Be Like the Shepherds: Christmas Sermon, Year A

 And now... Christmas Part II!

Texts: Isaiah 62:6-12; Ps.97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:8-20

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Good morning! And Merry Christmas!

What a time to be marking this moment of God’s extraordinary act of entering our world not as some ethereal royal Superman… but as a common baby boy.

He moves out of the darkness and security of Mary’s womb…and into the uncertainty… and fragility of being born among straw and farm animals to regular human parents.

Talk about trust and lowering one’s self to be below the angels!

God with us…Emmanuel… coming to us through Jesus.

He is a child born in what was essentially on the streets in ancient Palestine… a reminder that the one who comes to bring more light, more love, more compassion, more mercy into the world is not that unlike you and me.

So it makes sense in Luke’s telling of the birth story… the ones who hear the news first of this most important and amazing newborn are the shepherds.

Shepherds during this time were not romantic figures.

They were kind of stinky.

They were not part of the polite society.

Some scholars report that they weren’t trustworthy enough to testify in court.

They were the rough and tumble Jewish working class of the First Century.

It’s to this group that the angel comes to declare that “I am bringing good news of great joy!”

“I am” comes to the shepherds…out there in the field tending to their sheep.

The poor… the lowly… the easily pushed aside…the ignored and marginalized become the first receivers of the news of Jesus’ birth.

This seems so fitting!

Because if there’s going to be anybody on the planet who could stand to be told that there is something really good that’s coming… it’s the people who the world would sooner forget than to give comfort.

Jesus entering the world as one with the marginalized has served as the hope for those who are the disenfranchised and disinherited throughout history.

The 20^th century theologian Howard Thurman took great comfort in God coming first to the poorest of the poor.

In his most well-known book “Jesus and the Disinherited” Thurman talked about what the life and ministry of Jesus means to those who are not the powerful and the elite.

As a black man growing up in segregated Daytona Beach, Florida, Thurman found in the story of Jesus a kinship… in fact…a true king-ship.

Following this one who is God manifested in human flesh and blood provided an important blueprint for Thurman’s life and ministry.

Jesus demonstrates how love can resist the tyranny of unjust systems… and even break through the barriers erected against the righteous without succumbing to bitterness.

Jesus… the man… demonstrated how to maintain dignity and extend it to others even as the Roman oppressor mocked and scorned him… throughout his ministry and all the way to the cross.

By demonstrating how to remain grounded in love even while facing hatred and systems which placed limits on his citizenship… Jesus has served as that wonderful counselor the prophet Isaiah envisioned for the future….for generations of people who have struggled in this world.  

The selection of the shepherds to be the recipient of this angelic good news is no accident.  

This is a great gift for a people who were living in an occupied land and under the thumb of a Roman Empire which counted citizens but didn’t care about them.

And like any really awesome gift…they can’t wait to share it with everyone!

This band of men who have crashed the Holy Family’s makeshift birth cottage and crowded around the manger to see this incredible gift of hope wrapped in bands of cloth…are overcome with excitement.

Upon seeing Jesus for themselves… they could not keep quiet.

We can almost see them… and their sheep… bleating and baahing… as they head back to their fields praising God that the Messiah… the one who will stick up for the oppressed of Israel… has been born in Bethlehem.

Huzzah!

This joy… this exhilaration… like that of the shepherds is exactly the response God is looking for from us on this Christmas day.

OK…maybe not running up and down Bemiss Road with bleating sheep and shouting praises to God at the top of our lungs.

But if we have felt touched and moved by Jesus and how Jesus teaches us that sticking with love is the way to answer the bullying and nihilism that seems so pervasive in our world… then we shouldn’t be shy about acknowledging that we draw strength…inspiration…courage… from our faith in Jesus.

I’m not talking about forcing your belief in Jesus on another person.

But when a person who is struggling and is in the place of feeling as if their back is against the wall turns to you and asks you for counsel… give them Jesus.

The Jesus born on the streets.

The Jesus whose parents couldn’t find room in the inn.

The Jesus who could heal the sick everywhere but his hometown.

The Jesus who knows what it is to be deserted by his friends.

The Jesus who was killed and then came back because the Spirit of Love cannot be contained in a grave.

The Jesus you have known…and who has known and loved you.

Once again… I see the signs that this is a community of believers who know Jesus.

As the forecast started showing that we were in for some bitterly cold temperatures… this St. Barnabas community stepped up.

On very short notice… we have collected warm items from our homes and those of friends and neighbors to help those in need.

Blankets…coats… hats… all items to help the unhoused in Valdosta and Lowndes County make it through these next few bitterly cold days.

Perhaps one day… our prayers for those suffering and in need will be answered.

Maybe the hearts and minds of leaders in this community and so many others across the country will be moved to answer our housing crisis.

Then… we might see earth become a little more heaven-like.

Howard Thurman wrote a poem called “The Work of Christmas”…which I think captures the spirit I see our little church shepherding into the world:

When the song of the angel is stilled

When the star in the sky is gone

When the kings and princes are home

When the shepherds are back with their flock

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers,

To make music in the heart.

 

In the name of God…F/S/HS.

 

 

Out of the Darkness and Into the Light: A Sermon for Christmas Eve, Year A

This is my first time ever celebrating Christmas as a priest. I'm a little nervous. I don't know who is coming to church, or if they will ever come back to church after tonight. And so all of the human feelings of needing to be "on" are bubbling up inside of me while remembering the higher ideal that this is NOT about me. Even when other people want to make it about me, I keep pushing back. Because if people's relationship with God and the salvation they seek is about me... ohhh...noooo! 

Usually, one would likely preach about the Gospel; however given the times we're living in... and all that we've been through between COVID, and insurrection, and racial reckoning and war...the Isaiah reading really was capturing my attention. 

Besides... this is one of the rare times in the calendar when we will have Christmas ON a Sunday, so I saved the Gospel for Sunday morning's service. 

Texts: Isaiah 9:2-7; Ps. 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14

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Prayer: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Is. 9:6) Friends, let us pray: May God’s word be spoken, may God’s word be heard, and may it infuse our hearts in wonder of God’s love. Amen. 

The prophet Isaiah gives us such rich and beautiful imagery. Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. 

Is it any wonder why Handel couldn’t resist this language when composing the Messiah? 

 The prophet’s poetic oracle paints a vivid picture of both what is in the present and what is coming in the yet-to-be future. 

In the present… we see a time of emergence for a people breaking out of doom and gloom and oppression and into light and joy. This is such a hope-filled passage. 

 It comes around every Christmas Eve, and yet somehow, it seems this particular season… it’s a much-needed lesson. It feels to me as if we are people who have endured a lot of darkness… so much division… far too much toxicity and anger. We all could stand to see a great light! 

That’s the reality of our times. 

The reality that existed for Isaiah’s people was one of war. Assyria had conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel…just one of many invasions and times of mourning and exile that would scatter the people. The life on the ground for those living in the Northern Kingdom was a time of suffering…broken wills…defeated souls…terrible despair and disillusionment. 

 Life during wartime is like that. Both then and now. 

We’ve all been witnessing what has been happening these past ten months in Europe with the ongoing war in Ukraine. With the harsh winter starting…and temperatures as cold and colder than what we’re experiencing here…Ukrainians are in the midst of a land of deep darkness. Literally. 

 There is no electricity, no heat, and no running water in parts of the country. Russia has bombed apartment buildings…theaters…even children’s hospitals. As Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky told our U.S. Congress this week, Ukrainians will be lighting candles for Christmas… Not for any romantic vision of God’s Messiah…but because that’s the reality of how his citizens must live. 

 And yet… even with the brutality continuing to cause such terrible suffering … President Zelensky talked about the faith of the Ukrainian people. War has not broken their spirits. And they hold fast to their belief that good will overcome evil. 

 Just as with Isaiah’s prophecy…there is a confidence in the Ukrainian people that those who walked in darkness have seen a great light. A light which keeps them going in what sometimes must seem almost like a battle of David vs. Goliath. 

 It has shown up in the way that world has responded to their cries for help. Nation upon nation have condemned what the Russians are doing. Journalists have not shied away from telling the truth and few are believing the Russian propaganda. And not just the governments of the world. 

 Individual citizens here in Georgia have opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees.

 I saw a report where St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis accepted Ukrainian children battling cancer who had to be evacuated out of the country as bombs were dropping around them. Cities and towns have taken in people from war torn areas such as Ukraine, Syria, and Afghanistan and helped them to get settled. Such generosity of spirit provides that flicker of light in the darkness. 

 That light kindles the fire of hope in the hearts of those people who have been in a dark place in their lives because of the evil actions of others. 

It is so appropriate that when Isaiah expresses the Hope for a Future… he says it will come in the form of newborn child. 

 As with any baby… the reality is that this life represents a promise of a future … with lots of potential. The hope expressed in Isaiah is that this child will grow up and bring about a new reality…one in which those qualities of “wonderful counselor” and “prince of peace” will become the new normal for a weary and troubled people. 

These words are associated with the coronation of a new king… much like the names that were spoken of the kings of Ancient Egypt. But they also hold special meaning for us as we consider the meaning of the birth of Jesus in our own story of Christianity. 

We hear the term wonderful counselor. The textbook definition of “counselor” is one who dispenses advice. When we think of someone who is a wonderful counselor… we aren’t getting the cookie cutter counsel out of a textbook. 

 A wonderful counselor is a person who has lived and seen things… knows how the world operates… and can guide us toward making wise decisions through their street smarts. The best counselors don’t tell us what to do…but engage with us. They urge us to tap into wisdom as they walk with us on a path toward deciding what we will or will not do. 

If we follow the life and ministry of Jesus… we see how he dialogues with people… encouraging them to open their eyes wider to see the reality he presents to them. A reality where there is good news brought to the poor. Sight for the blind. Freedom for the captives and liberation for those who have felt the yoke of oppression. 

We also hear “Prince of Peace” or in the Hebrew “shalom.” 

This isn’t peace like peace and quiet… birds chirping… pretty flowers… and dancing unicorns prancing through the fields. That’s a really sweet and beatific kind of peace… which works for Hallmark but doesn’t resemble our real world. 

 Shalom is more like the peaceable kingdom kind of peace…where wolves and lambs live side-by-side. It’s a peace that is holding a tension between enemies. 

 To bring it into our modern-day context… it would be a kind of peace if Russia would stop attacking Ukraine. The two sides would agree to sit down and talk instead of fight. The damage done in war will never be forgotten…but there’s an effort to reach forgiveness and seek a relationship where both sides can get along. 

 This is not easy work. It may even seem to be impossible work. And if dominance of the other is the only goal… then we really do need a Prince of Peace to lead us in the way toward a place of peaceable coexistence. 

And that brings us back to this new life… and the people emerging out of the darkness. 

Isaiah wants us to see a vision… a hope for a future as we look for the promise that comes from the son given to us. The prophet… like the angels singing the Gloria at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem… is calling to us to see the hope that is breaking into our world. This new life is bringing more love… a spirit of compassion… and will be encouraging us to keep our light burning bright even during the darkest days. 

 Our Advent wreath…now with all five candles lit… stands as a symbol of that light of Christ we bring to the world. We are joined in this season with other traditions also seeking a reality where there is more love, more justice, and more mercy for those who are hurting. May we join our light with those on the Hanukkah menorah and the Kwanzaa Kinara to be beacons for those seeking peace. 

 In the name of God…F/S/HS.

Make God's Dream Come True: A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent Year A

 

When I sat down with the readings for this week, the discussion about Joseph and his experience of encountering God's messenger in a dream was the winner for my attention. I especially thought about the experience of dreaming. Reading through some commentaries...I realized something I hadn't noticed before: the only "voice" we hear in the pericope, besides the narrator, is God's. Both Joseph and, even more importantly Mary, are silent. And subtle, yet important, reminder that we need to not do so much talking as listening. 

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Text:   Matthew 1:18-25

 

How many of us have had dreams?

I don’t remember all the dreams I’ve had, but I have had few very vivid ones. The types of dreams where when I woke up… I had to wonder “Did that really happen?”

Those are the most disorienting, aren’t they?

The dream world can be such a fantastic place. Sometimes it can be a startling or unsettling. It can be blissful and pleasant.

Ultimately…it’s a place where once we’ve moved around in it and have had whatever strange and amazing adventure… we come out of the dream a little different than before.

Some dreams can stay with us in a way that… even if we didn’t actually sprout wings or whatever… we’ve had an experience that has changed our perception.

If we were struggling with a problem before we went to bed… sometimes our unconscious mind is able to pull together disparate threads of information… and put the puzzle pieces together in such a way that now… an answer becomes clearer.

That seems to be what has happened to Joseph in this scene from Matthew’s Gospel. He went to bed thinking he had solved a problem…but his dream presents him with another and better solution.

We know that Mary and Joseph are engaged…and that Mary has been found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Our biblical narrator knows this pregnancy is by the Holy Spirit.

Mary knows this to be the case…although Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t present her side of the pregnancy story.

It’s not clear what Joseph knows…beyond the fact that his bride-to-be is now pregnant…and he knows he’s not the father. If he knows that this pregnancy was a divine intervention… he may or may not believe it.

What is clear is that Joseph is righteous… meaning he is a just man… a good guy… knows and lives by the law.

And the law says that he has every right to tell his teenage bride to get lost.

He could ruin her life forever.

Dismiss her as an adulteress and be done with her.

But Joseph reaches a different conclusion.

Even though he knows his rights in this patriarchal system… he also knows the system would be cruel to Mary.

And even though this is not a marriage of love in the way we think about marriage… he must have felt some affection for her.

So instead of drawing attention to his now-pregnant young bride… he decides his best way out of this mess is to send her away quietly.

This is still not a great option for Mary. But it keeps the matter more hush-hush.

This dilemma… this tension between what is right by the law and what is right by the heart… provides the opening for God to step in.

And using the mechanism of the dream state…where the ego can’t interrupt to sideline this divine conversation…God uses one of the angels to intervene. 

“Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, Joseph, Son of David.”

Don’t be afraid…by the way… is a favorite phrase in the Bible.

And it always seems to be said at the very moment when being afraid would be the logical choice.

And having an angel tell you not to be afraid?

I don’t know… I think that might be go, “Uh-oh! Now what?”

The angel tells us what the “Now what? is for Joseph.”

Stay with Mary.

This is a special child…conceived in holiness.

You’re going to name him “Jesus.”  

Jesus…the Greek version of the very common Hebrew name Joshua.

A name that means “God saves.”

And that’s what Jesus will do.

Not just the people of Israel who are an occupied people.

The liberation Jesus will offer extends to all people… no matter who they are… where they’ve been… or even where they’re going.

This dream of Joseph… this angelic vision… is not just his dream.

This is God’s dream coming to fruition.

This is God going into action deliberately seeking out this couple to change the trajectory of how things were going to happen in the world.

Joseph’s dream helps to fulfill God’s dream to enter our existence through Jesus… to become one with us by becoming one in flesh and blood with us.

And…despite all the promises of a coming Messiah who will baptize with fire…and John the Baptist’s conviction that the Messiah was going to kick-butt and take names….

Jesus is an ordinary baby born in the most meager of circumstances.

He is not one of means.

As I said…even his name… Jesus… was pretty run of the mill.

It was in the top three of favorite boy baby names in First Century Palestine.

To have the one named “God Saves” come into the world as a baby of such regular parents…and not some royal figurehead… shows how God works through ordinary people to do extraordinary… daring… and wonderful things.

This is how God’s purpose gets acted out over and over.

This Messiah…this Jesus… is very much on the same level with you and me.

And he came to teach us a way to live and move and have our being that frees us from the petty and mean-spirited ways in which we put down ourselves and other people…and infuse the world with more love.  

That’s the audacious dream of God!

Always seeking a way of deliver humanity out of the nightmare of oppression and self-limiting thinking.

We are invited to make this dream of God come true.

Just like Joseph… we’re called to take part in God’s action plan to help achieve God’s dream...a world that looks more like Isaiah’s peaceable kingdom where prey and predators don’t feel the need to threaten and bully another into submission.

All of us have been through a lot these past few years between COVID and the cancerous venom of our political discourse.

It seems oddly perfect then that this Gospel story mutes the voices of both Mary and Joseph… and the only one who gets to speak…really… is God.

Perhaps that’s the lesson for us as we prepare to welcome this baby Jesus on Christmas morning.

Maybe it’s time for us to do a lot less talking about Jesus and about God…and actually listen and do the work of reconciliation and relationship building to achieve God’s dream for the world.

What a thing it would be to have that dream come true!

In the name of God…F/S/HS.

 

 

 

 

Good Overcomes Darkness: A Sermon for the Third Sunday After Advent

 

photo Sandy Hook Elementary students evacuating/CNN

I have such a long drive between my home in Tallahassee and St. Barnabas in Valdosta. The upside is that it gives me time to decompress and listen to NPR shows such as 1a. I've even been known to send in comments to the program and get that listener buzz when I hear them use my question or read my comment on the air. "Susan" has been cited at least a couple of times. :-)

This past Wednesday, the first hour of the program was dedicated to talking with the producers and participants in a podcast called Still Newtown. It was one of those must-listen radio moments. And it became a large contributor to my thoughts for this sermon. 

Texts: Is. 35:1-10; Ps.146: 4-9; James 5:7-10; Matt 11:2-11

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Good morning!

Welcome to Gaudete Sunday… or Rejoicing Sunday… or Pink Candle Sunday. The Church declared this a special day in Advent to give us a chance to step off the path of preparation and self-examination… and bask in the joy and wonderment of God’s love.

At least…that’s what the scholars say.

I would rather believe that after a couple weeks of preparation and probing of our hearts and minds…maybe we’ve been led to some new revelations…ones that might have raised some questions.

And it has been my experience that God rejoices at our questions…and taking us a little further along the path of faith and relationship…all leading to more joy and wonderment of God’s love.

Sometimes…it’s in those moments in our lives when we are feeling adrift…or out-of-sync with God…or even doubtful of God… that we’re ready to be found…in that Amazing Grace sort-of-way.

I recently learned of a podcast called “Still Newtown.” This coming Wednesday will mark the 10^th anniversary of the mass shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and this podcast is a multi-part series looking at the community today.

It was such a devastating event for the whole country…but especially to the parents and that town of 30-thousand people.

And while the podcast looks back on what happened…it’s main focus is on what has happened in the intervening time and how the community has pulled together.

There was an interview with the producer and one of the Sandy Hook parents talking about the show.

Jenny Hubbard’s daughter…Katherine… was six years-old when she was killed at school that day.

In the episode featuring her story…Jenny describes how her daughter always had a deep innate connection to animals.

Katherine loved every type of creature and would regularly go to the local pound and bring Milkbone biscuits for the dogs.

Jenny had to make a rule in their house that any creature Katherine brought home… worms… frogs… butterflies… would have to be released at the end of the day.

The little girl would enjoy her temporary pet…and when she’d take them outside to let them go… she’d ask them to “tell all your friends that I am kind.”

When Katherine died… and Jenny was filling out the obituary form… she had intended to have donations go to the Animal Control Center of Newtown… the pound that her daughter loved to visit with dog biscuits.

But Jenny left out the word “Control.”

Her mistake led to thousands of dollars in donations going to a small animal rescue outfit called “The Animal Center of Newtown.”

The women who ran the center met with Jenny Hubbard to ask what she would like them to do with this sudden extraordinary gift of cash.

And from that…the Katherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary was born… a place where children…adults…and animals can safely be together… and see the goodness of God’s creation in each other.

The motto of the sanctuary: “Tell all your friends that I am kind.”

Out of such a dark and tragic place… joy and the love of God’s creation has emerged.

It doesn’t erase the hurt of that day.

But the memory of Katherine isn’t that of a tragic victim.

She lives on as a child who loved all creatures beyond measure.

It’s that recollection of better memories… the joy of life… that presents itself in Jesus’ answer to John’s lament as he sits in prison.

Think about how last week…John was the prophet out at the River Jordan ready for change to happen.

He was promising the people that there was one even greater than him coming.

So great, in fact, that he wasn’t even worthy to carry his sandals.

That’s how sure he was that Jesus was “the” one, the Messiah.

Now John is in prison.

Prisons are places where hope goes to die.
Prisoners lose all their liberties.

They have no say over when they eat…or what they eat for that matter.

Doors clang open and shut all the time.

Their world is shrunk to the size of a 6-foot by 9-foot cell.

It’s just misery.

And it’s in this place where John is left to wonder: is Jesus really the Messiah?

We can hear in his questioning that nagging doubt:

“Did I get it wrong? I know that for him to increase… I must decrease. But I wanted a Messiah who was going to set things right…get us back to the purest religion… call the Sadducees and Pharisees “brood of vipers!”

When we’re in the belly of the darkest places of our lives… that’s when those voices of doubt seem to turn up the volume.

And for John… the stereo is all the way up to eleven.

Jesus hears about his concerns, his doubts and his fears.

But notice that he doesn’t answer the Messiah question.

Instead… Jesus goes back to the words of our poet and prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah is writing at a time of exile…when the people are scattered and in a type of wilderness moment in their lives.

The prophet is encouraging the people to remember that the God who delivered them out of bondage and oppression in Egypt will once more bring relief to their suffering.

Waters will flow in the desert…eyes will be opened…the deaf will hear and the lame will be able to walk.

Jesus draws upon this imagery and these words to speak to John’s anxiety.

Important to bear in mind: when Isaiah and Jesus talk about the blind being able to see and the deaf to hear… they aren’t talking about actual physical disabilities.

Like with so many other Bible passages that some have taken literally… these words have been used to harass people with physical differences… and to ostracize them when faith healings don’t work.

This is about spiritual blindness and deafness… giving strength to those who… for whatever reason… find that their circumstances are causing their faith to crumble.

Jesus is reminding John and us to not lose sight of the light and the joy even when we’re in a place of sorrow and despair.

Allow for the stirring of our memories of a God who doesn’t abandon us… and will be with us to end of our days.

Those memories get captured in the growing light of our Advent wreath.

It serves as the reminder of something Jenny Hubbard said in the Still Newtown podcast.

She talked about discovering hope in her grieving process. When asked what she hoped for, she said that when we become stagnant in our grief or complacent, we might miss out on the next blessing.

In her words:

“Goodness will always come out of darkness…regardless of what the darkness might be.”

In the name of God… F/S/HS.

 

 

 

Be Ready to Change: A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent Year A

 

This is probably one of the toughest seasons of Advent that I've had in awhile. What I realized as I was preparing to get online with my Spiritual Director is that I am dealing with a great amount of fear and depression and anger after this last election. As a Democratic voter in Florida (please note: I said "Democratic voter" not "Democrat." I think the party is pointless), I have been totally stripped of any real representation. And what has taken hold in this state is a brand of authoritarianism that would make Hungary's Victor Orban swell with pride. 

It has made preaching even more challenging. When my head is foggy with depression, it is hard to pull together coherent thoughts. Particularly thoughts that I must not simply preach...but live into myself.

So here's where I went....

Texts: Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12

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Prayer: Wise and loving God, awaken within us a desire to hear your Word, so that we may learn to walk in your ways and be the bearers of your compassionate light. Amen.

 

This week… I was picking up some clothes from the dry cleaners in my neighborhood.

I had made sure to bring a pen into the shop with me to sign for my receipt. But the attendant looked at me and smiled.

“We don’t ask people to sign any more…ever since COVID. Less contact.”

I put my pen away, we exchanged a few more words and then I loaded up the car and went on my way.

It made me contemplate the things that change in our lives due to some catastrophic event…like a global pandemic.

Contact-less transactions.

Fist and elbow bumps have replaced handshakes.

We’re now used to taking off our shoes and belts and having to practically unpack our carry-on bags before getting on an airplane.

Highway crashes and deaths finally compelled the use of seat belts in cars and the institution of speed limits on the roads.

Of course…some changes seem slow to happen.

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery remind us that racism and unconscious bias along racial lines is still our ever-constant companion.

At the same time, those incidents…broadcast so widely during our pandemic lock down… appeared to have disturbed and awakened at least some more white people to the problem of racism and how it plays out in ways that are baked into our culture. It’s an alarm that has been going off repeatedly for decades…but we just keep hitting the snooze button.

The need to wake up… and become more aware of what is happening around us is an important theme of this season of Advent.

If we’re going to be prepared for this inbreaking of God…we better not be dozing off in a corner.

Fortunately…we have prophets such as Isaiah and John the Baptist who won’t let us pull the covers up over our head.

The prophets keep rousing us and pushing us in the direction of repentance.

That word…” repentance”… carries such a heavy weight… and for some of us… it’s a weight too much to bear.

So how about if I use its true meaning:

These prophets keep pushing us to return to God…rethink the path we’re on and move toward something like what Isaiah describes in our first reading.

Isaiah gives us a vision of a world where we all get treated with respect and dignity.

Natural born enemies and predators not only stop hurting one another.

They’re able to be in contact with one another.

Not one creature is on edge, afraid or murderous toward the other.

Paul confirms that same vision in his letter to the Romans. He describes a reality where Jews and Gentiles can say those words from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech:

“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God, Almighty, We’re free at last!”

What both the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul are seeing is a world filled with hope.

A hope of what can be…but is not yet.

A hope built upon the faith that when we turn from centering on our selves and return to God…not only will we change….the change in us can begin to effect a change in the world around us.

That’s what I think John the Baptist is calling on us to be: agents of change.

John was a change agent himself.

If we remember the story of his birth… it was Mary’s elderly cousin Elizabeth who was John’s mother. His father had been struck dumb because he couldn’t believe his wife was pregnant.

When John was born and everyone demanded to know the child’s name… nobody wanted to believe Elizabeth when she said, “His name is John.”

So… patriarchy being what it is…the crowd went to Zechariah, the father.

When he wrote down that the child was named John… miraculously… his mouth opened… and he began singing praises to a liberating God.

John’s birth… like any child’s birth… changed the lives of his parents… in strange and powerful ways.

Now we meet him as a grown man, the one who is “the prophet of the Most High.”

John was fed up with the religious institutions of his day… and he went to live out in the Judean wilderness to lead a group called the Essenes.

He was into a “let’s get back to basics” kind of religion; hence his camel’s hair shirt… and his diet of locusts and wild honey.

Clearly there was something about him that fascinated people. Crowds were walking out to meet him by the River Jordan.

Maybe they were like him, dissatisfied with what they were getting from their more orthodox leaders.

Maybe they were just curious onlookers.

But when the Pharisees and Sadducees show up… John is irate.

For him… these religious leaders had become too attached to the “things” and “rules” and in fact were metaphorically killing their own people’s souls through these attachments.

The term “brood of vipers” refers to newborn vipers which ate through their mother’s stomachs to be born.

Obviously… John didn’t have much love for these two groups!

For John… the Pharisees and the Sadducees were the representatives of a religion that was happy to go through the motions… say the right words… in the correct order.

But to allow their faith to actually change them and become agents of change?

God could get as much change out of the stones!

John was heralding in a new era…one which was going to challenge the status quo to change.

Get back to building the type of beloved community that was waiting to spring forth from the root of Jesse that Isaiah was talking about.

There’s an Italian film by Paolo Pasolini that tells the story of the Gospel of Matthew. In the depiction of this scene at the Jordan…when John is taunting the Pharisees and the Sadducees… the leaders look ashamed and hustle away.

The change John demands of them would require them to give up too much…or at least that’s what they believe.

They’d have to surrender some of their worldly power. And…even scarier…they’d have to let go of some of the constructs they’d developed about their powerful identities.

And nothing… and I mean nothing… will threaten the ego more than to having to let go of any part a well-curated sense of self.

This tension between the need or even desire to change… and the fear of what that change might cost us…is an ongoing struggle for us humans.

We seem to be able to make changes and adjustments when a cataclysmic event happens…at least for a short while.

But we don’t need to wait for a pandemic or horrible attack… or a threat for us to seek a new way to live and move in the world.

Real… and lasting change begins with looking at ourselves…and asking the questions of ourselves.

What prejudices must we allow to die to bring about new life?

What old ways are we clinging to that no longer aid us in our spiritual growth?

Have we grown too comfortable with the way things are that we can’t imagine a different future?

These are some of the questions that the prophets nudge us to contemplate for ourselves.

The more we are willing to engage with such questions…the better chance we have to move this world in a Godward direction.  

Remember John’s words about Jesus… that Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Each of us have been brought into the body of Christ through that baptism.

That fire…that spark of Christ within each of us…is ready to burn away those things which keep us from changing and growing into the people God needs us to be.

The light on our Advent wreath is one candle brighter this week.

May it serve as a symbol of a growing light within each of us.

In the name of God…F/S/HS.