Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 12/1/2024
Centering Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, may your will be done, through me.
Good morning everyone - I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving - and it was nice not to see the Lions served up as the Turkeys once again...
And, of course, for you Michigan fans, we understand why you may have an unexpected bounce in your step...
A big 'welcome' to our baptismal candidates and their families - who have come to participate and witness in the Church's most profound gesture of love and acceptance!
We are so excited you're here, look forward to your baptism, and to walking with you in the journey ahead as we all seek to follow Jesus.
And I'd like to start off with a story right out of my backyard -
Where there is a pine tree - majestic West Himalayan spruce - that faces a constant battle.
Each summer the bright green, big leafed, kudzu vine, with whom it shares unfortunate proximity, makes itself known.
This invasive kudzu vine is a deliberate and determined nemesis that, if it had it's way, would creep over, around, and fully consume not only the Himalayan spruce, but the Cedar, the yew, and every other tree, bush, and plant in our garden.
So one of my regular summertime jobs is to arm myself with an arsenal of big and small clippers and cutters and prune back the kudzu into submission. Would that there was a chemical or technique I could enlist to make a permanent dent - I would pay dearly!
But Mother Nature seems to have created this backyard ecosystem - as beautiful and hardy as can be - with a bit of drama in its DNA...
Will the spruce tree win out? Will the kudzu vine be the victor? Much is dependent on the gardener - which is me - and you - and we'll talk more about that in a moment - but for now:
Happy New Year everyone!
Today, of course, is the first Sunday of Advent - and the beginning of what is known as the Church Year - Today we begin our 4-week march up to Christmas on December 25 - with all its festive, frivolity - as we celebrate the coming of Jesus from heaven to earth - to be born an infant in our midst - so it is a more than appropriate to have a beautiful little infant in our midst today...
And like little Charlie - she is joined by her sister Brooklyn, mother Jennifer, and new friend Sylvia - As we honor a milestone in their Christian journeys - which brings both its joys and challenges... again, we'll get to that in a moment.
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Let us first consider our Bible readings this morning.
They were a bit dark weren't they?
Not quite in keeping with the light-hearted, 'gratitude-filled' - feel-good - Thanksgiving message of two days ago!
Instead, we hear stern and dire warnings and descriptions of the end of the world! Signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars! I've heard it's even more dangerous than Black Friday shopping...
And we hear readings like this every year on the first Sunday of Advent - why? Because today we begin this season that leads up to the commemoration of Jesus' first coming as a baby born in Nazareth - with an eye on Jesus' second coming which we look to with hope and promise.
On that day there is talk of great danger - nature is in turmoil, nations are confused, "people will faint with fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world."
Yet amidst these dire and looming threats, did you notice Jesus' attitude as he describes these things? Jesus is non plussed. He says:
Be on guard. Let your hearts *not be weighed down. Be alert. Jesus describes a threat.
And then describes how he is not really bothered by it - nor should we be: He is calm. He is confident. He remains steadfast and strident - trusting in what God is up to in the world.
Friends, the comparison to the world outside these doors does not go unnoticed -
You don't need a preacher to tell you that we live in a crazy, unpredictable, and scary world!
There are widespread, existential perils that threaten to take over the garden -
They are as fast-growing, invasive, and potentially deadly as any garden vine!
After church today we will welcome one of our long-time members, a University of Michigan sociologist, to lead our fall book discussion, it's on the book White Poverty. Yes, there are many more poor white in our country than poor people of color.
And by 'poor' it's not just the 9-11% of the population we regularly hear about that make $15,560 per year or less: And that figure, for many of us is astoundingly low...
No, consider the percentage of people who say they could not pay an unexpected bill of $400. Can you guess? It's 43% of us.
Given that Jesus spent so much time talking about poverty, and living among the impoverished, the church needs to address it as well - which we do daily with our food pantry, Plarning group, and other outside activities -
Because we all understand how the weeds of self-interest and greed have crept in to make our society less just, fair, and caring - where, 80% of our wealth is owned by 1% of the people.
Yet we gardeners need not stand idly by!
We know how to chop down vines. We know how to beat back those threatening forces - It's with the power of God both in and around us! Yes, let's bring that to our world: Many of us have come to church this morning weighed down with our own worries - We are facing big changes - perhaps big threats - with our health - our schooling - our careers - the direction of our nation - and we are very confused over this.
These are the vines that seek to strangle and take over our peaceful gardens. We understand that our gardens - our lives - as beautiful as they are - are adorned with loving people, memorable experiences, valued possessions - we understand that these gardens are as wondrous and wonderful as it gets!
But we also understand the vines - and how they ever-so-subtly creep in - the temptations to be overly scared - overly anxious - apathetic - hopeless - and insular. The creeping vines - the threats and nuisances that are just part of human existence. I bring up our spruce tree because we all know this beauty - And I bring up the kudzu vine because we all know the threats that scare us - And so we're given the perspective that as beautiful as the garden is - it needs constant attention
This is your job as newly baptized Believers - it's to fight against those temptations of selfishness, greed, anger, judgmentalism, isolationism, and myopathy.
You have joined a crew of gardeners with choppers and cutters who are regularly pruning back these invasive vines!
Earlier I asked - which will win out in my garden: the spruce tree or the kudzu vine? Which is going to dominate the backyard? Whichever one I want: WE have any control over this!
WE serve a God who has given us a free will to do ill - and do good - So let's do good by tending the garden! WE decide what should grow - Whichever we feed - Whichever we tend - Whichever we pay attention to! What are you paying attention to? Because cutting back the kudzu is our challenge and our calling. We need to be relentless and dedicated to our focus on God and on God's purposes!
It means cultivating the good things we need to fight the good fight! We take a cue from the life of Jesus who dedicated his life to four things:
Prayer, scripture, Godly influences, and acts of service. For the newly baptized - and for the veterans - these are the ways we stay on the straight and narrow - we give priority to Prayer, scripture, Godly influences, and acts of service.
Since New Years is a time of resolutions - how about resolving to take our walk with God to the next level? As part of our baptismal liturgy ALL of us will renew our Baptismal promises - can we use this to make those 4 resolutions:
First, what can we do to grow in prayer? Can we take walks to talk with God? Can we write a journal and detail our impressions and intuitions about how we see God leading us or telling us? Religious or not - great creative minds often speak of alone time and creativity - even guidance from outside of themselves. I know some of you use the Prayer Hand: To help you remember five aspects of prayer: confession, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise. Confession - regularly taking stock of our behavior and repenting of our sins. Petition - which many of us were doing during the Lion's Thanksgiving Day game: 'Lord, help them!' Intercession - prayer on behalf of others Thanksgiving - prayers of gratitude for all of God's gifts Praise - prayers of adoration and love to God. What can we do to grow in prayer?
Second: Is New Year's a time to make more room for Scripture in our lives? What does that look like? Maybe picking up a Bible that would be easy to read or to listen to! Or a Bible reading schedule you can live with! Or even Bible verses on flash cards on the kitchen table - whatever works!
Third, are we being called to guard more closely the influences around us? We are who we hang around with. We are what we watch. We are what we listen to. It creeps in like a kudzu vine - the ways we allow those not-so-Godly influences to affect us. How can we better safeguard the influences we allow around us?
Did you notice the news this week - and the Australian government that's made social media illegal for those under the age of 16? In some profound ways, this is a grand statement on the importance of safeguarding what we allow to influence us - because it can affect us in negative ways.
Fourth, how can we better resolve to help others? Can we listen better? Can we be more mindful of those in our circles of influence? It doesn't have to be a big and grand dedication to tutoring or food pantry volunteering - but it is an increased mindfulness of the people God has placed around us. How can we brighten their worlds? ---
Friends, Jesus is clear on two things this morning: First, the 'End-if-days' will come - and it will be chaotic and scary for some - no one knows when -
Second, HOWEVER and WHENEVER our ends come, Jesus warns: losing our wits - our perspectives - and our closeness as God's valuable and irreplaceable partners in this enterprise called 'life' - is out of the question.
Be on guard. Let your hearts *not be weighed down. Be alert. Stay true. Use the impending in the immediate: and draw nearer. Hold fast. Keep the faith! We are on the winning side when we are on God's side!
Amen.