First Sunday After Christmas

Sermon-Year B-1st Sunday after Christmas-12-28-08
The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
Years ago I was watching a sci-fi show on tv. It was about a planet full of people. I can’t remember much about the show except that the planet exploded creating this incredible pulse of light. A thousand light years away some wise men saw the light and thought it was a star and followed it to Bethlehem. The whole purpose of that planet was to detonate and create light so others could follow it.
The story in today’s gospel is about Simeon and Anna. They were both quite elderly and had been waiting, waiting at the temple, it appears for many years, waiting for the moment when a savior would appear. And when Mary brought Jesus to the temple to go through the purification rituals, Simeon and Anna were there. And they praised God and sang songs, and made prophecies. Simeon’s words are not all praise. They are both good and terrible. At first Simeon says that this child, this infant will be a revelation and a glory for Israel. But then he goes on to say that Jesus will lift people up, and also tear many down; he will tell the inner thoughts of many, and Mary will suffer greatly because of her son-and a sword will pierce your own soul, also.
This is a terrible prophecy, and Mary and Joseph must have been confused by all these predictions.
But I want to stay with Simeon and Anna. Two elderly people who had been waiting, waiting for this moment all their lives. For them, this was the moment they were made for. This was their purpose. This was their reason for life. To see the savior, to praise him, and to share these prophecies.
How would you like it if your whole life was meant for this one brief shining moment? This one opportunity? We want our lives to be more than that, we want our lives to be full of purpose and meaning throughout-not just for five minutes.
Years ago I took an ethics class and the professor posed the oldest conundrum in the book. You’re in a life raft with a bunch of other people, there’s only enough food for a few people, some will have to die for the few to live. So everyone comes up with a variety of solutions so that the most people can live. But it always entails several dying. At the end of the discussion, the professor asked, “what if no choice was made about who had to die?” The class erupted-but if some didn’t die, then all would die. “Yes,” the professor said, “but is that the worst thing that could happen? What if the few days that everyone had alive were the best days of their lives? What if their time together was what they were put on earth for?” In all the times I’ve played this game, never once have I ever heard anyone make th is suggestion-that all live-and all die.
I don’t know about you, but from time to time, I wonder about my purpose. Why was I put here? What did God hope or want from me? What is my mission? Do you wonder that, too?
Ever since I heard that professor explain a different possible ending for that story, I have often wondered about that. Sometimes when I am in a tough spot I will think to myself, “maybe my whole life was meant for just this one moment, maybe my whole purpose is to bring the good news into this one bad awful position.”
I never know the answer. I think we live and die, never knowing why we are here or what exactly our purpose20is. But I do know this, when I am in a very awkward situation, it really helps me when I think, maybe this is why I was made, maybe this is why I’m here-for just this moment.
Like I say, I’ll never know. But there have been several times when I changed how I was going to act, and became a better person, because I asked that question.
When I listen to Simeon and Anna, I think, would they feel alright knowing that this is their purpose, this is their whole reason for living-this very moment at the temple, this praise, this prophecy. Would they feel ok about that?
I don’t know. But I do know this, when I am in a bad spot, thinking that my purpose, my reason for being alive may just be to make that situati on better, to redeem that moment-that helps me and gets me through.
When I listen to Simeon and Anna, I think, maybe that’s what kept them waiting all those years-knowing that that one brief moment would be enough. When I hear of someone who dies too young, too tragically, too suddenly, I think to myself, it’s not how long we live that matters. It’s the effect that we have in whatever time we have.
For Simeon and Anna-it was a long life-building to this moment. For us, it may be something different. Why do you think you were made? What are you here for?
2:29 "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;
2:30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
2:31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
2:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
2:33 And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.
2:34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed
2:35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul too."


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Holding Promises (Luke 2:22-40)
by John Stendahl
John Stendahl is pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Newtons in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. This article appeared in The Christian Century, December 4-17, 2002, p. 17. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. Current articles and subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock.
Picture the old man with the baby in his arms He stands chuckling with giddy joy, or perhaps he gazes with streaming tears on his cheeks, or is lost in transfixed wonder; in whatever way, he is so very happy. Then he says that this is enough now, he is ready to die. He has seen salvation and he can depart in peace.
But what has he seen, really? It’s just a little child in his arms, a powerless, speechless newcomer to=2 0the world. Whatever salvation this baby might work is still only a promise and a hope; whatever teaching he might offer will remain hidden for many years. Nothing has happened yet. Herod still sits on his throne and Caesar governs from afar. The world looks as it did before.
But Simeon stands there in grateful wonder. It is the future he holds in his hands. He has seen and touched it. He is satisfied. It is, as he said, enough. And then Anna, also old and approaching the end of her days, adds her own joy and praise to the moment. She’ll be telling everybody about this baby whom she saw for just a few minutes.
By the time a mature Jesus comes onto the stage of history, Simeon and Anna will be long dead. So will most of those shepherds who came to see the child in the manger, and possibly Joseph, who watched over him, and some or all of the magi who feature in the other nativity story. Thirty years or more will pass before the gospel story recommences in the ministry of Jesus. In the meantime they who saw the baby, knelt at the stable or laid their tributes before him would not know what became of him. They would know only what they had heard and seen back then.
Though some might take this aspect o f the stories as no more than an accidental effect of nativity prologues for the Gospels, it seems to me to offer us both connection and encouragement. We too are people who have seen something but not its full unfolding. Paradoxically, Simeon and Anna do not so much belong to the gospel’s prehistory as they are paradigmatic for our own experience of that gospel.
What we have, in a sense, is hardly more than they had. We have the scriptures that school us in hope and attentiveness. We have stories and covenants and signs. We have moments, or the memory of moments, when the tender compassion of our God has come close enough to see and feel. We have something like the shepherds would have had, recalling all their lives a night of mysterious glory, or like what the magi brought back to their homelands, a vision of a different kind of king and kingdom. Their eyes had seen the glory of Israel, the light for the nations.
We have that as well, though for us the world has resumed its accustomed form and, in the light of day, seems largely unsaved and unchanged.
We have also the children now briefly entrusted to our arms for blessing and who will, we ho pe, live on after us. We pray that their lives will be grand with wisdom and courage and that they will make the world better. As we get older, life becomes increasingly about them and less and less about us. When I hold a child in my arms, as Simeon cradled Jesus in his, my life seems literally recentered: not in myself but just in front of me there. It is around this present future, this vulnerable and miraculous little one, that my universe bends.
You may argue that we have much more than Simeon and the other prologue-dwellers did because we have the rest of the gospel story. We know what happened to the baby and understand more fully the pattern of his life. We know his teaching and the pattern of his passion and vindication. But note that Luke describes Simeon as fairly clued in on that score as well, telling Mary of the conflict and the sorrow that lay ahead. We have no significant advantage even there.
What we have is in these ways hardly more than what Simeon had. But what that is, is wonderful indeed. The canticle he prays has become for much of the church a song to follow the communion meal. We have now seen and tasted the promised future. We have held the Christ child. Taking bread and wine to our lips, we have kissed him and with words and songs we have caressed his presence. We may not get all the way to his future ourselves, not in this life -- but we’ve seen it, and that’s enough, we say. We can go in peace now.
But is it really enough? Are we not both ethically and spiritually called to dissatisfaction with such partiality? Should there not be more, and should not the blessing be made something present rather than just a memory of the past or a hope of heaven? Having tasted the kingdom’s presence, we hunger and thirst the more for it. Having seen it, we strive to bring it home. Frustrated and yearning, we call for God no longer to tarry, to fulfill the promise, to give us today the bread of tomorrow.
That’s all true, but with that struggle and longing we may be the more grateful for the spirit of Simeon and for those times we find ourselves with him. His song has become a sort of Christian Dayyenu, that great Passover song which proclaims each little part of the salvation as sufficient and great enough. We may want more than this manna, but still our hearts lift in thanksgiving.
We have seen. It’s enough for now.


Luke 2:22-40
2:22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
2:23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"),
2:24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."
2:25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.
2:26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.
2:27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law,
2:28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
2:29 "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;
2:30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
2:31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
2:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
2:33 And the child' s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.
2:34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed
2:35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul too."
2:36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,
2:37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.
2:38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
2:39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
2:40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Christmas Eve

Sermon-Year B-Christmas Eve-12-24-08
The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

Kathleen Norris, the famous author, tells a story about a friend of hers. This friend is doing her doctoral thesis on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. She has been working on this thesis for 10 years and is turning it into a book. This friend has been to Corinth in Greece, owns copies of Corinthians in several languages including Greek, German, and several English translations. In other words, this woman knows the letter to the Corinthians-backwards and forwards. But one day she stopped in a church and listened as they read a passage from the letter-and she began gasping for breath. She had never heard the passage in just that way before-and she was amazed. Because it sounded new to her friend.
How many times have you heard the Christmas story? How many Christmas cards have you read or sent with Christmas pictures on them? At the staff Christmas party we went around the room asking people what was their favorite Christmas movie-there were 12 people present and they named 15 or 16 different movies. How many times in how many ways, over how many years have you heard the Christmas story? When is the last time that you heard it, or saw it, or felt it, and you came away gasping for breath? Amazed at what you saw or heard or felt? How can we hear something over and over and it still has power in our lives?

2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.
When you see someone every day, do something every day, feel the same things-every day, we stop appreciating them, we no longer realize what we see, or do, or feel as special. It begins to feel ordinary and common. And then one day, we suddenly wake up and it’s as if we have been asleep for a long time.
It’s as if we see a great light.
These are hard times. It is hard to see light when there is so much gloom, when fear and disappointment seem everywhere. It is hard not to feel discouraged.
In 1861 the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wife, Fanny, was killed in a terrible fire. He was seriously injured trying to put the fire out (why he is always seen with a beard) She was the love of his life and they had been married 18 years. He was in deep mourning. 2 years later he received word that his oldest son, Charles, was gravely wounded in the Civil War, and was not expected to live. And the next year at Christmas he wrote this poem: I heard the bells on Christmas DayTheir old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeatOf peace on earth, good-will to men!"
But to Longfellow, a man in terrible sorrow, the words were a mockery and travesty. The 6th verse goes like this,
And in despair I bowed my head;"There is no peace on earth," I said:"For hate is strong,And mocks the songOf peace on earth, good-will to men!"
But the bells kept tolling, and Longfellow had to listen to them as deep as his grief was. And finally he wrote this last verse.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!The Wrong shall fail,The Right prevail,With peace on earth, good-will to men!"
How hard it is to let the darkness in our lives go. When we’ve been hurt or scarred deeply, when we’ve been down a long time, it is so easy to ignore the bells. How hard it had to be for Mary-so far from home, so alone, so poor and separated from everything that was light and hope-to hold on to the words of the angels: I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.
What do you think Mary, after walking 75 miles, laying in a bar n, having a baby with no epidural, attended only by her husband, was actually thinking- “This is a great joy”?

I like the phrase, “…and Mary pondered these things in her heart…” I’ll bet she did. I’ll bet she had quite a few thoughts for God that weren’t written down.
If we learn anything about Christmas it’s that birth always comes when life is darkest.
Kyle and I were climbing the holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, in northwest Ireland in early August. It was cold and damp, and ver y foggy. And it was a hard steep climb over miles of scree (loose rock). Everyone we talked to kept saying the same thing, “oh, you have about another half hour-and the hard part is just ahead.” And all of a sudden, in the fog, there was the outline of a building up ahead. It was the chapel built on the summit, the place where everyone was supposed to stop and pray after a long tough walk. We stayed there about half an hour, and then the fog cleared, and we could see all the way to the bay a few miles below. And then we knew it was time to start down.
Christmas is about God breaking into our lives when we are least likely to see him, in forms we least expect him, often at times when we least want him. Christmas is about a very bright light shining in our darkness.
About 20 years ago, two Americans were invited by the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics from the Bible in the public schools. They also taught at a large orphanage. In that orphanage there were about 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned or abused.
It was nearing Christmas, and they told the children the story of Joseph and Mary and Jesus and the Angels and Shepherds and the Magi – for the first time. The children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. After they finished the story, the children were given simple materials so that each child could make his or her own nativity scene (sort of like worship centers). They used three small pieces of cardboard to make a manger. They tore yellow napkins to make straw. Small squares of flannel were used for the baby's blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt . As the orphans were busy making their nativity scenes, one of the teachers walked among them to see if they needed any help.
All went well until he came to one table where little Misha sat. Misha was about 6 years old and had finished his project. As the teacher looked at the little boy's manger, he was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, he called for the translator to ask Misha why there were two babies in the manger. Misha crossed his arms in front of him and began to repeat the Christmas story. The teacher was amazed. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christma s story once, Misha told the story with great care and detail until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger. Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending to the story.
Misha said, "And when Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn't, because I didn't have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, "If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?" And Jesus told me, "If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me." "So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him---for always."
Sometimes it’s hard to hear the old familiar tune in a new way. After a million cards and a zillion carols and a thousand movies, and even a hundred sermons, it’s hard to be amazed20and gasping at a story we all know so well. But even if we hear nothing new tonight, nothing fresh, hear this, there is a bright light that shines in our darkness. Especially in the hardest times, especially when we are least ready, especially when we don’t want to let the darkness go, there is a bright light that gives us hope and sets us on our way. There is a light that comes through the fog, a bell that keeps ringing, a story that won’t let us go- and shows us the way.
Let’s see if this is the night you hear the story in such a new way that you’re amazed and gasping. Let’s see if this is the night you see the light shining in your darkness.

What's your color?

Sermon-Year B-3 Advent-12-14-08
The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
Today is called “Gaudete Sunday”, from a Latin word meaning “to rejoice”. The first word of the Introit at Mass (Gaudete, i.e. Rejoice). When Advent used to be much more penitential, this Sunday was a bit of a break and instead of four purple candles in the Advent wreath this Sunday added a pink one as a symbol of this different focus.

I was at a meeting of clergy and we were talking about this lesson from Thessalonians. And this young priest said, “play this game, notice everything that you can see that is green.” Well, once somebody says that, it’s hard to stop seeing green everywhere. Another person said, “try NOT thinking about elephants.” (I’ve lost you now haven’t I-you’?) Well, try to think of something OTHER than elephants. You’re either looking at everything green in the church or you’re so focused on elephants, that you’ve already checked out of the sermon. Their point was that when we focus our attention on something, it’s becomes so easy to get fixated on it-and we have trouble turning it off.
The point this other priest was making (the one who spoke about seeing green) was how important it was to focus on being positive right now, to look for the good, to hunt for the happy elephant, to think about Good green. We spent half an hour praying and talking about this reading from Thessalonians:
16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise the words of prophets, 21but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22abstain from every form of evil.
Powerful words. And as we clergy talked about the difficulties our congregations were going through right now, I started thinking about the power of these words: 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. ….. hold fast to what is good;
Hard things to do. The church in Thessalonica was flourishing despite a lot of opposition and persecution. Times were hard, and yet the people and the church there were growing-in numbers and in depth. It wasn’t easy. Paul the apostle had started the church and then was run out of town. So he sent them this letter, to encourage them, and to help them-even when he wasn’t allowed to be with them. He gave them impossible advice: we can’t possibly rejoice ALWAYS; we can’t constantly pray without ceasing; there is no way we can, Give thanks in all things. But Paul tells these new Christians to do that. Listen, Paul was a realist, he knew what people could and couldn’t do. And he knew that people could not do these things-but still he encouraged them to try. Because he knew that times were hard, that they would be challenged, and that their lives would be difficult. And so he told them to notice everything that was green. To NOT think of elephants. He wrote to them that their faith would require them to be extraordinary. He told them to choose what they focused on, make a decision about their attitude, to select who they would be. He wanted them to know that faith in Christ didn’t mean being thankful FOR all things-but finding that which was God IN all things.
The great preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote a book called A Faith for Tough Times. He tells the story of a woman who had a very painful and serious case of arthritis. Most days all she could do was lay in bed. She received a visit from one of her friends one day. The friend lamented at length about the woman’s arthritic’s condition, finally ending her words with: “this illness will certainly change the color of your life.”. To which the woman with arthritis answered: "And I propose to choose the color."
Paul writes his new struggling church in Macedonia, the Thessalonians, and he tells them, CHOOSE THE COLOR OF YOUR LIFE.
16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. hold fast to what is good;
Listen, being positive and encouraging in our economy, in our circumstances right now makes little sense. Times are hard and may get worse. Challenges abound, and some days they are too much for us. We feel powerless over much that is happening, and that is ALWAYS hard to accept. But we can choose the color of our lives. We can decide on who we will be and what we follow. We can focus our attention.
Here’s the elephant I “don’t” want you to think about this week: 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I could give you a thousand inspirational stories about being positive-but you already know that this is true. It is when things are hard, that we most need to hear these words, feel the support of others, know that we are going to make it, and believe that God is with us as we journey. This does not come easily. But it is what we decide. It is what we resolve, it is the green that we see everywhere we look.
Today is Gaudete Sunday, when we light the pink candle and remember the word, “rejoice”. It is the day we hear the words of encouragement from Paul to the Thessalonians. It is the day that I challenge you to choose which color your life is going to be, when I ask you NOT to think of elephants of faith and hope. It is the day when we hear and take into our hearts, 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
This is the will of God for us.

It's a humbling experience

Sermon-Year B-2 Advent-12-7-08
The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
How many of you watched or listened to some or all of the Senate Banking Committee hearings this week? Where the CEOs of the Big Three were being questioned by senators and then congresspersons about the loans they were asking for? Did anyone, um, feel sorry for those guys? I did. They were grilled. And yelled at them. And told basically that they were fat, bloated, inefficient, causing the death of the planet, and killing the American economy. Personally, it was painful watching it, because these three CEOs had to sit there and take it. I read an editorial about a week ago where it said that when Lee Iacocca went to congress 30 years ago asking for Chrysler to be bailed out he had a swagger and an attitude-whereas these 3 guys had to sit there and be humiliated in front of the whole country. No attitude, no indignation, no demand for respect or consideration. No matter how mean anyone was, no matter how painful it felt, no matter what anyone said to them-they had to sit there and say, “yes sir, may I have another.” I felt sorry for them. These were the captains of industry being eviscerated in front of everyone. They offered to give up their jets, their salaries, the control of their companies and still they had to be lambasted. It was painful watching. Do you think these 3 guys will survive?
I’ll be talking to some young person who’s just quit their first job, and they’ll say, “I had this boss who was giving me a lot of grief, and I don’t take that from anybody-so I quit.” And I always smile, because I remember saying exactly the same thing a million years ago. Someone treats you poorly-or you think they do, and you say to yourself, “I don’t have to take this” and you walk away. And you think, I’ll never take that kind of embarrassment, that shame. I’ll walk out first.
And then something happens as you get older. You realize that you will be ashamed, and humbled from time to time. And that we will survive. Sometimes we deserve it, quite often we don’t-but it always hurts. The memory of it, even years later, still stings. Remember a time when someone dressed you down, made you feel small, took away your dignity-and you just had to take it? Maybe it was at work-a job you couldn’t afford to lose; maybe it was in a relationship-it would cost you more to fight and win than to lose; maybe it was in a store where an employee or a customer treated you badly and publicly-for no apparent reason. And did you survive? We have all been there-stuck in that moment where we were being humiliated, and we- just-took-it. And you said nothing. This hurts too much, I’ll die of embarrassment. But we didn’t. We survived.
John the Baptist is trying to prepare the world for a savior who is coming. Clearly he doesn’t know who this savior will be nor what he will look like. But he knows that “one” is coming. And then John the Baptist says something very odd, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.”
I wonder if that was hard for John the Baptist to say-to acknowledge that despite all that he had given up, all that he had suffered, all that he had sacrificed, that the one who was coming would be greater than he? More powerful. I wonder how painful that was for John the Baptist? You know, he was considered a great prophet in his day. He had an army of followers. He was feared by kings and worshipped by the multitudes for his holiness. How would he feel when he saw how ordinary, how common his successor looked? Do you ever wonder, “was John the Baptist disappointed” when Jesus showed up? John preached a harsh message, a strict discipline, a tough attitude-my way And the high way. And Jesus-didn’t. How galling did that have to be for John? The Bible says that after these two cousins were born their paths crossed only one other time-at Jesus’ baptism. Who was humbled then? John baptized Jesus-who was the authority? John was older, more popular, more recognized throughout Israel. Did Jesus survive this public embarrassment?
Listen to what Charlotte Joko Beck, a famous Zen writer says,
“Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor, or employee, every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath.”
Right now a lot of folks in America are learning humility-the hard way. It is painful to lose our jobs, to change our lives, to live on less, to give less, to cut back, do without. It hurts to lose our homes, and our 401ks, to watch our savings dwindle, to ask for help and to have people do us favors. It’s hard when we aren’t in control, when we need others, when we can’t be as independent as we always saw ourselves. It hurts to have others help us, and to have to ask for help. But it’s teaching us something about ourselves and about life. And about God. It hurts to be humble. It just hurts. It hurts when we have to swallow our pride and eat crow. And it’s Advent. This is the season of John the Baptist and Mary the Virgin-two people whose greatest gift was their humility, their willingness to be used by God, their willingness to let someone else be greater than them. This is the season when we talk about preparing for life changes and heart transformations.
It’s hard being humbled. It hurts.
1975 I left Kansas City, after a lot of success, moved to Chicago, and in a month’s time got a great apartment a plum job. Two months later, fired and, broke, I returned to Kansas City and faced my friends and family-feeling like a failure. It was 33 years ago. I did not think I could live after that. I survived.
Ask the CEOs of three of the biggest companies in the world how it feels. In humility, comes change and growth. Through the storms and pain, we listen to the teachers. Years later we look at the failures, the losses, the times of embarrassment and humbling, and we think to ourselves-I survived. I grew stronger. I became a different person.
This is Advent, the season of preparation and getting ready. It’s the season of repentance and expectation. And, it’s the season of learning and humility. When we reflect back on our lives, we realize that we have endured and faced other times of embarrassment-and we survived. We look at ourselves and see that we have made it through failures and losses and come out on the other side. It’s Advent. This is the season we look at the scars on our hearts and know that they are preparing us for greater things to come. We don’t just survive. God didn’t bring a savior into the world because we were worthy or to help us “just make it through”-he brought his son into our lives because we could not see past those scars, those hurts, that shame. It’s Advent, the season when we realize that we can live.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is amere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be strength at all. Like all the Christian virtues, it is as unreasonable as it is indispensable.”


Mark 1:1-8
1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
1:2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;
1:3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
1:4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
1:5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
1:6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
1:7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.
1:8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Heaven for the climate, and Hell for the people

Sermon-Year B-1 Advent-Nov.30, 2008, 2008
The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
This is a true story. I was dreaming the other night, dreaming about preaching today. And I couldn’t seem to finish the sermon. I was all over the place, with a thousand different points. Sort of like normal. And the sermon stretched to 20 minutes, then 25, then 30. And still I couldn’t find an ending, so I just kept going. And very quietly I heard a chant out in the congregation, “Di-ane, Di ane, Di-ane….”
I knew when I planned on my sabbatical that I would be returning just in time to preach for Advent. I will tell you a ministry secret-NO ONE LIKES TO PREACH THE FIRST TWO SUNDAYS IN ADVENT. The lessons are always about the end times the first 2 Sundays and NO ONE likes to preach then.
Jesus said to his disciples, "In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see `the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory.
These are scary words. Christians in the early days (40s and 50s AD) heard words like this and believed that Jesus would return any minute-and they prepared to die. They were excited about the end of the world.
Throughout history, in most of the world’s religions, there have been predictions about the end of the world. Seventh Day Adventists begun by William Miller, who predicted that the world would end sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. Samuel S. Snow a disciple of Millers, believed that the end would come October 22, 1844.
The Jehovah’s Witness teach that the end times began in 1914 with World War I. Most religions in the world have a set of prophecies about when and how the world will end. Miss Watson is telling Huck Finn about heaven and the end of the world, and she described it this way: “She went on and told me about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was to go around all day long with a harp and sing forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it.” Years later when Twain was asked about the afterlife he said, he said he would choose “heaven for the climate, and Hell for the people.”
When times are bad, when lots of hard things happen at once, we begin to wonder-“is the end near?” Every earthquake, war, catastrophe, and hurricane is used as a symbol of the approaching end. September 11th has often been used as a sign of the end of times. When we were walking the Camino I would pick up an English speaking newspaper and we would constantly ask, “what else?” The collapse of the mortgage market, massive unemployment, the possibility of worldwide depression-there are an incredible number of websites blossoming predicting the end of the world. What else?
What did we just hear in the presidential campaign? Sen. Obama preaching hope, and Sen. McCain advocating change. Why? Because they understood how people were feeling. Worried, scared, apprehensive about the future, and people will listen to those who promise a better world ahead. When times are hard, we look everywhere, hoping, searching for some one, some system, some plan that will save us, rescue us from the doom and gloom we see everywhere. Everyone wants to know-what else is going to happen? And how will it all turn out.
Barack Obama picked up on this desire to appoint him as a savior when he talked at a Catholic Charities dinner in October: “..he needed to correct some misconceptions about his background. "I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the Planet Earth," he said….
We look to the world around us when terrible things happen, and we wonder, “where is God? Why are these awful things happening? TO ME? WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN???
Advent is the season we’re supposed to find out something about the world and about our faith-and it is not about when we discover when the end will come.
If we have learned anything the last few months, it is that the things we frequently put our trust in, will not save us. The things we count on, the anchors and foundations for our lives, are so precarious and uncertain: jobs, homes, banks, the government. We look to the normal, usual institutions that we count on-and everywhere we look we see how fragile and flimsy they are.
And that is what Jesus is trying to teach in this powerful reading from Mark. As one writer put it: “The storms will come.” The future will be tough. We will often be challenged.
It’s Advent. The world wants to know when the end is coming. That is the way of the world. Jesus simply says, prepare your hearts for something new. Stay awake.
Leo Josef Suenens a famous Belgian Roman Catholic Cardinal, once wrote, “I am a man of hope, not for human reasons, nor from any natural optimism, but because I believe the Holy Spirit is at work in the Church and the world, even when His name remains Unheard..”
In the words of Hans Oehmig, “Let us come alive as hope-bearers to a desperate world.
It’s Advent. It’s time for us to be proclaimers of faith. In answer to the question-“what else?” Let us answer, Hope is coming. Amen.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama said he needed to correct some misconceptions about his background.
"I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the Planet Earth," he said, in a reference to Superman.
He also listed his great strength as "my humility" and his greatest weakness as being "a little too awesome".


The story is told that when Martin Luther was asked what he would do if he knew that the world was going to end tomorrow, he replied without hesitation, "I would plan an apple tree this afternoon." Luther didn't speculate about the end of the world. He focused on the present. He would plant that apple tree today because he believed that what may happen in the future does not excuse us from what God requires of us now, today, in our ordinary living.


For the last 10 days the grandkids have been staying at our house and I learned what is the worst word there is to a 6 year old. “Wait”.
From "Celebration Preaching Resources": Jesus warns us to be alert, because we don't know what time it is. And, when Yogi Berra was asked what time it was, he said, "You mean now?"
Wal-Mart worker died early Friday after an "out-of-control" mob of frenzied shoppers smashed through the Long Island store's front doors and trampled him, police said.
The Black Friday stampede plunged the Valley Stream outlet into chaos, knocking several employees to the ground and sending others scurrying atop vending machines to avoid the horde.
When the madness ended, 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour was dead and four shoppers, including a woman eight months pregnant, were injured.
"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since Friday morning!'" Cribbs said. "They kept shopping."

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Isaiah 64:1-9
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!
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed.
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls on your name,
or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
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.
Now consider, we are all your people.

Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18 Page 702, BCP
Qui regis Israel
1
Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
2
In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *stir up your strength and come to help us.
3
Restore us, O God of hosts; *show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
4
O LORD God of hosts, *how long will you be angereddespite the prayers of your people?
5
You have fed them with the bread of tears; *you have given them bowls of tears to drink.
6
You have made us the derision of our neighbors, *and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
7
Restore us, O God of hosts; *show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
16
Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, *the son of man you have made so strong for yourself.
17
And so will we never turn away from you; *give us life, that we may call upon your Name.
18
Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; *show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind-- just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you-- so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mark 13:24-37
Jesus said to his disciples, "In those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see `the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
"But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake-- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."