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.

Shaken not Stirred

December 9, 2012 Second Sunday of Advent – Love Malachi 3:1-4 Luke 3:1-6 “Shaken not Stirred” Year C James bond and shaken not stirred (make and shake a glass of water…) Shaken, not stirred… that is how James Bond likes his drinks. In the first James Bond movie, Bond and a woman are the guest of the villain, Dr. No. Dr No invites him to dinner, and offers Bond a drink…shaken not stirred. Every movie since, that is his drink of choice….shaken not stirred. You see when you put the ice in your water, and you shake it up – the ice gets a chance to evenly distribute on every part of the water. If you just stir the water, you miss some spots, and the water is not as cold. God’s people shaken…… Shaken, not stirred. It works for water, but it also works for God’s people. If we are going to truly use our faith, and be the most faithful, sometimes in life, we too have to be shaken, but not stirred. Going through the trials and tribulations in life on the outside, and yet standing firm and complete on the inside. Shaken by life, but with our souls not stirred. Shaken a sign of God’s salvation The bible is full of examples of God intentionally shaking the world around us. the bible speaks of earthquakes as a sign of God’s presence in our lives. When Jesus was dying on the cross, scripture says that the earth shook. When the disciples came to witness the resurrection, scripture says that the earth shook. Revelations says that when there is a new heaven and a new earth – the birth pains will begin with the earth shaking. God likes to shake things up. Isaiah that says that the bottom will become the top and even there it wont stop. Advent a time of shaking Advent as we await the coming of Christ is a time of God shaking things up. Not just on the outside, but on the inside. We prepare our hearts and souls for God. We have to find within ourselves what is most important. Experiment of couples juggling too much There was as advent experiment – where couples were asked to stand on stage and to literally juggle some important symbols of life – 10 couples were given a wedding ring, a soccer ball, a tablet computer, a crystal vase, a cup and a saucer, and a cross. As you can imagine, as the couples lined up and started juggling, you could hear broken glass, and bouncing balls everywhere. Every couple dropped these symbols as they tried to juggle them all at one time. That is the sound of the beginning of advent – the sound of chaos and broken glass. The sound of God shaken up our symbols, our priorities, our beliefs, our hopes and our dreams. But there was one couple that did not drop the things that they were juggling. They realized that they couldn’t keep everything in the air – so they took some time to prioritize what was most important to them – their faith – the cross, their children – the doll, and the wedding ring. Everything else had to be put aside. Most of the things that come to us that shake us – is God’s way of telling us that we cant have everything, we cant do everything, we cant be everywhere – so we have to be forced to pick what is really important to us – and focus just on those things, and let everything else fall to the ground and breaking. Being shaken up is a sign of God’s love. It is a sign that God plan for salvation is working full speed ahead. Whenever God has plans for us, first God had to prepare us to fulfill those plans. God’s plan is always for salvation God’s plans is for justice, God’s plan is for a terrible, hopeful newness of life for ourselves and for those around us. But before he can begin the new plan, he was to wean us from the old plan. He has to purify our hearts from the old sin, in order to realize the new salvation. The story of John the Baptist Second Sunday of advent is a the Sunday when we hear the story of John the Baptist – the messenger of Christ – who tells us to prepare the way for the lord. Clear away all of that junk that we hold inside. He reminds us that we are all sinners and that we need to repent of our ways. Scripture says that he went into the countryside proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Sin is failing to take responsibility In a world that does not like to take responsibility for its own actions – repentance is to take responsibility for your actions and your choices. If you watch television, the world is full of people who don’t take responsibility for their actions. A woman cheats on her husband – but it is not her fault – it was how she was raised, it was her husband’s fault. A man steals a radio – but he was tempted by all of the ads that said that he needed a radio, or that he saw that all of his friends had one, so he thought he should have one too. And when we witness others in the world not taking responsibility, we do the same. The bible says to love your neighbor- but how can we love people who are not friendly, God asks us to pray daily – but how can we pray when the people around us think that we are crazy, Jesus says to go and make disciples of all nations, but how can we evangelize when no one wants to hear what we say. We are supposed to tithe, but that is hard when there are so many other bills to pay. Someone once said that if there is a statue of liberty, then there should also be a statue of responsibility. Because where there is freedom of choice, there is responsibility for making that choice. God’s grace is a place of great liberty, God’s grace is a place of taking great responsibility. But in a world obsessed with freedom, it is so easy to get caught up in sin. God gives us a choice to sin God has no policeman to pass around and grab us by the neck and say you must read your Bible, or you must go to Church, or you must give to Missions. When God created man, He made man superior to all other creatures. He gave man the power and privilege of CHOICE. Up to now the Lord respects that privilege. He will not force us. With that privilege of Choice, goes the terrible responsibility of abiding by the results or consequences of our choices. God may not have police, but he does have messengers like John the Baptist, who constantly warn us to repent. To turn around, when we sin to be prepared for God to shake things up. The consequence of making poor choices is God’s judgement in our lives. That message is that you have gone far enough, now it is time to turn back around and go the other way. God’s judegemet is our facing what we have done, as well as what we have left undone. Things falling apart – in many ways is our cleansing our hearts so that the holy spirit can come in and make us right again. The washing machine and the holy spirit Does anyone know what that piece in the middle of the washer is called? The part in the middle that moves back and forth and shakes the clothes back and forth? What is that called? I’m going to call it an Agitator…. What is the purpose of the Agitator? As far as I can tell, it sole purpose is to cause havoc for the dirty clothes… it’s there to shake and separate the clothes from all the dirt and grime and money that may be in or on the clothes, right? It makes sure that the clothes are shaken, not stirred so that we can used them again. As soon as we are saved, the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts, but He doesn’t have our heart to himself… there’s still a lot of things in there… the main one being our own selfish desires…even though we have been saved from our past sins, there still remains some things of the world that we are still fond of… these things of the world have a way of attaching themselves to us like dirt on clothes… they can stain us, they seemingly won’t come out. The Holy Spirit, being Holy….His nature doesn’t allow Him to live in a dirty environment, so He begins to gently and lovingly, He begins to agitate, to shake… to convict us of the things that need to leave our heart…. You see God wants us to be filled with His Spirit… and only when we come to a place in our lives where we are willing to remove all the dirt…can we truly be Filled with His Spirit. Until then, many times our spiritual life fills like we are in a washing machine…. The Holy Spirit constantly, because He loves us so much, constantly agitation within us, convicting us of the things that need to be removed from our lives…. The truth is it is God’s will for all to be filled with the Spirit…. But it’s your choice… it’s up to you… If you willing to surrender every area of your life… every area.. Past, present, future… habits, control, finances, family… everything that means something to you…. Total surrender What is god shaking up in your life What is God shaking up in your life? How has God positioned you to maybe make a difference for someone? Is your job or relationship in trouble? Are your kids or your parents having difficulties with transitions to new stages of life, or circumstances? Are the terrors, or politics, of this world getting you discouraged? Or is death or illness in your family changing everything for you forever? This story reminds us, once again, that when your world begins to shake, it may be because demons are being cast out and captives are being set free. Trust God to show you what to do next. The promise of advent is that the Holy Spirit will disrupt business as usual in our lives, in our church and around the world. We can trust that God will help us find ourselves, in a place to receive God’s love, and bear witness to that love, no matter what. Thanks be to God for this Good News. God is cleansing you so that he can prepare you God’s plan for salvation for the world begins with a plan of salvation for you. God is preparing you for your part. God is shaken your soul, so that you can be purified and prepared. During this advent may we all be shaken, but not stirred from our faith. let us pray…… Faith like Job’s cannot be shaken because it is the result of having been shaken. C When was the last time you were shaken to being stirred? (Probing Question) Two buckets of water were mentioned in the Bible. Do you remember what Pilate did when he had a chance to acquit Jesus? He called for a bucket and washed his hands of the whole thing. Matthew 27:24: "When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. ‘It is your responsibility!’" But Jesus, the night before His death, called for a bucket and proceeded to wash the dirty and dusty feet of His disciples. Which one will you use?