Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 12/15/2024, Advent 3
Centering Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, may your will be done, through me.
Good morning and welcome to this Third Sunday in Advent!
I have some sad news for you- Your scheduled preacher, John the Baptist, couldn't make it this morning - we had to stop him at the door - He was carrying an ax - threatening to chop down all those trees that are NOT bearing fruit...
He also had this wily and wide-eyed attitude - bordering on belligerent - looking very suspicious - as if he wanted to come in here and disrupt things!
And it makes me wonder... disrupt things?... disrupt things?... disrupt things?...
Isn't that what we want - what we need - what we pray for?
After all, look at the society we've built...
There are so many poor people - We learned here a few weeks ago that a realistic number is not the 12% of Americans who are under the national poverty line who are poor - but more than 40% who can't pay an unexpected $400 bill.
We've built a society where decent, affordable health care is out of reach for so many of us - put into the spotlight this week with that shooting of a health insurance company CEO?
We've built a society where opioid addiction - is running rampant - Where gun violence - is the leading cause of death for children Where a half-a-million Americans are waking up on the streets this morning - homeless?
And then let's get personal:
What about disruption closer to home...
What kind of lives have we built for ourselves?
Anybody got a few habits they want to see disrupted? Our habits of worrying too much? Our obeying, eating, drinking, sleeping, spending, speaking, or internet surfing? Any of these things need disrupting - Or are we good?
So ya, if it's a little disruption John's after - I suspect I'm not the only one who would NOT object to that!
And if you think things can NEVER change - and that we're hopelessly stuck in our habits and destined to live with colossal problems we can do nothing to fix - then you're not alone - Israel felt the same way! Hopelessly stuck!
And when you feel hopeless - you wear out - you give up - and you fall asleep!
Ya, Israel had fallen asleep 2,000 years ago -
And when the Good Lord saw this, John the Baptist was dispatched to wake them up!
And wake them up he did!
And wake them up, he's still doing!
It's not as if times have changed that much - and all of our education and technology has turned us into perfect people who have constructed perfect societies...
No, I think we have to let John the Baptist in the door of our church this morning because we know we've got problems to fix!
They've made us worn and weary, made us give up - even fall asleep!
We're like Israel; we know things need to change - and we, too, need to be awakened!...
We need the voice that paved the way for God to work back then - - to pave the way for God to work right now!
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And so we let John the Baptist in the door - and what does he say to us?
I guarantee it will NOT be, "Keep on doing what you're doing!"
Thanks, Albert Einstein, for pointing out the obvious with his famous definition of insanity -
Who can quote it for me? Insanity is... what? ___ (Doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result?)
No, John was heaven-bent on doing things differently!
He was interested in change - by proclaiming to people who knew things were bad but had gotten so used to it - that they had fallen asleep on the job!
So the first thing John did was call the people to account -
"You brood of vipers!" John begins - He clearly had NOT been reading his Dale Carnegie - on 'How to Win Friends and Influence People!'
No, John the Baptist wasn't interested in making friends - he was interested in changing things!
God has called some of us here to change things!
And we need to be reminded that this doesn't always make us popular!
It's not always comfortable.
It's not always convenient.
It's not always safe!
But let us be true to our call and say what needs to be said! Do what needs to be done!
That's what John did when he called the people out on their unfaithfulness - they had fallen short - that they had lost the script.
John’s people had gotten smug and grown entitled, "Don't begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor!'"
His hearers had gotten lax in obeying the commandments - which prohibits lying, cheating, stealing, greed, self-centeredness, and partying -
John also hints that they had forgotten the Golden Rule - and were not treating their neighbor as they wanted to be treated themselves.
And John makes it clear that this people had lost their sense of mission! This is where the ax and the trees come in - because these people are supposed to be bearing fruit - but they're not.
So what's happening? John uses stark words and cutting phrases with God's chosen people - to wake them up!
And it can't help me think of how God wants to awaken me today:
How am I being lax in obeying the commandments? In what ways have I forgotten the Golden Rule? How have I lost sight of the sense of mission God has called me to? Should I really be that angry at John the Baptist for trying to wake me up?
Should I be like John's hearers and ask, 'What do I do now?'
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When we read the accounts of John the Baptist in the 4 gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - we can hear some very similar accounts - of who John was and what he did.
But only LUKE tells us what we want to know after hearing this wake up call: What do we do from here?
And Jesus tells us!
"Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none" "And whomever has food must do likewise."
Tax collectors, Don't swindle taxpayers. Soldiers: Don't threaten or make false accusations.
In other words - the "ask" of you and me is not that onerous: Be honest. Be generous. Be kind. Be helpful.
Change yourselves. Because it's the only person - the only THING - you CAN change - This is enough: be the person you want others to be; behave as if you are the invaluable and irreplaceable person God says you are; be the change you want to see.
And we do this as we center ourselves in God.##
Which leads us to that curious color, pink.
The Third Sunday of Advent is the Pink Sunday. Like Advent's companion season, Lent, Christian tradition provides a break in the middle of these penitential seasons to remind us that the Christian faith is not simply about the serious rigors of fasting and discipline.
Jesus is about joy.
And so we get this curious passage from St. Paul:
Rejoice in the Lord.
In fact, Rejoice always.
That’s a tall order.
Sure, I can rejoice when I get what I want, when things go my way, or when I catch a break.
But what about rejoicing when things fall apart, when we are soul and bone weary, when we are racked with grief, or when we consider the mounting threats to those already on the margins of our nation and world?
Rejoice always?
I know a bishop who likes to point out that we often mistake the spiritual gift of joy for the fleeting feelings of happiness.
Happiness is what I feel when things are going well, which, of course, they often do *not.
Joy, on the other hand, is the gift we receive from being yoked, spirit, mind, and body, to the living God of love.
Remember folks, that Paul wrote this absurd exhortation from a prison cell.
He was almost certainly facing his own execution.
Paul's joy came not from how he felt about his situation, but from his sure and certain hope that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has established forever the fact that love is the most powerful force for healing in the universe.
Paul's joy came from clinging to Jesus.
And if you leave here this morning with nothing else - If there's one thing you take away this morning to get you through the week -
Remember that you have Jesus - and in Jesus is our joy.
Don't look to the fleeting 'good feelings' of happiness to anchor your mood - how much money we have, how healthy we're feeling -
Jesus knows our needs -
And Jesus will take care of them.
Stay in Christ - stay in Joy.
Friends -
If we were lucky enough to have John the Baptist preach this morning -
Yes, he would have preached much shorter - he would have been more memorable - but not as humorous!
John would have shared that serious and stern message:
Obey the commandments! Remember the Golden Rule! Don't lose sight of the mission God has called you to!
And with many exhortations he would proclaim the Good News!
Because disruption of a broken system is not a bad thing!
Disruption of a nasty habit is not a bad thing!
Disrupting the unjust, unfair, harmful, and hurtful is not bad news!
And with many exhortations let us go forth and proclaim the Good News!
Amen.