Bless the Lord O my Soul

December 9, 2018 Luke 1:68-79 Luke 3:1-6 Second Sunday of Advent Bless the Lord O my Soul Year C Children’s Time Lighting of the second advent candle Luke 3:1-6 Common English Bible (CEB) John the Baptist’s message 3 In the fifteenth year of the rule of the emperor Tiberius—when Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea and Herod was ruler[a] over Galilee, his brother Philip was ruler[b] over Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was ruler[c] over Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—God’s word came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 John went throughout the region of the Jordan River, calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. 4 This is just as it was written in the scroll of the words of Isaiah the prophet, A voice crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight. 5 Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be leveled. The crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth. 6 All humanity will see God’s salvation.”[d] Footnotes: This week our nation laid our 41st president to rest. I took advantage of the national day of mourning to watch all of the ritual on tv. It was interesting to watch all of our living presidents gather together to say goodbye to one of our leaders. I watched both funerals on both days. It was interesting to see all of the pomp and circumstance and protocol. I watched with fascination as the military carried the American flag and the presidential flag with precision. I was shocked that after the both flags were bought into the church, the honor guard kept control of the presidential flag, but turned the American flag over to a priest, who held it in front of the congregation while they sang a patriotic song. As a pastor, I have never seen the military turn an American flag over to the church. As a matter of fact, the church had their own American flag already in place. I think it was a very powerful symbol of who George HW Bush was as president. And also what the American flag represents. The presidential flag always represents the president. The American flag represents the fact that there have been 45 presidents. The fact that when one falls, there will always be a standing president for our nation. It represents who we are as a nation of people. It honors those who have sacrificed their lives so that we could have freedom. I think that as George HW Bush planned his funeral, he wanted to remind us that the power of our nation stands in the people. – it stands at the bottom, not at the top. That is an important lesson a lesson of faith, that has been demonstrated many times before. If you look at the beginning of our scripture today – it starts out by naming the political leaders of the day the emporer Tiberius, Pontius Pilate, Herod. It even names the religious leaders of the say Ananias and Caiphas. They were all important people. But scripture says that the word of God didn’t come through or to any of them. The word came to John, son of Zecharius, while in the wilderness. God’s word came to no on special, in the middle of nowhere. When John started his ministry, he didn’t start with the leaders in Jerusalem – but in the middle of nowhere – talking to everyday people. I have a friend who said that if you are looking for God – look at where the excitement is. Look at where the energy is. Look at what is already happening, and get on the band wagon. When you are trying to find God, - you probably don’t want to look to the leaders, but amongst the people. Not in the rich, but amongst the poor. Not in the capital, but in the wilderness. Not in the populated place, but in the middle of nowhere. I have been fascinated that the wilderness seems to be where faith begins. When Jesus is trying to find his ministry and calling – he spends some time in the wilderness. And now, when John fortells the coming of Christ – he is a voice crying out in the wilderness. Calling out to the people – to repent. To turn from the way of the world and listen to God. John calls out for the people to come to the water and to be baptized into repentance. John’s challenge to the people is to change their hearts, to live in righteousness and to ask God for forgiveness for your sins. A cleansing ceremony is a big part of many religious ceremonies. Before entering worship space for muslims, they will wash their feet and hands, before entering the temple you would also wash, even for us as Christians, the baptismal font is at the entrance of the sanctuary, so that we can remember our baptism before we come in to worship. William Barclay tells how at the coronation service in Westminster Abbey after all the congregation was seated, a squad of cleaners unexpectedly emerged with brushes and vacuum cleaners and proceeded to sweep the carpets so that they would be absolutely clean for the coming of the queen. So here is John, the messenger for the King saying the same thing. Get things cleaned up before Christ comes. John is challenging us to come and to take a part in the coming of Christ. Water is important to clean the outside, but we are being challenged to also get cleaned in the inside, inside of our hearts. Metanoia – means repentance, it means to have a change of heart. From the things of the world to the things of God. Not to look to our leaders for change, but in the wilderness. What is God up to in your neck of the woods? In order to know and be a part of it – we have to prepare our heart for something different. Most of us like the idea of change, but we really don’t like the process of change. We don’t want to admit that we are sinners, and that there are some things in our life that we need to do different. John is inviting us to just come – come to see what God is up to in the world today. God is inviting us to be willing to go along and to participate. To realize that God is in charge, and that God is present. And that God invites us to all participate. This is our country, this is our world, this is our salvation. We can prepare ourselves for the journey of life with God. Just as our country belongs to the people, the church also belings to the people. I thought that it was interesting, that when George HW Bush’s funeral was over, the military took both the American flag and the presidential flag out with the casket, and it stood behind the casket. But The priest also took the cross out and it stood over the casket as well. Once the casket was in the hearse, the honor guard stood at attention until the cross was bought back into the church and the church doors were closed. We are all citizens of this nation, but we are all children of God. God oversees our world, but God also invites us to participate in the salvation of the world. We are all invited to see what God is doing in the world today – and to jump on and be a part. But before we get in the game – we have to get cleaned up. The Work of the Church At the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The meetings were held in the large sanctuary in the capital city, Freetown. Each day as we entered the large doors into the sanctuary there was a young girl, maybe about the age of 8, who begged at the door. She looked ragged, dirty, her hair was matted and knotty, and she had on tattered clothes. No one seemed to know her, and people brushed her aside upon entering. Some of the pastors tried to tell her to go away. We were busy doing the work of the church. She was a bother. This went on for several days. As I sat in the pew observing the Conference one day, my peripheral vision caught some motion outside. I looked out the window, and there on the patio, outside the sanctuary was a woman, a lay member of the conference. She found a bucket and some soap. Although dressed in a beautiful traditional tie-dye gown, she pushed up her sleeves, and she was giving that 8-year-old girl a bath. She soaped up her hair and was tenderly making her all clean and new. She washed the clothes the child had been wearing, and they were spread out on the bushes in the sun drying. The woman went out and got another dress for her to wear, too. Hundreds of pastors and devoted laypersons poured into the Methodist Church of Freetown to do the work of the church. But outside, on the edges, quietly and without notice, the work of redemption - the work of Jesus Christ was being done. It was not the work of committees and reports and programs. It was the work of soap and water and human touch and being able to see the face of Jesus in that of an abandoned 8-year-old girl. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett, Collapsing the Distance between Heaven and Earth God is still in the saving business, and all of us are invited to be a part of it. Change does not come from the top, but from the bottom, not in the city square, but in the wilderness. And it is not what we can see on the outside, it is what is inside of our hearts. Won’t you take John’s challenge – and repent and turn to God. Amen. Other illustrations…. A Higher Standard of Living Max Lucado tells the story of a man who had been a closet slob most of his life. He just couldn't comprehend the logic of neatness. Why make up a bed if you're going to sleep in it again tonight? Why put the lid on the toothpaste tube if you're going to take it off again in the morning? He admitted to being compulsive about being messy. Then he got married. His wife was patient. She said she didn't mind his habits . . . if he didn't mind sleeping on the couch. Since he did mind, he began to change. He said he enrolled in a 12-step program for slobs. A physical therapist helped him rediscover the muscles used for hanging up shirts and placing toilet paper on the holder. His nose was reintroduced to the smell of Pine Sol. By the time his in-laws arrived for a visit, he was a new man. But then came that moment of truth. His wife went out of town for a week. At first he reverted to the old man. He figured he could be a slob for six days and clean up on the seventh. But something strange happened. He could no longer relax with dirty dishes in the sink or towels flung around the bathroom or clothes on the floor or sheets piled up like a mountain on the bed. What happened? Simple. He had been exposed to a higher standard of living. That's what confession and repentance do for us. That's what Jesus does for us. Billy D. Strayhorn, Thunder in the Desert John at Christmastime The First Sunday in Advent begins with apocalyptic images that, in the popular imagination, are as non-Christmasy as can be imagined. Now in the Christian tradition the Second Sunday in Advent confronts the church (and the world) with John the Baptist, whom the church has also long insisted is an absolutely necessary character in the Advent drama. But even most Christians don't want John at Christmas. We don't put John on Christmas cards. We have no John the Baptist Christmas tree ornaments. No child plays John in Christmas programs, and he's nowhere to be seen on front yard manger displays. John is too untidy, too dangerous for Christmas. Invite John to your holiday party and he'll spill eggnog all over your Persian rug as he flails his arms around talking about the need to repent. He's too shrill. If we let John in the door, he'll wake the baby in the manger. Then again, if we do not let John in, if we will not or cannot tolerate his uncompromising message that Christ is Lord of all, then that baby in the manger may as well just go on sleeping forever and ever. Because if we can't let John in, we're not ready for the baby to wake up anyway. If we don't like what John says, we won't like what that baby will eventually say, either. And then Christmas is over before it really began. Scott Hoezee, comments and observations on Luke 3:1-6.