May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: CHRISTMAS
PROPER:
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 24-25, 2002
TEXT: Luke 2:1-20 – “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.”
ISSUE: The Birth Story of Jesus is something of an overture to all that follows in the Gospel of Jesus. It tells in simplicity of the birth of a real King, Messiah, and Savior that challenges the powerful forces of the world. The story is a great vision of new peace, and hope, in that God has come in and through Jesus Christ to the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
St. Luke tells us the story of the birth of Jesus in one of the simplest and most beautiful narrative forms that has captured the imagination and attention of people down through the ages. Luke wrote this story of Jesus’ birth some 80 years after Jesus’ birth, using hearsay and scraps of sources that had come to him. He weaves these into a most beautiful artistic narrative that tells of a very unique and special messianic hope for a very troubled world.
The story is thought by some to be a political statement, or a parody that challenges the powers and principalities of the time. Luke reports that the birth of Jesus come when Caesar Augustus is the Roman Emperor and Quirinius is governor of Syria. At the time the Roman Emperor was seen to be, in fact, a Son of God. He was considered to be worthy of worship, and people were required to make offerings of incense in praise of his great name. The Roman powers were said to bring about the great “Pax Romana” or the great Roman Peace. But peace in the Roman Empire came at great cost to the conquered peoples, like the Judeans and Israelites, because their civil liberties were taken away, and they were greatly oppressed through Roman taxation. The poorer people, of course, suffered the most in this situation.
Thus, Luke is giving a very contrasting vision to the people of the time. Let me tell you about another historical figure born in the time of Caesar Augustus, when Quirinius was governor of Syria, who is really and truly Son of God, who is named Jesus. This Son of God is in deed worthy of worship and adoration. Angels, the very messengers of God pay tribute and announce his coming into the world. The powers and principalities of the world do not herald him. Angels and archangels herald him as the true Savior of the world. He is not proclaimed to the rich and greedy, and those enamored with power. He is announced to the motley shepherds, who were poor and considered little more than dishonorable thieves who didn’t stay home and care for their families. He is born in the little town of Bethlehem, population 100 plus, the birthplace of the King David, the shepherd boy who had once brought grandeur and hope to his people. Now Luke is saying go to the modest little town and Bethlehem and see a new kind of Savior born in a stable, lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling cloths like all the poor little children of Israel. Listen to the Angels of God singing his praise: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” Here’s a real Son of God who comes to the least of God’s creation to lift it up in healing, love, forgiveness, and hope, and to provide peace. Here is a king and savior who is mighty in love, a wonderful counselor, and mighty God, an everlasting father and prince of peace, who shall wear and crown of thorns, and have a cross for a throne, and all the world, inclusively, will see his glory in his suffering servanthood. “You want a King and Savior do you?” Luke is saying to the world. “Let me show you one: He’s wrapped in swaddling cloths, and lying in a manger!” Born in a manger; crucified on a cross, ludicrous as that may seem, it gave birth to the potential for a whole new world and a new understanding of the power in love.
Luke’s story also contains many additional symbols for believers down through the ages, which heightens the proclamation of just who Jesus is, and the kind of Savior he shall be. The little town of Bethlehem is the place of the birth of Israel’s favorite charismatic and saving king, David, who had been a shepherd boy. Jesus becomes The Good Shepherd of the world.
Manipulated by the powers of the time, Mary and Joseph are force to make the journey to Bethlehem in Judea. There is no room, no place, no honor bestowed upon them and the coming child. Herein is a another sign of the rejection, and the lack of acceptance by the world for the Lord who will be crucified. Yet, Mary and Joseph and the child persist in bring about what must be, the birth of the savior, even in a lowly stable.
The word Bethlehem was a little town where sheep were raised for sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus is the Lamb of God, whose life becomes a sacrifice, for the sins of the world.
The meaning of the name Bethlehem meant house of bread. The manger in Bethlehem was a feeding trough. The manger scene must have conjured up images of Isaiah’s vision of the lion and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, the ox and the bear eating straw together, and the wolf lying down with the lambs. It is a place where all nature is changed and Jesus Christ becomes the one the world needs to feed upon, if it is to change its nature and find peace among men. Jesus feeds the 5,000, and he gives himself as food to his disciples and to the world down through the ages in the Eucharist. If the world is to be changed and find peace, it must feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some two thousand years later, what greater need has the world on the verge of war than to look for and reclaim the ways and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to invite him into our life? What greater need is there in each of our own lives in times of failure, loss, hurt, pain, fear, anxiety, suffering, and all that overwhelms us than to invite the Lord Jesus Christ into our lives, and to feed upon him?
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
Sunday, December 15, 2002
ADVENT 3
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: ADVENT 3
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 15, 2002
TEXT: Isaiah: 17-25 – For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. . . . The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent - its food shall be dust!
ISSUE: Isaiah’s passage is one of great joy and hope. It tells of a new creation that is to come. New joys will come among God’s people in a rebuilt Jerusalem, and the people shall all know peace and long life. What a hope that was! The very order of things shall be changed when the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The serpent shall eat the dust, as in the first creation. Evil and Satan will be trampled under foot, and the Kingdom of God shall rise.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There are several stories in the Hebrew Scriptures that are Creation Stories. We are, of course, most familiar with the story of the world being created in those very special seven days in the 1st Chapter of Genesis. This story is the one in which God makes all things, including, human beings. It says that God’s Creation is very good. A second creation story begins with the 5th verse of the 2nd Chapter of Genesis. In this story Adam gets created from the clay, and Eve is created from Adam’s rib, and the two are placed in the wonderful and beautiful Garden of Eden. Shortly after this creation story, the serpent encourages Eve to eat from the one forbidden tree, and she in turn invites Adam to join her for supper. It’s all down hill from there. They two are cast out of the garden, and their own two sons get into an argument, and Cain kills Abel. The Fall of Adam and Eve expresses the need for human redemption. The stories portray the fact that human beings (symbolized by Adam and Eve, and the kids), who have it all, are never quite satisfied and try to take things into their own hands. It’s all down hill from there.
Then there comes still another creation story, or at least a redemption story of Noah and the Ark. The world is a mess. So God determines to start all over again. He selects the one righteous man, Noah, and has Noah build an Ark of Salvation for himself, and his family, and male and female of all living creatures. And so after the flood, new life begins and abounds with a whole new cleaned up creation. Barely had the rainbow faded away, when Noah’s youngest son, Ham, dishonors his father, and the process of sin continues. Men attempt to build the Towers of Babylon and storm heaven and make themselves like God and so it goes. What is important to appreciate is that when God’s people have gotten themselves into trouble, eventually, God goes after them, and redeems them. So much of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are like the Prodigal Son Parable. God takes back the lost and wayward, and starts over again. There other instances of Creation, or at least renew stories in the Scriptures: Moses Leadership across the Sea of Reeds, Ezekiel’s Vision of Dry Bones, Jesus’ Baptism, etc.)
Notice in the Isaiah (65:17-25) for today, the prophet is proclaiming that God is about to create a new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. (Sounds a little like Auld Lang Syne.) Again, this hope of a new creation is being pronounced, proclaimed, and given to a people who had been all but spiritually and materially devastated by foreign conquerors, but now a new hope comes to them. The central city of Jerusalem shall no longer be a place of hopeless despair, but the Holy City, the city that signified Israel and Judah’s unity will become a place of joy. The temple will be rebuilt, and there will be no more weeping and cries of distress. People’s lives will not be subject to evil foreign powers and death. The death rate of little children, children suffer most in war, plague, and pestilence, will be extended. The mortality rate shall be much longer, and the person who doesn’t live to be at least an hundred years old will be considered accursed. There will be no more homes destroyed by foreign invasion; and the planted vineyards will not be trampled by warriors. What the farmer plants will be eaten by the farmer and his family, it will not be taken away and destroyed. There will be a prevailing peace in the land. And it will be as if the very nature of human nature and of animal nature shall be changed. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent – the dreaded serpent – will eat dust. Evil will be trampled down under God’s feet! The heavens will be clear and crisp, no longer blackened by war’s devastation.
Once again, from the Hebrew Scriptures, we have a profound and beautiful vision and image of a new creation, and a world of hope.
Notice how the Christian Scripture from John’s Gospel picks up this theme of hope. John the Baptist, the dipper, is also a herald or prophet proclaiming the coming of a Messiah, a new hope, a new creation is coming. He calls the people to readiness and preparation. They are baptized, immersed in cleansing waters that symbolize a new birth. John makes it clear that he makes no claim to be that messiah. He is only the messenger. His honor and status must decrease while the honor and status of the one to come increases. We know from the story that Jesus himself comes to be baptized by John, and the heavens open, and the voice of God is heard: “This is my beloved Son, the one with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
What comes from the life, ministry, and teaching of Jesus is the raising up, the lifting up of his creation. He teaches justice and peace. He teaches love for God, and for one another. The early Christian Church from what I understand, up until the 3rd Century was quite pacifist. Christians sought the end of war and hatred. Also for the early church, and certainly for St. Paul, Jesus Christ was seen as the New Adam. In Christ there is a new creation that calls human beings back into the image of what they were meant to be as the servants and people of God in the Garden of Eden.
Some may think that this vision is pretty idealistic, pie in the sky. Wolves will never feed with lambs, and lions will never eat straw like the ox. And, Satan will never be ultimately trampled down under our feet. It is so hard in our human nature that prevents us from having these kinds of hope. Our world is sometimes so overwhelming with hatred, prejudice, fundamentalist radicals, impending war. But to allow ourselves to live without hope, dreams, visions, is to let Satan and evil win. That is not our story. It is not the story of the Jews, and it is not the story of the Christian church. The powers of evil, and the corruption of human nature are truly deeply rooted in our human condition. But basically, God said about the creation. It is good. He saw that it was good. And when we look at the Messiah; when we look at Jesus Christ the new Adam, we see what is good, - love, forgiveness, the yearning for and pointing towards God.
We are now in a season that looks for the coming of the new creation, heavens and earth restored to peace and hope. We look for us to be forgiven and to forgive, to be pardoned, and to pardon. We look to lay down our lives for one another as Christ laid down his life for us. We see in Jesus Christ a truly human potential for good, and for hopefulness. Will we a times fail? It’s likely, but then in Christ we begin anew.
Both the role of Isaiah, the prophet - and what a prophetic orator and writer he was – and the prophet Isaiah, that voice in the wilderness, turns people in their sins, weaknesses around. These men down through the ages have challenged hopelessness and despair. They call us to dramatic change demanding we embrace the image and vision of the new man, the new Adam, the new Eve, Jesus Christ.
It had been said that world was flat, and that it was the center of the universe. Anyone who thought differently was condemned. Thank God there were those who let the spirit of God lead them into truth. There are those who thought over the ages there would be no cures for diseases. Thank God for those who persisted in their research. Many things we thought could never be have come to pass: pictures and words sent electronically through the air, the overwhelming resources and information available to us through the Internet. People of hope and expectation, who have never doubted that so many things are possible with God, by God and through God has God has given us our talents, skills, and abilities. Men and women of Goodwill have had visions and dreamed dreams. As we are on the verge of a new creation with the God of Love and King of Peace, may we never for a moment set our hopes and dreams for a new creation aside.
SEASON: ADVENT 3
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 15, 2002
TEXT: Isaiah: 17-25 – For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. . . . The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent - its food shall be dust!
ISSUE: Isaiah’s passage is one of great joy and hope. It tells of a new creation that is to come. New joys will come among God’s people in a rebuilt Jerusalem, and the people shall all know peace and long life. What a hope that was! The very order of things shall be changed when the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The serpent shall eat the dust, as in the first creation. Evil and Satan will be trampled under foot, and the Kingdom of God shall rise.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There are several stories in the Hebrew Scriptures that are Creation Stories. We are, of course, most familiar with the story of the world being created in those very special seven days in the 1st Chapter of Genesis. This story is the one in which God makes all things, including, human beings. It says that God’s Creation is very good. A second creation story begins with the 5th verse of the 2nd Chapter of Genesis. In this story Adam gets created from the clay, and Eve is created from Adam’s rib, and the two are placed in the wonderful and beautiful Garden of Eden. Shortly after this creation story, the serpent encourages Eve to eat from the one forbidden tree, and she in turn invites Adam to join her for supper. It’s all down hill from there. They two are cast out of the garden, and their own two sons get into an argument, and Cain kills Abel. The Fall of Adam and Eve expresses the need for human redemption. The stories portray the fact that human beings (symbolized by Adam and Eve, and the kids), who have it all, are never quite satisfied and try to take things into their own hands. It’s all down hill from there.
Then there comes still another creation story, or at least a redemption story of Noah and the Ark. The world is a mess. So God determines to start all over again. He selects the one righteous man, Noah, and has Noah build an Ark of Salvation for himself, and his family, and male and female of all living creatures. And so after the flood, new life begins and abounds with a whole new cleaned up creation. Barely had the rainbow faded away, when Noah’s youngest son, Ham, dishonors his father, and the process of sin continues. Men attempt to build the Towers of Babylon and storm heaven and make themselves like God and so it goes. What is important to appreciate is that when God’s people have gotten themselves into trouble, eventually, God goes after them, and redeems them. So much of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are like the Prodigal Son Parable. God takes back the lost and wayward, and starts over again. There other instances of Creation, or at least renew stories in the Scriptures: Moses Leadership across the Sea of Reeds, Ezekiel’s Vision of Dry Bones, Jesus’ Baptism, etc.)
Notice in the Isaiah (65:17-25) for today, the prophet is proclaiming that God is about to create a new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. (Sounds a little like Auld Lang Syne.) Again, this hope of a new creation is being pronounced, proclaimed, and given to a people who had been all but spiritually and materially devastated by foreign conquerors, but now a new hope comes to them. The central city of Jerusalem shall no longer be a place of hopeless despair, but the Holy City, the city that signified Israel and Judah’s unity will become a place of joy. The temple will be rebuilt, and there will be no more weeping and cries of distress. People’s lives will not be subject to evil foreign powers and death. The death rate of little children, children suffer most in war, plague, and pestilence, will be extended. The mortality rate shall be much longer, and the person who doesn’t live to be at least an hundred years old will be considered accursed. There will be no more homes destroyed by foreign invasion; and the planted vineyards will not be trampled by warriors. What the farmer plants will be eaten by the farmer and his family, it will not be taken away and destroyed. There will be a prevailing peace in the land. And it will be as if the very nature of human nature and of animal nature shall be changed. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent – the dreaded serpent – will eat dust. Evil will be trampled down under God’s feet! The heavens will be clear and crisp, no longer blackened by war’s devastation.
Once again, from the Hebrew Scriptures, we have a profound and beautiful vision and image of a new creation, and a world of hope.
Notice how the Christian Scripture from John’s Gospel picks up this theme of hope. John the Baptist, the dipper, is also a herald or prophet proclaiming the coming of a Messiah, a new hope, a new creation is coming. He calls the people to readiness and preparation. They are baptized, immersed in cleansing waters that symbolize a new birth. John makes it clear that he makes no claim to be that messiah. He is only the messenger. His honor and status must decrease while the honor and status of the one to come increases. We know from the story that Jesus himself comes to be baptized by John, and the heavens open, and the voice of God is heard: “This is my beloved Son, the one with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
What comes from the life, ministry, and teaching of Jesus is the raising up, the lifting up of his creation. He teaches justice and peace. He teaches love for God, and for one another. The early Christian Church from what I understand, up until the 3rd Century was quite pacifist. Christians sought the end of war and hatred. Also for the early church, and certainly for St. Paul, Jesus Christ was seen as the New Adam. In Christ there is a new creation that calls human beings back into the image of what they were meant to be as the servants and people of God in the Garden of Eden.
Some may think that this vision is pretty idealistic, pie in the sky. Wolves will never feed with lambs, and lions will never eat straw like the ox. And, Satan will never be ultimately trampled down under our feet. It is so hard in our human nature that prevents us from having these kinds of hope. Our world is sometimes so overwhelming with hatred, prejudice, fundamentalist radicals, impending war. But to allow ourselves to live without hope, dreams, visions, is to let Satan and evil win. That is not our story. It is not the story of the Jews, and it is not the story of the Christian church. The powers of evil, and the corruption of human nature are truly deeply rooted in our human condition. But basically, God said about the creation. It is good. He saw that it was good. And when we look at the Messiah; when we look at Jesus Christ the new Adam, we see what is good, - love, forgiveness, the yearning for and pointing towards God.
We are now in a season that looks for the coming of the new creation, heavens and earth restored to peace and hope. We look for us to be forgiven and to forgive, to be pardoned, and to pardon. We look to lay down our lives for one another as Christ laid down his life for us. We see in Jesus Christ a truly human potential for good, and for hopefulness. Will we a times fail? It’s likely, but then in Christ we begin anew.
Both the role of Isaiah, the prophet - and what a prophetic orator and writer he was – and the prophet Isaiah, that voice in the wilderness, turns people in their sins, weaknesses around. These men down through the ages have challenged hopelessness and despair. They call us to dramatic change demanding we embrace the image and vision of the new man, the new Adam, the new Eve, Jesus Christ.
It had been said that world was flat, and that it was the center of the universe. Anyone who thought differently was condemned. Thank God there were those who let the spirit of God lead them into truth. There are those who thought over the ages there would be no cures for diseases. Thank God for those who persisted in their research. Many things we thought could never be have come to pass: pictures and words sent electronically through the air, the overwhelming resources and information available to us through the Internet. People of hope and expectation, who have never doubted that so many things are possible with God, by God and through God has God has given us our talents, skills, and abilities. Men and women of Goodwill have had visions and dreamed dreams. As we are on the verge of a new creation with the God of Love and King of Peace, may we never for a moment set our hopes and dreams for a new creation aside.
Sunday, December 8, 2002
ADVENT 2
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: ADVENT 2
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 8,2002
TEXT: Isaiah 40:1-11 – Comfort, O Comfort says your God. . . . . . He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
ISSUE: Here’s a beautiful vision of Isaiah. He sees in the vision a council of God with his angels. The time has come to redeem and comfort his people. They have had enough difficulty and punishment. He comes to restore them in love and hope. The vision and theme are picked up by St. John the Baptist, calling folk to change and readiness for the savior of the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Once again, I am asking you to focus on another one of the beautiful and intriguing passages from the Prophet Isaiah. The passage is a vision where God is sitting in council with his entourage of angels. It is time for comfort and renewal to come to his chosen people, who for far to long now have been in exile.
As the angels are gathered around God, and Isaiah is privy by virtue of the vision to hear and see what is going on. He hears the word of God call out to the angel: Comfort Ye, O comfort ye my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry out to her that her penalty for sin is paid. She has received far more than her share of suffering; she has suffered double for her sins. Jerusalem had been destroyed; her people had been exiled to pagan territory. Now, her suffering is ended, and she shall be released and allowed to return to Jerusalem to Judah and Israel. Her suffering is ended.
God tells the angels begin building a highway in the desert. Lift up the valleys, and lower the mountains. Smooth out the rough places, and make the uneven ground level. God is coming to his people to lead and deliver them to their lost land. This is the image and vision of how a high potentate or ruler came to visit his people. God is coming to his people and the people are about to be restored to their homeland.
A voice comes to Isaiah himself, “Cry out, Isaiah.” What shall I cry he asks? “People are like grass,” the angels say, “they come and they go, bloom and fade. But the word, the promise, the declaration and proclamation of God will not fail you. So Isaiah, go to a high mountain and begin to proclaim as a herald of good tidings: “The Lord is coming to his people. He comes with might and his arm rules for him. He brings reward, hope and love. He will feed his chosen flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep!”
Remember what the desert was like both in the time of Isaiah and John the Baptist. It was a place dry and parched. It harbored wild animals and evil spirits. But now the Lord God is coming to the desert, to the most feared of all places. The people need no longer fear, a highway is being built through all that the people feared and new hope and love is coming. God will lead them home to the place of peace, and give them the comfort, the strength to rebuild their homeland again!
Notice the shear beauty of this passage. From our point of view it is as if the angels have manned the bulldozers and have begun to build a highway for God. It is as if a might King is coming, or a Shepherd of shepherds is coming to restore the lands and the pastures of his flocks and people. You’ve seen the valleys lifted and the high places made plain by work crews. The coming of the King, the Savior, The shepherd’s coming shall be expedited, and all who will receive him will know renewal forgiveness, love and hope.
This same theme is again picked up in the Christian Scripture reading from Mark. “Here’s the beginning of the Good News of Jesus the Son of God. Isaiah’s vision is now being renewed for the people of the first century. In this case the messenger is the prophet John the Baptist. John is the one in the desert, in the place of fear, who is redeeming the times and the place. He’s no slacker, John. He is a tough character, a priest, but not a fancy priest in fine robes in Jerusalem. He is wearing camel’s hair garb, and is eating wild locusts and honey. He is among the common people calling them to preparation for the coming, the coming of the Lord. He gives them messianic hope. He calls them to a new purity through baptism. At the time, only converts to Judaism were required to be baptized. Now he calls all men and women to conversion and purification and preparation. The time for repentance, that is, change has come. There’s about to be a great reversal. The last, the least, the lonely, the outcasts, the tax gathers, the soldiers, the common folk are going to be lifted up. They are the very ones who shall be regarded as the sheep of God, to be restored and given hope and love, in a world that condemned and saw them all as the dispensable folk of the world.
John appears in the desert, that place of evil spirits, and we see redemption taking place. Evil is being overcome, and people are being made ready for the coming of the Lord. John becomes Isaiah’s voice of one crying in the wilderness and in the desert. John is the builder with the angels for the coming of the messiah, the Lord, to be with his people. John is calling his people to a preparation for that coming of the Lord God.
Much of our world today is not unlike the dry parched land of the desert wilderness. The evil spirits, and the evil spiritedness of hate, doubt, hopelessness, despair, greed, and terror surround us. Too many women and children know too much about abuse. Unscrupulous drug dealers trap young people. We all fear the uncertainties of terror. There are still many human problems that make us feel deserted by God, and at the mercy of evil that is difficult to escape. We are not free from fear and uncertainty.
But the message of the ages is the very fact that God has and is coming to his people. The God of love and hope is redeeming the very place of evil spiritedness, the desert wilderness of human life. The deserts will blossom, and the Christ who once was himself tempted in the wilderness will be the way to The Kingdom of God.
The passages of Isaiah and of Mark are passages that call us to preparedness, for a readiness, and alertness, to the coming of the Lord God, once again. For the ancient Hebrews, the was the assurance of their forgiveness and the gift of the hope of restoring their land. For the early Christians, there was the assurance that the Christ had come among them, to restore hope and assurance of a better life. The least and last were restored to hope. There was a call to repentance, change, in readiness for the Christ who resisted the world’s ways with the hope of another way of life, love and sacrifice.
We have seen and enjoy in the story of the birth of Christ, the assurance that God has come among us. But what really lies ahead for us in this day and age, is the hope and anticipation that Christ will come again, to renew and restore us to hope and love and joy. The Kingdom of God prevails. That’s our good news. It is in being ready and willing to make the necessary changes in our lives that Christ will come again to us, and that the world we know will become a new world, a world where pollution is a thing of the past. Our children will become addicted to what is right and good. Where we will know peace in the world.
Lo, He comes. Join the angels in building the foundations for God to come among us to be our pastor and shepherd. Be willing to change your own life to be resonant with the way of Christ.
SEASON: ADVENT 2
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 8,2002
TEXT: Isaiah 40:1-11 – Comfort, O Comfort says your God. . . . . . He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
ISSUE: Here’s a beautiful vision of Isaiah. He sees in the vision a council of God with his angels. The time has come to redeem and comfort his people. They have had enough difficulty and punishment. He comes to restore them in love and hope. The vision and theme are picked up by St. John the Baptist, calling folk to change and readiness for the savior of the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Once again, I am asking you to focus on another one of the beautiful and intriguing passages from the Prophet Isaiah. The passage is a vision where God is sitting in council with his entourage of angels. It is time for comfort and renewal to come to his chosen people, who for far to long now have been in exile.
As the angels are gathered around God, and Isaiah is privy by virtue of the vision to hear and see what is going on. He hears the word of God call out to the angel: Comfort Ye, O comfort ye my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry out to her that her penalty for sin is paid. She has received far more than her share of suffering; she has suffered double for her sins. Jerusalem had been destroyed; her people had been exiled to pagan territory. Now, her suffering is ended, and she shall be released and allowed to return to Jerusalem to Judah and Israel. Her suffering is ended.
God tells the angels begin building a highway in the desert. Lift up the valleys, and lower the mountains. Smooth out the rough places, and make the uneven ground level. God is coming to his people to lead and deliver them to their lost land. This is the image and vision of how a high potentate or ruler came to visit his people. God is coming to his people and the people are about to be restored to their homeland.
A voice comes to Isaiah himself, “Cry out, Isaiah.” What shall I cry he asks? “People are like grass,” the angels say, “they come and they go, bloom and fade. But the word, the promise, the declaration and proclamation of God will not fail you. So Isaiah, go to a high mountain and begin to proclaim as a herald of good tidings: “The Lord is coming to his people. He comes with might and his arm rules for him. He brings reward, hope and love. He will feed his chosen flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep!”
Remember what the desert was like both in the time of Isaiah and John the Baptist. It was a place dry and parched. It harbored wild animals and evil spirits. But now the Lord God is coming to the desert, to the most feared of all places. The people need no longer fear, a highway is being built through all that the people feared and new hope and love is coming. God will lead them home to the place of peace, and give them the comfort, the strength to rebuild their homeland again!
Notice the shear beauty of this passage. From our point of view it is as if the angels have manned the bulldozers and have begun to build a highway for God. It is as if a might King is coming, or a Shepherd of shepherds is coming to restore the lands and the pastures of his flocks and people. You’ve seen the valleys lifted and the high places made plain by work crews. The coming of the King, the Savior, The shepherd’s coming shall be expedited, and all who will receive him will know renewal forgiveness, love and hope.
This same theme is again picked up in the Christian Scripture reading from Mark. “Here’s the beginning of the Good News of Jesus the Son of God. Isaiah’s vision is now being renewed for the people of the first century. In this case the messenger is the prophet John the Baptist. John is the one in the desert, in the place of fear, who is redeeming the times and the place. He’s no slacker, John. He is a tough character, a priest, but not a fancy priest in fine robes in Jerusalem. He is wearing camel’s hair garb, and is eating wild locusts and honey. He is among the common people calling them to preparation for the coming, the coming of the Lord. He gives them messianic hope. He calls them to a new purity through baptism. At the time, only converts to Judaism were required to be baptized. Now he calls all men and women to conversion and purification and preparation. The time for repentance, that is, change has come. There’s about to be a great reversal. The last, the least, the lonely, the outcasts, the tax gathers, the soldiers, the common folk are going to be lifted up. They are the very ones who shall be regarded as the sheep of God, to be restored and given hope and love, in a world that condemned and saw them all as the dispensable folk of the world.
John appears in the desert, that place of evil spirits, and we see redemption taking place. Evil is being overcome, and people are being made ready for the coming of the Lord. John becomes Isaiah’s voice of one crying in the wilderness and in the desert. John is the builder with the angels for the coming of the messiah, the Lord, to be with his people. John is calling his people to a preparation for that coming of the Lord God.
Much of our world today is not unlike the dry parched land of the desert wilderness. The evil spirits, and the evil spiritedness of hate, doubt, hopelessness, despair, greed, and terror surround us. Too many women and children know too much about abuse. Unscrupulous drug dealers trap young people. We all fear the uncertainties of terror. There are still many human problems that make us feel deserted by God, and at the mercy of evil that is difficult to escape. We are not free from fear and uncertainty.
But the message of the ages is the very fact that God has and is coming to his people. The God of love and hope is redeeming the very place of evil spiritedness, the desert wilderness of human life. The deserts will blossom, and the Christ who once was himself tempted in the wilderness will be the way to The Kingdom of God.
The passages of Isaiah and of Mark are passages that call us to preparedness, for a readiness, and alertness, to the coming of the Lord God, once again. For the ancient Hebrews, the was the assurance of their forgiveness and the gift of the hope of restoring their land. For the early Christians, there was the assurance that the Christ had come among them, to restore hope and assurance of a better life. The least and last were restored to hope. There was a call to repentance, change, in readiness for the Christ who resisted the world’s ways with the hope of another way of life, love and sacrifice.
We have seen and enjoy in the story of the birth of Christ, the assurance that God has come among us. But what really lies ahead for us in this day and age, is the hope and anticipation that Christ will come again, to renew and restore us to hope and love and joy. The Kingdom of God prevails. That’s our good news. It is in being ready and willing to make the necessary changes in our lives that Christ will come again to us, and that the world we know will become a new world, a world where pollution is a thing of the past. Our children will become addicted to what is right and good. Where we will know peace in the world.
Lo, He comes. Join the angels in building the foundations for God to come among us to be our pastor and shepherd. Be willing to change your own life to be resonant with the way of Christ.
Monday, December 2, 2002
ADVENT 4
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: ADVENT 4
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 2, 2002
TEXT: 2 Samuel 7:4, 8-16– “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”
Luke 1:26-38 – “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
ISSUE: These stories tell of the fulfillment of God’s promises to his people for a new world at peace under the justice of God in Jesus Christ. The Christian Scripture, and beginning of Luke’s Christmas story, tells of the coming of God to the least of folk, and the story of their being raised up with him begins. The fulfillment of human hopes is realized in the coming of Jesus Christ to the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The story of Christmas begins in the passages from the Hebrew Scriptures and the appointed Christian Scripture for this day. The passage from the Book of 2 Samuel tells of God’s promise to King David. The reading from the artistry of Luke’s Gospel tells of the imminent fulfillment of the promise.
In the little town of Bethlehem, long, long ago, there was a man by the name of Jesse and he had several sons. His last and youngest son’s name was David, and David was a shepherd boy. David became the chosen to be come the leader and ruler of all the tribes of Israel, uniting the countries Judah and Israel into one nation. Out of David’s rule came a time of prosperity and peace. While David was hardly perfect, he did sustain the approval of God. Through the court’s prophet, Nathan, God gave to David a promise. That at the end of reign, when he would like down with his ancestors, God would provide an outstanding successor from his lineage. God, himself, would be his father, and the new King would be his Son. The new king would build a lasting temple, and the promise concludes: “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; you throne shall be established forever.” David’s immediate successor, and son, Solomon did build the temple, but after Solomon Israel and Judah divided once again, and the nations declined for an extended period of time where there were wars, often-poor leadership, and the nations were conquered by their enemies. The Temple was destroyed on several occasions after rebuilding attempts. However the promise of God was still in the background.
Out of that ancient background, came the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. St. Luke’s Gospel beautiful and artfully crafts the birth story of Jesus to convey the hope and the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy and the promise. The angel Gabriel, a messenger from God, appears to a young woman who is betrothed to a man named Joseph, who is an ancestor of the ancient King David. Mary is very perplexed and apprehensive about this the mystical visitation, and this strange greeting. This period was a time when men never spoke to women, especially if they were alone. Gabriel assures her that there is nothing to fear, and he gives to Mary the news that she shall conceive and bear a son. God’s spirit overshadows her. Mary receives the new that she shall bear a son, and that “he will be great, and called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will rule over the house of Jacob (the Hebrews, and his Kingdom will have no end.” The ancient promise is fulfilled.
Hopefully we’ll avoid being side tracked into concerns over the problems of virginity. Some people become stumped in their belief about the Virgin Birth. Others have somehow felt that virginity is better than sexuality. These issues are not what this artistic story is about. It is about God fulfilling his promise, and God’s spirit overshadowing a very young woman who will bear the Son of God, and the new hope for the world. Her motherhood, like the motherhood of every caring woman is immaculate, as Scholar William Loader says.
Just as David the shepherd boy had been the youngest and last of his brothers in Bethlehem, Mary too is from Nazareth, and nothing good comes from Nazareth. She is barely a girl out of childhood, with no claim to anything. From her and through her comes the Son of God. To the least and the last God comes. God comes to the bottom in Jesus Christ into the process of raising-up all that is fallen, and raising-up those oppressed by the injustices of the world. Notice how in Luke’s birth story of Jesus, the great powers of the world are listed: In the time of Emperor Augustus, a census is ordered throughout the Roman Empire, and Quirinius is governor of Syria. It was a time of great oppression and injustice for the expendable poor. Christ the King comes simply through a virgin woman and to an oppressed people. Few know much about Caesar Augustus, the Roman Empire, or Quirinius. But the name of Jesus lives on to this very day, as the new king of peace, forgiveness, hope, and justice for all the people of God. What seemed to be so impossible becomes possible through God’s intense love for his creation and the way to reuniting the people of the world into The Kingdom of God under the leadership of the ways and the teachings of Jesus Christ. In the words of Mary, “He has come to fill the hungry with good things, and to send the oppressive and the greedy away.” (Paraphrased quote)
Christ comes through the expendable Mary, who declares herself “the servant of the Lord, let it be according to your word.” May we each allow ourselves to be the servants of the Lord, and the channels through which the Christ’s love may flow, like streams of living water through a conduit. God’s spirit needs desperately to touch many of the injustices of the world. William Loader, an Australian Biblical Scholar, points out how young women and children in some eastern countries are often abused today by unscrupulous gangsters, selling young girls into prostitution and forcing them into labor in sweat shops. They are the expendable people, children, of our time.
We all especially as Americans, must be so careful about our approach to Christmas. It is a season where so many of us are incline to over indulge our children and ourselves in our wealth. It becomes a happy time in the darkness of winter, and we try to enlighten things with decorative lights. We can become so sentimental over the baby Jesus, and giving a few scraps to the poor. We might remind ourselves of the story of the rich man who dresses in fine purple robes and feasts sumptuously, and then throws breadcrumbs to the poor.
We are living in a time, when some factions in our country seem intent on going to war. The result could well mean the destruction of many innocent lives, especially children, many of whom have already been traumatized. No guarantee for peace is really evident through such action.
All of us as individuals and as a nation stand in need of the savior. We stand in need of the coming Christ to teach and lead the way. To be the ruler of our lives, and to bring the changes, which have to come to bring justice to the world. Christmas is about the human need, the world need for a savior. The world needs a new understanding of what is power, and what is just. It needs a new understanding of being servants with Christ, with God in the world, who join with Christ in a sacrificial life. It needs a renewed understanding of love as care and devotion for one another, for other people, nations, and races different from our own.
The coming of Jesus Christ again gives us another opportunity to step into his Kingdom, into the Kingdom that is God’s, where we become channels of his grace, and those who serve and honor him as the peacemakers, and those who seek what is right, and Jesus Christ is acknowledged as King of Love and Prince of Peace.
SEASON: ADVENT 4
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 2, 2002
TEXT: 2 Samuel 7:4, 8-16– “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”
Luke 1:26-38 – “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
ISSUE: These stories tell of the fulfillment of God’s promises to his people for a new world at peace under the justice of God in Jesus Christ. The Christian Scripture, and beginning of Luke’s Christmas story, tells of the coming of God to the least of folk, and the story of their being raised up with him begins. The fulfillment of human hopes is realized in the coming of Jesus Christ to the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The story of Christmas begins in the passages from the Hebrew Scriptures and the appointed Christian Scripture for this day. The passage from the Book of 2 Samuel tells of God’s promise to King David. The reading from the artistry of Luke’s Gospel tells of the imminent fulfillment of the promise.
In the little town of Bethlehem, long, long ago, there was a man by the name of Jesse and he had several sons. His last and youngest son’s name was David, and David was a shepherd boy. David became the chosen to be come the leader and ruler of all the tribes of Israel, uniting the countries Judah and Israel into one nation. Out of David’s rule came a time of prosperity and peace. While David was hardly perfect, he did sustain the approval of God. Through the court’s prophet, Nathan, God gave to David a promise. That at the end of reign, when he would like down with his ancestors, God would provide an outstanding successor from his lineage. God, himself, would be his father, and the new King would be his Son. The new king would build a lasting temple, and the promise concludes: “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; you throne shall be established forever.” David’s immediate successor, and son, Solomon did build the temple, but after Solomon Israel and Judah divided once again, and the nations declined for an extended period of time where there were wars, often-poor leadership, and the nations were conquered by their enemies. The Temple was destroyed on several occasions after rebuilding attempts. However the promise of God was still in the background.
Out of that ancient background, came the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. St. Luke’s Gospel beautiful and artfully crafts the birth story of Jesus to convey the hope and the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy and the promise. The angel Gabriel, a messenger from God, appears to a young woman who is betrothed to a man named Joseph, who is an ancestor of the ancient King David. Mary is very perplexed and apprehensive about this the mystical visitation, and this strange greeting. This period was a time when men never spoke to women, especially if they were alone. Gabriel assures her that there is nothing to fear, and he gives to Mary the news that she shall conceive and bear a son. God’s spirit overshadows her. Mary receives the new that she shall bear a son, and that “he will be great, and called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will rule over the house of Jacob (the Hebrews, and his Kingdom will have no end.” The ancient promise is fulfilled.
Hopefully we’ll avoid being side tracked into concerns over the problems of virginity. Some people become stumped in their belief about the Virgin Birth. Others have somehow felt that virginity is better than sexuality. These issues are not what this artistic story is about. It is about God fulfilling his promise, and God’s spirit overshadowing a very young woman who will bear the Son of God, and the new hope for the world. Her motherhood, like the motherhood of every caring woman is immaculate, as Scholar William Loader says.
Just as David the shepherd boy had been the youngest and last of his brothers in Bethlehem, Mary too is from Nazareth, and nothing good comes from Nazareth. She is barely a girl out of childhood, with no claim to anything. From her and through her comes the Son of God. To the least and the last God comes. God comes to the bottom in Jesus Christ into the process of raising-up all that is fallen, and raising-up those oppressed by the injustices of the world. Notice how in Luke’s birth story of Jesus, the great powers of the world are listed: In the time of Emperor Augustus, a census is ordered throughout the Roman Empire, and Quirinius is governor of Syria. It was a time of great oppression and injustice for the expendable poor. Christ the King comes simply through a virgin woman and to an oppressed people. Few know much about Caesar Augustus, the Roman Empire, or Quirinius. But the name of Jesus lives on to this very day, as the new king of peace, forgiveness, hope, and justice for all the people of God. What seemed to be so impossible becomes possible through God’s intense love for his creation and the way to reuniting the people of the world into The Kingdom of God under the leadership of the ways and the teachings of Jesus Christ. In the words of Mary, “He has come to fill the hungry with good things, and to send the oppressive and the greedy away.” (Paraphrased quote)
Christ comes through the expendable Mary, who declares herself “the servant of the Lord, let it be according to your word.” May we each allow ourselves to be the servants of the Lord, and the channels through which the Christ’s love may flow, like streams of living water through a conduit. God’s spirit needs desperately to touch many of the injustices of the world. William Loader, an Australian Biblical Scholar, points out how young women and children in some eastern countries are often abused today by unscrupulous gangsters, selling young girls into prostitution and forcing them into labor in sweat shops. They are the expendable people, children, of our time.
We all especially as Americans, must be so careful about our approach to Christmas. It is a season where so many of us are incline to over indulge our children and ourselves in our wealth. It becomes a happy time in the darkness of winter, and we try to enlighten things with decorative lights. We can become so sentimental over the baby Jesus, and giving a few scraps to the poor. We might remind ourselves of the story of the rich man who dresses in fine purple robes and feasts sumptuously, and then throws breadcrumbs to the poor.
We are living in a time, when some factions in our country seem intent on going to war. The result could well mean the destruction of many innocent lives, especially children, many of whom have already been traumatized. No guarantee for peace is really evident through such action.
All of us as individuals and as a nation stand in need of the savior. We stand in need of the coming Christ to teach and lead the way. To be the ruler of our lives, and to bring the changes, which have to come to bring justice to the world. Christmas is about the human need, the world need for a savior. The world needs a new understanding of what is power, and what is just. It needs a new understanding of being servants with Christ, with God in the world, who join with Christ in a sacrificial life. It needs a renewed understanding of love as care and devotion for one another, for other people, nations, and races different from our own.
The coming of Jesus Christ again gives us another opportunity to step into his Kingdom, into the Kingdom that is God’s, where we become channels of his grace, and those who serve and honor him as the peacemakers, and those who seek what is right, and Jesus Christ is acknowledged as King of Love and Prince of Peace.
Sunday, December 1, 2002
ADVENT 1
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: ADVENT 1
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 1, 2002
TEXT: Isaiah (63: 15-19) 64:1-9a – O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
ISSUE: There is profound and beautiful imagery in the Isaiah reading. It is as if, a beaten sinful nation is expressing its yearning to be saved and redeemed by The Father who seems to have turned his back on them. It is an image of the imploring prodigal son who yearns to return to the goodness of The Father. It is the nations coming to its senses, its right mind. We have been molded by the great potter, and need to be in his hands once again. The passage is one of pleading hope, fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I do hope that you listened and read carefully the extraordinary passage from the prophet Isaiah this morning. It is to that passage that I want to draw your attention. What rich beautiful and elegant yearning for the presence of God. So much of the Isaiah’s Hebrew Scriptures are so beautifully appropriate to the Advent Season, and the this world of our time.
The passage reveals a yearning prayer of Isaiah the prophet: “O that you (God) would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence . . . . – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble in your presence.” This passage and prayer comes from a period in the history of the Hebrew people when they had been exiled to a foreign land. Their homeland had been destroyed and the Temple in Jerusalem totally destroyed. The political and religious structures were in ruins. During the period of the their exile they lived under the injustices and the oppression of their enemies. Many of them lost the rituals of their faith, and often turned to foreign gods and marriages, lessening their identity as the people of God. This prayer implies their unfaithfulness in turning to other gods, and their harlotry as a nation of unfaithful. Even when they were finally allowed to return to Judah and Jerusalem, they returned to nothing more than ruins. It was a heart breaking time of despair and hopelessness.
In the passage comes the pleading of the prophet for God’s people: O God, tear open the heavens and come down to us. Remember us. Show your power and your glory to the nations of the world. Make the earthquake at your coming, just as you did when Moses stood before you on Mount Sinai. Set the brushwood ablaze, as you did the burning bush of Sinai. Strike the waters with your lightning that make water steam and boil instantly. But God you became angry when the people turned away from you building a golden calf. You became angry when we were in exile and we lost sight of you. It is as if God you have turned your face from us. Standing outside the boundaries of your affection, it is as if we are all worthless, dirty, and unclean. We have becomes like dried dead leaves in the wind of your spirit that drives us farther and farther away from you. We are overwhelmed by our sin, the burden is intolerable when we are so far from you. Isaiah closes the prayer pleading: “Yet, O Lord you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever.” Notice the reference to the Lord as “Father.” The appeal to God in the Hebrew Scriptures as “Father” is very rare, and considered to be much to familiar a term for common people to appeal to God.
The appeal here is that God is the one who has begotten us, just like the Potter begets the molded bowl. God is like a father. From the Christian stand point, what I think you see here is Israel, Judah, like a prodigal son, who has been lost coming to its senses in the Prophet’s Prayer. It is a nation crying out to its Lord, to its maker, to its Daddy! IT is like a child crying out in the darkness and its fears. Open the door and come in to us light and hope shine upon us. Lord, God tear open the heavens and come back to us, save us from our despair and hopelessness we implore you, and let the world see your power and your glory.
I think passages like this one, which is a prayer for a wayward nation, also reflects the personal suffering of the people of this time. Life was never easy. Diet was poor, medical care non-existent. Infant mortality was very high. Children and people died young. Young children were often orphaned. On top of this you homeland is taken from you. You have to make a journey to a foreign land and nothing is familiar. The total structure of your society with its laws and customs are totally foreign. Is it any wonder God’s people sat down and wept? Their world was chaos. “O God, rip open, tear open, the heavens and come down to us. Remember us, we are your children, and you are our Father; can you turn away forever? Save us and redeem us, which essentially means take us back and don’t be angry with us forever!
Now notice in the Gospel of Mark today, which incidentally is the Gospel that will be highlighted throughout this next year, this too is a passage in Christian Scripture also directed to an extraordinarily difficult time. It is apocalyptic in nature revealing again a need and longing for God to come and save his people. Mark wrote this passage either just before, or just after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. It is time expressed in apocalyptic language of signs, not to be taken literally. Once again it is a time of great destruction. It is as if the end his hear, and the very foundations of both heaven and earth are shattered. Again the destruction is overwhelming. Mark’s message is stay faithful; change, or repent, and await the coming of God the Father again to restore a world of misery. Be ready for a time when God will tear open the heavens and come to His children.
Notice well that we also are living in an apocalyptic age. That was made especially clear on September 11, 2001. If you were in New York City that day, the sky turned black with smoke. If you were in one of the towers, it was as if the very heavens had collapsed as you were being consumed in fire. We saw a symbol of our affluence crumble. IN Washington, D.C., we saw the symbol of American power, the Pentagon, under another severe attack where the sky turned black. We were then at war: War with what? War with whom? When will it end? We are already at war with the drug cartels that are killing our children. Is or is not the impending war with Iraq a part of this apocalyptic experience. What biological and dirty atomic gizmos lie ahead for us?
And by the way, African nations are facing drought and impending famines, Again! The AID’s epidemic is growing. Poverty in our own land is growing. Policemen in our streets, which are symbols of authority that have come under fire as chaos reigns in the streets and in our schools, like Columbine High. Even the church is plagued with misconduct. Each and everyone of us usually are and are presently dealing with some kind of personal crisis, like illness, alcoholism, abuse, worry about family, loss of jobs, and loved ones. What have we done; what have we done; what have we done to deserve a world like this one. People say, they don’t understand the Bible. Well, I bet we understand Isaiah prayerful plea: O God, that you would tear open the heavens and come down to us, and give the world one hell of a shaking! O God you created us, like a Potter molding a bowl. Do it again Lord, like a loving father re-shape, and re-make us all over again, and bring us into the true light of your salvation and hope.
And then, one day, some shepherds looked up into the heaves, and the heavens were torn open. And the saw a heavenly host of angels singing, Glory to God in the Highest, and peace on earth among men and women who please God. If only Isaiah could have been there. Born in Bethlehem is a savior, who is Christ the Lord. Unlike the demanding, manipulative powers and affluence of the world, the Christ comes to God’s people. He brings, well we know what he brings: sacrificial love, healing, hope, resurrection and lifting up, hope. In addition, Jesus’ coming just doesn’t mean, every body love good old Jesus and everything is going to be all right. But Jesus brings hope, and a call and a mission to each of us. We are clay in the hands of the potter, and each of us is different with varieties of talents and abilities. We are called into fellowship with him, camaraderie with him. Our lives and the world we live in are only overwhelming, if we see ourselves as alone. We are not alone. God has torn open the heavens and come to us to bring peace, and to make us into a set of clay ware pottery that the world in time may learn to feed on the bread of life and hope. We are all his vessels and he has torn open the heavens to come among us, and the spirit of flame and fire (as the kids would say, “The fire bird”) has come and is coming again to revitalize us. Be alert, awake, look for Jesus Christ to embrace you life. Let him come again to renew you, strengthen you, to alert us all to the healing and the peacemakers of the world who have already embraced the power of God. In all of the apocalyptic events of our lives that would cause us to cry out, “O Lord, tear open the heavens and come down to us.” Be alert and aware of his coming, and be prepared to follow him like a mighty company of saints in light into the future with hope.
SEASON: ADVENT 1
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 1, 2002
TEXT: Isaiah (63: 15-19) 64:1-9a – O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
ISSUE: There is profound and beautiful imagery in the Isaiah reading. It is as if, a beaten sinful nation is expressing its yearning to be saved and redeemed by The Father who seems to have turned his back on them. It is an image of the imploring prodigal son who yearns to return to the goodness of The Father. It is the nations coming to its senses, its right mind. We have been molded by the great potter, and need to be in his hands once again. The passage is one of pleading hope, fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I do hope that you listened and read carefully the extraordinary passage from the prophet Isaiah this morning. It is to that passage that I want to draw your attention. What rich beautiful and elegant yearning for the presence of God. So much of the Isaiah’s Hebrew Scriptures are so beautifully appropriate to the Advent Season, and the this world of our time.
The passage reveals a yearning prayer of Isaiah the prophet: “O that you (God) would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence . . . . – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble in your presence.” This passage and prayer comes from a period in the history of the Hebrew people when they had been exiled to a foreign land. Their homeland had been destroyed and the Temple in Jerusalem totally destroyed. The political and religious structures were in ruins. During the period of the their exile they lived under the injustices and the oppression of their enemies. Many of them lost the rituals of their faith, and often turned to foreign gods and marriages, lessening their identity as the people of God. This prayer implies their unfaithfulness in turning to other gods, and their harlotry as a nation of unfaithful. Even when they were finally allowed to return to Judah and Jerusalem, they returned to nothing more than ruins. It was a heart breaking time of despair and hopelessness.
In the passage comes the pleading of the prophet for God’s people: O God, tear open the heavens and come down to us. Remember us. Show your power and your glory to the nations of the world. Make the earthquake at your coming, just as you did when Moses stood before you on Mount Sinai. Set the brushwood ablaze, as you did the burning bush of Sinai. Strike the waters with your lightning that make water steam and boil instantly. But God you became angry when the people turned away from you building a golden calf. You became angry when we were in exile and we lost sight of you. It is as if God you have turned your face from us. Standing outside the boundaries of your affection, it is as if we are all worthless, dirty, and unclean. We have becomes like dried dead leaves in the wind of your spirit that drives us farther and farther away from you. We are overwhelmed by our sin, the burden is intolerable when we are so far from you. Isaiah closes the prayer pleading: “Yet, O Lord you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever.” Notice the reference to the Lord as “Father.” The appeal to God in the Hebrew Scriptures as “Father” is very rare, and considered to be much to familiar a term for common people to appeal to God.
The appeal here is that God is the one who has begotten us, just like the Potter begets the molded bowl. God is like a father. From the Christian stand point, what I think you see here is Israel, Judah, like a prodigal son, who has been lost coming to its senses in the Prophet’s Prayer. It is a nation crying out to its Lord, to its maker, to its Daddy! IT is like a child crying out in the darkness and its fears. Open the door and come in to us light and hope shine upon us. Lord, God tear open the heavens and come back to us, save us from our despair and hopelessness we implore you, and let the world see your power and your glory.
I think passages like this one, which is a prayer for a wayward nation, also reflects the personal suffering of the people of this time. Life was never easy. Diet was poor, medical care non-existent. Infant mortality was very high. Children and people died young. Young children were often orphaned. On top of this you homeland is taken from you. You have to make a journey to a foreign land and nothing is familiar. The total structure of your society with its laws and customs are totally foreign. Is it any wonder God’s people sat down and wept? Their world was chaos. “O God, rip open, tear open, the heavens and come down to us. Remember us, we are your children, and you are our Father; can you turn away forever? Save us and redeem us, which essentially means take us back and don’t be angry with us forever!
Now notice in the Gospel of Mark today, which incidentally is the Gospel that will be highlighted throughout this next year, this too is a passage in Christian Scripture also directed to an extraordinarily difficult time. It is apocalyptic in nature revealing again a need and longing for God to come and save his people. Mark wrote this passage either just before, or just after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. It is time expressed in apocalyptic language of signs, not to be taken literally. Once again it is a time of great destruction. It is as if the end his hear, and the very foundations of both heaven and earth are shattered. Again the destruction is overwhelming. Mark’s message is stay faithful; change, or repent, and await the coming of God the Father again to restore a world of misery. Be ready for a time when God will tear open the heavens and come to His children.
Notice well that we also are living in an apocalyptic age. That was made especially clear on September 11, 2001. If you were in New York City that day, the sky turned black with smoke. If you were in one of the towers, it was as if the very heavens had collapsed as you were being consumed in fire. We saw a symbol of our affluence crumble. IN Washington, D.C., we saw the symbol of American power, the Pentagon, under another severe attack where the sky turned black. We were then at war: War with what? War with whom? When will it end? We are already at war with the drug cartels that are killing our children. Is or is not the impending war with Iraq a part of this apocalyptic experience. What biological and dirty atomic gizmos lie ahead for us?
And by the way, African nations are facing drought and impending famines, Again! The AID’s epidemic is growing. Poverty in our own land is growing. Policemen in our streets, which are symbols of authority that have come under fire as chaos reigns in the streets and in our schools, like Columbine High. Even the church is plagued with misconduct. Each and everyone of us usually are and are presently dealing with some kind of personal crisis, like illness, alcoholism, abuse, worry about family, loss of jobs, and loved ones. What have we done; what have we done; what have we done to deserve a world like this one. People say, they don’t understand the Bible. Well, I bet we understand Isaiah prayerful plea: O God, that you would tear open the heavens and come down to us, and give the world one hell of a shaking! O God you created us, like a Potter molding a bowl. Do it again Lord, like a loving father re-shape, and re-make us all over again, and bring us into the true light of your salvation and hope.
And then, one day, some shepherds looked up into the heaves, and the heavens were torn open. And the saw a heavenly host of angels singing, Glory to God in the Highest, and peace on earth among men and women who please God. If only Isaiah could have been there. Born in Bethlehem is a savior, who is Christ the Lord. Unlike the demanding, manipulative powers and affluence of the world, the Christ comes to God’s people. He brings, well we know what he brings: sacrificial love, healing, hope, resurrection and lifting up, hope. In addition, Jesus’ coming just doesn’t mean, every body love good old Jesus and everything is going to be all right. But Jesus brings hope, and a call and a mission to each of us. We are clay in the hands of the potter, and each of us is different with varieties of talents and abilities. We are called into fellowship with him, camaraderie with him. Our lives and the world we live in are only overwhelming, if we see ourselves as alone. We are not alone. God has torn open the heavens and come to us to bring peace, and to make us into a set of clay ware pottery that the world in time may learn to feed on the bread of life and hope. We are all his vessels and he has torn open the heavens to come among us, and the spirit of flame and fire (as the kids would say, “The fire bird”) has come and is coming again to revitalize us. Be alert, awake, look for Jesus Christ to embrace you life. Let him come again to renew you, strengthen you, to alert us all to the healing and the peacemakers of the world who have already embraced the power of God. In all of the apocalyptic events of our lives that would cause us to cry out, “O Lord, tear open the heavens and come down to us.” Be alert and aware of his coming, and be prepared to follow him like a mighty company of saints in light into the future with hope.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
