Advent: Sleeping in Heavenly Peace

There are these subtleties about being part of the people of God that we sometimes don’t think about. The fact that we are a congregation that observes Advent means that we look at time a little differently than those who are not part of the church. For those not part of the Advent celebration, this is the end of the year. The countdown to Christmas is counting down to the end of the year; but for us, this is the beginning! This is our New Year! We aren’t looking at the end, but at the beginning! Advent and Christmas are the beginning; we recognize new birth in this newborn baby. Advent for us gives us an opportunity to look forward, to begin again, to remind ourselves that we have a future and that future reaffirms the promises of God.
We use the words “In those days” a lot when we are telling the Christmas Story. Today however, we are called to look back to a time 500 or so years before our familiar Christmas story - to a time of great devastation for the people of God.
Jeremiah was a young man when God called him to be a prophet. Jeremiah’s job was to point out to the people of God that they had finally so distorted the message of God; that they had finally moved so far from living as God had directed them to live; that they had so removed themselves from the worship and work that God had called them to; they had given up on helping the poor; they had turned the widows into the streets; the list went on and on and just like in the time of Noah, God had finally had enough. Jeremiah’s job was to now tell God’s people that they were going to suffer the consequences of their abandonment of God.
Subsequently, the nation of Babylonia invaded Jerusalem and completely destroyed the city. The destruction is more horrific and more absolute that any one could imagine. The destruction is so severe that even God’s voice, through the prophet Jeremiah, is heard to wail in lamentation. It reminds us of the story later when Jesus will sit on the mountain overlooking Jerusalem and weep over his people.
If you read the account of God’s grief in the book of Lamentations, the destruction is such that we cannot even imagine such things happening to God’s people. Every imaginable human atrocity perpetrated against the very people God continues to happen. And then, to the people of God suffering in exile we hear these words from God through the prophet Jeremiah:
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. 15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
Even though God’s people are in the midst of great suffering and in despair, God breaks through and speaks the promise, a promise that is designed to give these devastated people, hope and peace in their suffering.
Including this story in the story of Advent seems a bit off kilter. But these passages of despair and hope and peace help us understand that Advent is about waiting, anticipating and trusting in a promised future that seems very removed from our current circumstance. Together, surrounded by God’s people, we are to recognize our suffering and lean onto the hope God gives us of a promised future far different that what we are experiencing now. God gives us the gift of peace in the midst of turmoil in our lives.
Our culture would have us look at Advent, these weeks leading up to Christmas as a time of joyful holidays, of nostalgia of those great days of Christmas gone past, the good memories of warm fires, and family meals and laughter. “In those days” for the culture recalls sleigh rides through the snow and people laughing and every Hallmark movie has the young couple falling in love at the end of the movie as they kiss in front of a beautifully decorated Christmas Tree. And then Christmas comes and the day passes and we pack everything away and there are no longer any of our favorite Christmas shows on TV and our ordinary lives return and everything is the same as it was and we wonder what happened to those peaceful and joyful feelings…
The inclusion of a story like Jeremiah’s in this season of Advent doesn’t seem like it fits. We want to hear about angels and Mary and Joseph, the young couple so much in love they run off together to have God’s son. We see pictures of this wonderful young couple so peacefully walking with a beautiful calm dark sky background with twinkling stars ending up in this remarkably beautiful stable with cartoon animals lovingly looking at Mary holding the baby Jesus while Joseph stands by…..
We have such a sanitized picture of this experience. We forget we have a couple who is in an impossible situation, having to leave home before their families find out that Mary is pregnant before she is married; that Mary is not, I am sure, peacefully sitting on the back of a donkey 9 months pregnant, with a worried Joseph concerned about how he is going to be able to provide for this family that was thrust upon him. He has to help his wife have a baby, remember childbirth which is not pleasant, in a barn - this is not a pretty little manger scene, though many of us here are farmers or have been around barns and if you have never mucked out a barn it is not pleasant. You have a young couple that is alone, scared and really not sure about their future. Their situation is not unlike the people of God thrown into Babylon who are collectively scared, alone and not sure about their future.
These stories that don’t seem like the hope, peace, joy and love we want to hear about at Christmas are much closer to our real circumstances; Advent reminds us that we are waiting, anticipating and trusting in a promised future that seems very removed from our current circumstances.
Because of the many things that are unknown about the CORONA Virus and the Vaccination. Who can I visit with this Christmas that might have it. Many of us are in that same place in our lives as Mary and Joseph, as the people of God in exile, we feel scared, alone, not sure of our future. And it is in this season of Advent that we can admit our suffering and we can lean into God’s promised future. For those of us who are people of God, the birth of the baby at Christmas doesn’t mean that the following week we pack everything up and put it away, but that we recognize this is only the beginning; that once again God is reminding us that he loves us so much that he sends us his son and that means that we do have a future..
Those words of Jeremiah 14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. 15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’ are followed by God’s words, 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Advent is a time when we are not called to hide our suffering, our grief, our fears; Advent is not a time when we have to put on a happy face cause it ’tis the season, but it is a time to acknowledge that we are often alone, and scared and we feel hopeless. Advent is a time, however, we we lean on the promises we hear over and over; Advent is a time when we can say: God is providing us hope in this tiny baby; this isn’t the end - Advent is the beginning and we relish in the fact that as God’s people, we can begin the year in the hope, peace, joy and love of a future that God promises….
In the midst of our questions, and our wonders and fears, in the midst of our suffering and our questionable circumstances, God says in this Advent season through the words of Jesus; 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Amen!

Advent: The Joy of the Lord

My first High School Soccer coaching job was for Charleston Catholic High School. A friend , who knew I played and ref’ed Soccer had contacted me and asked me to attend the School Board meeting and talk to them about quitting playing Football and start a Soccer program. They were a small single A school surrounded by AAA size schools. God gave me the idea of holding up a Football helmet and I told them I could put an entire team on the field for the price of the one helmet. That got their attention real quick. Unfortunately for me I had not really thought though what that would mean. I soon learned that not only was I the coach but I had to start the program from scratch. Of course not being Catholic I also had to be adaptable and understand ‘their way of doing things’ in regard to their faith. Which required, on my part to learn what i could about Catholic practices. It did help that my sister was married to a Catholic and had adopted their faith as Women did in those days. I also figured no big deal I had grown up with of family of Catholics right next door.
So I contacted my sister and began to study and learn. What I did learn, was that daily, and with most of their prayers, Catholics include what is known as the “Hail Mary” which I quickly realized I needed to memorize because I need to say it before every game. And since I needed to say it so often, I decided what I really needed to do was not only to learn it, but to understand what The Hail Mary was all about. It is why Catholics use Rosary beads to help them keep track of the different prayers as the say them.
The Hail Mary says: Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
The Hail Mary does contain words of scripture and is perfect for our thinking about this season of Advent and our anticipation of the coming of the Christ child. What I learned in my study about the Hail Mary was that the prayer comes from the Gospel of Luke – the first phrase – “Hail Mary, full of grace, our lord is with you”. Comes from the angel Gabriel when he approaches Mary and tells her she is going to have a son. The second sentence – blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb – comes from Elizabeth as she greets Mary when Mary comes to visit her. The last phrase – holy Mary mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death was a later edition by priests in the Middle Ages with the appearance of the Black Death who felt their congregants needed a word of comfort to what they said so often because their life was so difficult and so that phrase became part of the prayer. While as Protestants we don’t use this prayer, it is something that we should be familiar with simply because it is part of scripture and a very important part of the story of Mary and her cousin Elizabeth.
When the angel Gabriel came to tell Mary she was going to be pregnant with God’s son, he also told her that her cousin Elizabeth was with child. Mary goes to see her cousin Elizabeth and we are told that when Elizabeth’s baby - in her womb - felt the presence of Mary’s baby, the baby leaped for joy! And what follows in that story that I just read from Luke which is called “The Magnificat” - or the song of Mary - which expresses Mary’s joy in how she has been blessed to be chosen as the mother of God’s son.
This Sunday is all about this joy we see in Mary and in Elizabeth about the coming birth of their sons. It is on the liturgical calendar called “Gaudete Sunday” and it is set aside from the other Sundays in Advent by the lighting of a candle of a different color - the pink candle. The word “Gaudete” is the Latin word for “Rejoice” and comes from the ‘official’ verse of the day which is Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I say rejoice!”
The theme of Advent is a focus on the coming of Jesus: His first coming as a baby, His present coming to each believer and His final Advent when he returns again at the end of time, the readings for Gaudete Sunday deal with rejoicing in the Lord — joy like that expressed by Mary and Elizabeth when they meet one another. Theologian Henri Nouwen described the difference between joy and happiness. While happiness is dependent on external conditions, joy is "the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing -- sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death -- can take that love away.” Thus joy can be present even in the midst of sadness and in the midst of your problems and in the midst of your confusion and anxiety. Gaudete Sunday is known as the "Sunday of joy," and that instead of fretting about "all you still haven't" done to prepare
for Christmas; instead of thinking about the worries and cares of your life, instead of stressing over a world in turmoil or the Corona Virus you should "think of all the good things life has given you.” So we light a pink candle, which is to break up the more somber purple color, to remind ourselves of the joy of the coming of the Lord!
But then we look at the world around us and see problems and suffering and fear and we wonder how we can be filled with joy when there is so much that needs to be done and so many people who need to be cared for and instead of being filled with joy we are overwhelmed by the need around us. Surely we can’t do a thing about all this need; we can’t even put a dent in it; What can we do that can really make a difference?
In both scripture passages today, from the Psalm read earlier, from Mary’s words, we hear promises that God will raise up the humble, will feed the hungry, will give sight to the blind will sustain the fatherless and the widows… God will do this - and God will do this through us, the church.
But we are such a small group and there are such overwhelming problems and this Sunday when we are to step back away from the problems of the world and think about joy, we are also called to take a step back and look at what we have done in spite of the pandemic.
We have provided food for those who are hungry in our Sonshine food box we have just outside; we are calling and contacting people who feel frightened and alone during this time of sheltering in place environment, we did the Trunk or Treat ,we have brought items to help the homeless, we have given money to projects for our denomination to help others we do not know,, we have provided poinsettias for our shuts ins so they will know they are thought of, we provide a weekly in person worship along with the FB Live feed and archived Worship services on the Website to reach and help those who can not go out during this epidemic…… and I could go on. This is a partial list but I think it makes the point.
God doesn't expect us to save the world; God expects us as the church to make a difference in our little corner of that world. We make a difference one person at a time. We do what God lays in front of us to help those who don’t have the advantages we have; we hear the words of the Psalms and the words of Mary who reminds us that we can participate in the mighty works of God to care for those in need - the work is not ours alone but as part of God’s church that reaches around the world; each congregation, each community of faith helping those they can. Each congregation; each community of faith relying on God to lift up those who need help and to respond to what God guides us to do.
It all goes back to God. The same God who chose an elderly woman who was barren her whole life and is now pregnant; who chose a young girl barely a teenager to carry the Son of God; who chose these two women to show us that in the midst of uncertainty about what is to come, in the midst of problems all around them, because their world was no different than ours in the poverty and political unrest and day to day struggle to survive, that in the midst of all of that, there was joy!
When we take a step back and recommit ourselves to relying on God, we are filled with joy! We are joyful because we don’t have to shoulder the cares of the world; we don’t have to solve all the problems; we instead focus on new life and new birth and new beginnings in the birth of a baby. A baby who gives our lives purpose, a baby who gives our lives meaning, a baby who reminds us that “God’s got this” and we get to participate in the good work that God is doing.
That is the joy of Mary and Elizabeth - despite all the problems around them, despite the complications that these babies are going to bring to their lives, we can “Rejoice in the Lord!” because just like Elizabeth and Mary, we have been chosen to be a part of God’s restoration of this world!
Amen!

GREETINGS FAVORED ONE!

Being Presbyterian I know that you all have heard people talk about being ‘called’ when they are talking about their service to God and the church. You have heard ministers and other church professionals talk about being “called” or maybe you have heard people say “I have been called to the mission field” or ‘called’ to whatever particular service they may be involved with. And to be honest, I didn’t really understand what it was all about until it happened to me. There is no real way to explain it until you experience it. That is what the call of God is like, you just know.
You find yourself there knowing you are doing what God has trained to you do or prepared you to do. You are using the gifts and talents that God has given you to do something for God or the church or simply for someone in need. It seldom is spectacular or of great importance in the grand scheme of things. Even Jesus and the disciples had ordinary , what I call, laundry days. Being called just means that you are willing to do something that you wouldn’t normally do because God has put you in that particular place at that particular time.
We see God calling individuals in Bible stories all the time. However, the writers of the scriptures, like John writing Revelation struggled on how to let us know that these people where being called by God for a specific task and so we read about people being called through burning bushes or angel visitation or with people seeing visions. That can become a stumbling block for us as we come to try and see how God calls each of us into his service because we haven’t seen burning bushes or angels or had any visions. What we need to understand is that these angels and bushes and visions are simply a way for us to understand that these individuals were definitely called by God to do a specific work in a special place and time. And it doesn’t negate that when God calls us into service, he doesn’t set a bush on fire. God does it in a way that will work for each of us individually. God knows what will reach us and speak to us as an individual. I can tell you from my own experience that I heard a voice which started a roller coast ride of events that I truly had no control over.
God, always has surprises in store for us and very seldom made up of choices that we would make or that we think make sense. As we read through accounts of people in the Bible, God chases people to do what needed to be done and are certainly not the people whose resume we would read and conclude to be the best candidate for the job.
Think about King David - the writer of most of the Psalms and the one whom was named by God as the person in the Old Testament who was closest to God’s heart. God needed a new King because the old one, King Saul, had not worked out and he sends the prophet Samuel to the town of Bethlehem where God tells Samuel that he will guide him to the right person. God says the new king will come from the house of Jesse and Jesse had a bunch of sons. So there is a ‘son parade’ in front of Samuel and Samuel is waiting for God’s voice to tell him which son was the correct one and it didn’t happen. God did not indicate which son was to be king and so Samuel says to Jesse - “Is this all your sons?” Jesse said, “Well, yes and no. There is David my youngest who is out tending the sheep but he’s just not the kingly type like his brothers . You don’t want him.” “Call him anyway,” Samuel tells Jesse. “Because it isn’t any of these.” So Jesse calls David and sure enough, this is the one whom God has chosen to be the next King. Not the oldest, or the smartest, or the most mature, or the most handsome, or the best organizer - no, it was this young boy whom we are told was ‘pretty’ and ‘artsy’ and a ‘dreamer’. Certainly nothing like a big strong warrior who we would envision to be a King. God seems to always choose the unexpected.
During the Advent Christmas season we also need to think about the idea of call. You see all our familiar Christmas characters also received this call from God. Not a volunteer in the bunch. All normal people, living normal lives, going about their daily life just like everyone else - who God singled out and informed them their life was about to change and they were now going to do a specific task for God. We have John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, the Wise Men - all those people we find in our nativity scenes - all just average, normal, everyday people whom God chose to do extraordinary things. Not because they were talented, or gifted, or stood out in any way - but because God chose them.
So envision this, God has come to you as his personnel manager and said, “I need a woman to be the mother of the savior of the world.” This is your task. How would you pick? Let’s see maybe now a days you would probably first arrange a DNA test of the woman to be sure that there are not going to be any hidden genetic problems. Then look for a woman of high moral character - after all we don’t want anything to show up on Jesus’ background check later one. She is going to have to have a good home - social services would inspect to be sure there are no hazards. She is going to have to have the money to be sure he is well taken care of as he grows up - good clothes, the best education, good neighborhood. She should probably be well educated herself but it would be better if she had a husband who could support them so she could
stay at home - at least while Jesus is young. Anything else you can think of for qualifications to be the mother of the Savior of human kind? (Pause) !!
So in typical God fashion who did God choose? A poor, unmarried 14 year old girl, from a town way out in the middle of nowhere that did not have a really good reputation. A young girl who is going to have to flee her home because of the stigma of being unmarried and pregnant. A woman who is essentially homeless when she gives birth. She has no education, no stability. And this is God’s choice for the mother of the Savior of the World.
I could just start naming Bible people who God chose to do his work, to do very important tasks, we find this same story over and over. People who did not seem to have the qualifications to do what needed to be done and you are not going to find a volunteer in the bunch. Moses and Noah and all of Jesus’ disciples and the Apostle Paul just to name a few. But there is one qualification that each of them did have - there is one common thread for each of these individuals and that is they were all people of faith. The one thing they all had in common was that they had a true sense of faith. Faith not just being ,”I believe in God”. Faith being, “I believe in God so much that I truly believe that God is with me and guides me every moment of my life regardless of what is going on around me.” And in order to clearly understand what God wants you to do - you have to be a person who is attuned to God. Not some superhuman, Bible quoting, immerse yourself in everything ‘church’, pious person….. David and Mary and Moses and all the others weren’t in this category. They were just normal people who got up in the morning and did their daily chores and lived their normal life - but in doing all that normal stuff, God was in the consciousness of their thoughts as they went about that routine daily stuff. That’s what God wants from us and what faith is all about - just having a thought of the presence of God as we go about the normal things in our day - nothing spectacular and formal, just remembering that as you go about your day, God is with you.
Now, something else that is important, as God becomes this presence in our lives and God starts to call us to do work for him and his church and his world, we have to do it his way - not ours. That may be harder than letting God call us! God called Moses and God told Moses exactly how things were going to go even though Moses thought he had better ideas, David had clear ideas about how he thought things should be done and God explained to him that David was doing things God’s way instead of David’s, and I could go on. God pretty much is a ‘my way or the highway’ type of person and as we read all these Bible stories we come to see that even though it makes no sense to us, God’s way does seem to work out as he needed it to!
Mary just wanted a normal life. She was going to marry Joseph, live in Nazareth as the wife of a carpenter, close to his and her families. All Mary wanted was for things to be as they should be…. and God certainly messed that up.
And so we come to one more very important point. Just because we are attuned to God and just because we are willing to listen and do what he asks us to do, it does not guarantee that it is going to be a walk in the park. “OK. I answered God’s call now all will be good…..” Nope. Mary, the favored one, has to leave her family, go live with her Auntie and then have a baby in a stable and worst of all watch her son die on a cross, David had problems his whole life, Paul was continually beaten and imprisoned and had to constantly justify his call and ends up getting his head chopped off for his troubles. God calls us to do his work and he guarantees to be with us every step of the way, but he never guarantees it will be easy.
What God wants from is to have the attitude of Mary when we hear God’s call - we are not to worry about if we are good enough, or have time enough, or have the right skills, or are strong enough….. God wants us to say exactly what Mary said.
The angel came to Mary and told her what God wanted her to do. She considers the problems this is going to cause and she has a few questions and the angel assures her that God has all the details worked out and Mary then says, ‘OK. I’ll do whatever you need me to do.” And she did….
Today as we think about the coming Messiah who calls us all to be his disciples and to follow him and to take up his cross and to do what he needs us to do, I want you to hear the angel’s words to Mary - “Greetings Favored One!”
Believe this - these are the same words God speaks to each and every one of you. You, all of you, everyone one of you, are the ‘favored ones’ of God. Hear these words to you, as an individual, “Greetings Favored One!”
And then, just like Mary, he tells you want he wants you to do. Let your response be the same as her, “OK God. I’ll do whatever you need me to do…….”

Amen!