that’s a big question and it does mean different things at different times in life…At least specifically…It means putting ourselves aside in order for God to work…It may mean saying, “I don’t like the music, but I know God works through it to reach people.” It may mean saying, “I don’t like the way you’re doing things, but I know God is working through that to reach people.” It may mean saying, “That makes me uncomfortable, but I know that God is working through it.” It means putting yourself aside in order for God to work.
The irony of that is that it is through God that we are able to put ourselves aside…Yes, it is something that we have to choose to do, but it’s something that we can do through God and asking God for strength, wisdom, and help in putting ourselves aside.
John is not saying these things just to say them or for them to be associated with Isaiah or any other prophet for that matter…It doesn’t hurt that messages fit together, but John is proclaiming the One who is coming who is more powerful than he is—who is coming after him…He’s talking about his cousin, Jesus…The baby that was born, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas…The baby who we are preparing for in this season of Advent. The baby who would grow into the man we recognize as the Messiah…
The One who challenged the structures, who brought about reconciliation, who called people out of their comfort zones to work for God…The One who still calls to us today to bring about reconciliation, to get out of our comfort zones to work for God…We have all been called to follow this One…This One who is called Jesus…Where will you put yourself aside? Where will you work for reconciliation? How are you preparing for the celebration of Christmas? Beyond the ribbons and bows and cookies and trees, prepare your hearts for Advent; join in the work of God happening…
The season of Advent is about preparation…We are preparing for the birth of Jesus, the baby who would become a king, the savior, the messiah….Advent is the time when we prepare for that…It’s four weeks of preparation….And it’s more than the preparations that we make for our homes and celebrations—sure we have baking, decorating, shopping, wrapping and other things to do in order to get ready for celebrations of Christmas with friends and families….But it’s also about preparing our lives for the birth of Jesus…For the next 2 weeks we’ll be looking at what it means to make those preparations and some of the words of those who came before Jesus…Those who helped to prepare the way…
We have passages this morning from Isaiah and about John…The two are separated by thousands of years and may seem to have very little in common…If we look at just these two passages from Isaiah and Matthew, the two almost seem like polar opposites! But, that’s just the surface, because these two are more alike than one would think.
Isaiah is promising a vision of hope and a new ruler…The new ruler will be wise, righteous, the Spirit of Lord will be upon him…in contrast to most of the rulers that Israel had in the last few years…They were used to having kings and rulers who were corrupt and not following what God wanted. Isaiah paints a picture of the future…Not just the future of Israel, but God’s future.
And more than Isaiah talking about the future and what maybe, could be, someday, but the future that the people of Israel were to live into…In this future there are beautiful pictures of reconciliation painted in Isaiah’s words. Isaiah paints pictures of animals that wouldn’t normally be seen together as getting along and in peace with one another…The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the cow and the bear, the lion will eat straw like the fox…Beautiful imagery that Isaiah is using about the reconciliation that is to be in the future…Reconciliation that doesn’t happen overnight, but comes with work. It comes by being intentional about reaching out to all people…To not keep anyone away…
Now of course, with any passage of Scripture, there was an audience intended to hear it…In this case, the people of Israel…But, it’s not just the people of Israel that need to hear this message. That’s what makes Scripture a living document…It speaks not only to the times then, but to us now…
As Isaiah talks about reconciliation, we can think of our own world…Surely there are places in the world that are experiencing times where there are troubles and times of hardship, where there is no reconciliation. Places like the Sudan, Congo, and Uganda where thousands of people are being killed…It feels like there is no concept of reconciliation for the world…And reconciliation doesn’t happen at tables and chairs with leaders talking about what’s best…It happens in the actions. In South Africa going back to the 1940’s, apartheid was the norm. Apartheid was a government sponsored racism…The black Africans were treated as lower class compared to the white Africans. It was an unjust system that people lived in…Homes were taken from black Africans because a white African wanted it…People were put into prison, murdered, and many other things happened because of apartheid. When apartheid was overturned, one of the ways to help with healing of the country was to have times of reconciliation…One person who may have wronged another had the opportunity to apologize and ask forgiveness and it would be granted as a way to help in reconciliation…The system has worked fairly well, there is still a lot of pain and hurt from 50 years that doesn’t go away with an apology, but it is a step in working towards reconciliation…When the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the lion shall eat straw…
And while this passage from Isaiah points to the world and places that need reconciliation in the world…It’s also for us as individuals and for us as a community, the Church. Where are we pushing for the wolf to dwell with the lamb…Where are we inviting someone that we wouldn’t normally to join in the fellowship of Christ…Where are we inviting the wolf to dwell with the lamb and the lion to eat straw? Where are we being invited for the wolf to dwell with the lamb and the lion to eat straw? Because the vision of God’s future starts now and is something that we are working to build up and to live into…Living into God’s future…
John almost picks up where some may have misinterpreted Isaiah’s message…Because Isaiah’s message of God’s vision for the future could be interpreted as something that will happen, not something that we take part in…Something that requires something of us…That’s what John is telling people in his sermon…That there is something that we need to do and that we do play a part in the vision for the future—we are living into the future.
But when we’re invited into the future, we have to give up ourselves in the meantime…It’s not our plans for the future, but it’s God’s plan…It’s not what we want to happen, but it’s what God wants to happen. When we join with God, we give up ourselves…We can’t do what God is about to do, but we are invited to join in and in doing so, we give up ourselves. And that’s not easy to do, nor is it something that our society advocates…
What does it mean to give up ourselves? Well that’s a big question and it does mean different things at different times in life…At least specifically…It means putting ourselves aside in order for God to work…It may mean saying, “I don’t like the music, but I know God works through it to reach people.” It may mean saying, “I don’t like the way you’re doing things, but I know God is working through that to reach people.” It may mean saying, “That makes me uncomfortable, but I know that God is working through it.” It means putting yourself aside in order for God to work.
The irony of that is that it is through God that we are able to put ourselves aside…Yes, it is something that we have to choose to do, but it’s something that we can do through God and asking God for strength, wisdom, and help in putting ourselves aside.
John is not saying these things just to say them or for them to be associated with Isaiah or any other prophet for that matter…It doesn’t hurt that messages fit together, but John is proclaiming the One who is coming who is more powerful than he is—who is coming after him…He’s talking about his cousin, Jesus…The baby that was born, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas…The baby who we are preparing for in this season of Advent. The baby who would grow into the man we recognize as the Messiah…
The One who challenged the structures, who brought about reconciliation, who called people out of their comfort zones to work for God…The One who still calls to us today to bring about reconciliation, to get out of our comfort zones to work for God…We have all been called to follow this One…This One who is called Jesus…Where will you put yourself aside? Where will you work for reconciliation? How are you preparing for the celebration of Christmas? Beyond the ribbons and bows and cookies and trees, prepare your hearts for Advent; join in the work of God happening…
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