Waiting Patiently -- An Advent Lectionary Meditation

Isaiah 35:1-10



James 5:7-10


Matthew 11:2-11

Waiting Patiently

I waited an entire lifetime (fifty-two years) to watch the San Francisco Giants win the World Series.  I was not yet born when a very young Willie Mays and his New York Giants teammates won the ’54 Series. I’d seen the Giants make it to the series a few times in my life, but never had I been able to watch them win it all. But, the day of reckoning did come, and my dreams were fulfilled.  Yes, in early November of this year, a much underestimated team that relied on pitching due to a relatively weak offense patiently, but persistently, overcame the odds and won it all for the first time in fifty-six years.    Being the fan of a team that more often than not rewards one’s patience with failure to succeed might lead one to switch teams (and truth be told, despite my lifelong love of the Giants, I have cheated on occasion and adopted a substitute team), but the promise lives on and we persevere (no one quite as long as Cub fans). And when the promise is fulfilled, we are truly filled with joy unspeakable!

The texts for the third Sunday of Advent have nothing to do with baseball, but they do remind us that patient waiting is required of us if we’re to see the reign of God come to full fruition. The prophet of old lays out a wondrous vision of a desert that comes alive with glorious beauty, as it tastes the benefits of water. The prophet adds another image, that of a highway, which is called the Holy Way, and this highway will be extraordinarily safe. It will be a highway for God’s people, and there will be no fear of danger nor of getting lost. And as the ransomed, the redeemed, walk upon it into Zion, they will be doing so singing songs of joy and gladness, with their sorrows fleeing away. What a grand vision of God’s reign. Of course, the prophet new that such a vision had yet to bear fruit. The people of God are living in exile, their hopes dim, but the promise is held out for them.

From the epistle of James we read words of caution – “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.” Like the farmer who patiently waits for the harvest, knowing that both the early and the late rains must come before there is to be a harvest. Yes, once again, water plays a significant role in the promised coming of the Lord. The early church leader tells the reader to strengthen their hearts, because the Lord is near. Don’t grumble against each other, lest you be liable for judgment. Indeed, the judge is at the door. But remember that the judges in this context need not be meting out punishment, but instead deciding how to distribute God’s bounty. So be patient, and if you need encouragement, then look to the example of the prophets who suffered patiently, even as they spoke in the name of the Lord.

If Isaiah lays out the vision and James cautions us to be patient in our anticipation of God’s reign, Matthew seems to think that the promise has been fulfilled. Once again John the Baptist appears in the story, as John often does during this season of patient waiting and preparation for the Coming of the Lord. But in this scene, John is in prison, his dream that God’s reign would come into being as a result of his preaching the baptism of repentance, came crashing down. He had hoped to see the dream fulfilled, and now he’s in prison. But according to Matthew, he hears word that the Messiah is doing some amazing things, so he sends his disciples to ask Jesus: Are you the one, or should we keep looking? Now, if you go back maybe eight chapters you’ll find John baptizing Jesus and proclaiming him to be the Messiah or something like that. So, why the confusion and the questions? In answer to John’s questions, Jesus reaches back to the words of Isaiah, and lays out the things he is doing, and suggests that they speak for themselves: The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are clean (remember that in Isaiah 35 no one who is unclean is allowed on God’s Holy Way), the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor, yes the poor, have received the Good news. That, Jesus believes, is a sufficient answer, and the disciples of John return to their master.

As John’s disciples move out of earshot, Jesus turns to the crowd and says of the one who has been sent by God to prepare the way and to be God’s messenger, no one who has been born of a woman has risen higher than John, and yet the least in the kingdom is greater than he. Why? Because the least person in the kingdom has had the opportunity to see God’s reign in its fullness, something John did not get to experience. John is preparing the way, but like Moses another will take the people into the land of promise.

So we watch to see what God is up to, and we do so with patience, knowing the one who is coming is standing at the door. And with the ransomed and the redeemed of the Lord, we come into the Promised Land singing songs of joy!

Someone's Knocking at the Door -- An Advent Sermon

Matthew 3:1-12

Someone’s Knocking at the Door, Somebody’s Ringing the Bell

Someone’s Knocking at the Door, Somebody’s Ringing the Bell

Do me a favor and open the door and let em in. (Paul McCartney, “Let em in,” 1976)

I realize that this isn’t your typical Advent hymn, but Paul McCartney’s tune from the 1970s does catch well the message of the day. The question is: If there’s someone knocking at your door; shouldn’t you go let them in?

But, if you do open the door, you could be in for a surprise. That’s because the person could be, none other than John the Baptist, dressed in skins and toting a lunch pail full of locusts and honey. The reason he’s at your door is because he has a message for you: "Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” (Vs. 2, CEB). This is a message about preparation – clean up and get ready, for the Lord is coming. Yes, this time it might be John, but next time it’s likely to be the Christ.

1. THE SPIRIT OF THE KING.

It is Advent, and John the Baptist figures prominently in the Advent story. That’s because this man of the wilderness serves as the advance man of God’s kingdom. To get an idea about what John is up to you might consider what happens when the President of the United States comes to town. Members of his staff will go ahead of him to make sure everything is ready. The Secret Service checks out the security, other handlers make sure the President has a place to stay, and they set up all the speaking opportunities. Nothing is left to chance.

As Jesus’ advance man, John wants us to be ready when he comes to visit. And that means, cleaning up our lives, so that we’ll be ready to welcome him into our midst. That is well and good, but maybe you have questions of your own about this coming king. Maybe you’d like to know what kind of king is coming, and what his reign will look like. After all, history has unveiled all kinds of rulers. Some have been benign, and others have been evil. So, what should we expect? John answers our questions by telling us that he is not worthy of even tying the shoes of the coming Messianic King, the one we’ve been waiting for, and that he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and Fire, instead of water.

As we consider what kind of ruler Jesus might be, Isaiah offers us some possible answers. According to the prophet, this hoped for ruler will come bearing gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. With these gifts in hand, the one who is coming will rule wisely and justly. He’ll judge not by sight nor by what he hears, because these senses can be easily corrupted. In fact, human judgments can be skewed by riches and power, but neither of these enticements will impress the coming judge who will rule on behalf of the poor and the meek. (Isaiah 11:1ff).

John’s message to us is this: Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight his paths. Because, when the messiah comes, things will be different! Yes, I know, you’ve heard that one before. Politicians always come making promises that they rarely deliver upon. It’s not that they’re evil people, it’s just that making promises is easier than keeping them! But could this be the time when things are different?

2. THE BLESSINGS OF THE KINGDOM

The message of John is this – when the kingdom of heaven breaks into our world, it will bring a reign of peace, something we all long for. Indeed, as we lit the Peace candle this morning, we declared this to be our hope for the world. In lighting this candle, it is appropriate that we lift up in prayer those who live in areas that know not peace: Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Congo, Mexico, Columbia, Israel and Palestine. And, there is that desire to see peace come to our own streets, homes, and even congregations.

True peace, Isaiah says, comes as the wolf lies down with the lamb, the leopard with the kid, the lion with the calf, and when the little child leads them. A little child comes to us with innocence, trust, gentleness, and friendship. Aren’t these the qualities we wish for ourselves? What a contrast there is between this image of the child king and the tyrants of history – Bin Laden, Hitler, or Stalin. And if we think Americans are immune from violence and hatred, just think back a few years to Abu Graib. You might want to also remember that the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world.

In the midst of this reality, we hear John calling out to us: The king is coming, so get ready! Change your hearts and your lives.

If we can look forward for a moment, we’ll discover in due time that this promised ruler will come to us in a most uncommon way. He’ll not be born in a palace in Jerusalem but rather in the little town of Bethlehem. Although there isn’t a manger in Matthew, perhaps it’s appropriate to imagine that setting for a moment. It helps us realize that this king won’t come into our lives in the same way as Caesar or Alexander, with armies and fearsome weapons in hand. Instead, this new born king comes bearing the message of Isaiah: the nations will beat "their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks," so that there might be peace on earth (Is. 2:4).

Does such talk seem unrealistic? Perhaps. And yet, this is the message that Jesus brings to us. It is the message he seeks to embody. It is a message of peace, hope and reconciliation. Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote: "violence provokes more violence and really solves nothing." Gandhi said, "an eye for an eye leaves the world blind." And Jesus said: love your enemies, even as the angels sing: “Peace on earth and good will to all.”

3. TRAVELING LIGHT

I realize that the lure of Christmas is difficult to ignore, even as we come to church for an Advent service. The bells are ringing and the songs are in the air, and would just as soon skip the preliminaries. And yet every journey requires preparation, and Advent is a season of preparation. It requires a bit of discipline in the face of our impatience.

If we will heed the call of the prophets, whether Isaiah or John the Baptist, and step back and consider the one who is coming, then we’ll be better able to heed his message of peace. And preparation for the coming king, according to John, requires of us repentance.

I realize that repentance isn’t one of our favorite words. Not only does it mean saying you’re sorry, it also means changing the way you think and live, and that requires us to do a bit of self-examination. But, if we’re willing to follow John’s lead, we will be ready to receive into our lives the one who is coming, the one who calls upon us to abandon lives of violence, anger, hatred, dishonesty, slander, while embracing God's peace, love, and grace. William Stringfellow wrote that this message of repentance is "no private or individualistic effort, but the disposition of a person is related to the reconciliation of the whole of creation." (William Stringfellow, "The Penitential Season," in Watch for the Light, (Farmington, PA: The Plough Publishing Company, 2001).

And remember the other part of John’s message – the one who is coming will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. Fire is the refiner of our lives, burning off the chaff, the parts of our lives that do not honor God or serve as a blessing to our neighbors. And having been refined by God’s fire, which goes beyond the cleansing waters of John’s baptism, we are then ready to receive the Holy Spirit, the one who empowers and guides us on the journey, a journey that we’re better able to take, because we no longer carry with us all that baggage that weighs us down and keeps us from enjoying God’s presence.

Consider for a moment the Dickens tale, where Marley tells Scrooge that the chains he bears are the chains he put on in life. According to the ghost of Marley, in death he carries the weight of his disregard for humanity. As we prepare for Christmas, like Scrooge, we’re invited to let go of the things, the attitudes, the grudges, that keep us from experiencing the joy of the kingdom. Travel light, is the advice that both Jacob Marley and John give us as we prepare to welcome the coming King.

In Revelation, we hear Jesus say to us: “Listen, I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me” (Rev. 3:20). On this second Sunday of Advent, we hear this word from a former President, Jimmy Carter: “We are always in the presence of the Holy Spirit, as my sister Ruth seemed to know. Whether the door is open or closed is our decision” (Partners in Prayer, Advent 2004, Dec. 3, Chalice Press).

Yes, “someone’s knocking at the door,” will someone let him in?

Proficient and Persistent -- A Sermon

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

    A moment ago we commissioned two of our own to do the work of the ministry.  We shared together in the commissioning of Alex and Rial to be Stephen Ministers, a ministry of pastoral care and service to this community of faith.  According to information I found on the Stephen Ministries website:

    The Stephen Series is a complete system for training and organizing lay people to provide one-to-one Christian care to hurting people in and around your congregation.

With their commissioning, we have recognized and affirmed the gifts and calling of these two people to take up this caring ministry in the congregation.

    Perhaps it’s providential that this service of commissioning occurred on the day that we begin observing the Week of the Ministry.  Each October our churches observe The Week of the Ministry in order to lift up the call to ministry, both in its lay and clergy forms.  This year, fortuitously, the emphasis is on “Many Gifts, One Spirit.”  The message is simple; although our gifts maybe different, there is but one Spirit who empowers and equips and calls forth the ministries of God’s people. 

    Not only have we commissioned Alex and Rial to be Stephen Ministers, and have begun our observance of the Week of the Ministry, but even the lectionary reading from the Epistles focuses its attention on ministry.  In this second letter to Timothy, a letter that is attributed to Paul, advice is given to a young pastor who is experiencing some troubles in his church.  Although most scholars don’t think Paul wrote this letter, if you go back a few verses, to verse 10, you will find “Paul,” or someone writing in his name,  talking about his own experiences in life and in ministry, and he suggests to his charge, that he should follow this example and heed the teachings that have been handed down to him by his mentor. 

    It’s not surprising that Timothy is having some difficulties – he’s young and not everyone respects his calling to the ministry.  He’s doing his best to preach the gospel, but some in the church are looking elsewhere for answers.  Yes, the mentor pastor notes that there are those in the congregation who have “itching ears” and are looking for teachers who will “suit their own desires.”  Isn’t it good to know that such a thing would never happen here?  I mean, I take great comfort in the knowledge that everyone in this congregation agrees with me 100% on every issue.  Yes, I take great joy in knowing that whatever I say, you believe and will do, without question!!  Okay, you can stop laughing!   But all kidding aside, this passage of scripture has two important points to make that are essential to the way we understand ministry in the church.  Christian ministry requires proficiency and persistence.

1.  Proficient   

    In this passage proficiency has to do with proper preparation for ministry, and the mentor pastor asks Timothy to remember who it was who taught him the scriptures and prepared him to live according to these scriptures.  I wonder, can you picture in your mind who it was who introduced you to the Christian faith?  Maybe it was your mother or father who shared with you the basic message of the Christian faith.  Or maybe it was a Sunday school teacher, who was there for you, Sunday after Sunday, teaching in both word and deed the good news of Jesus. 

    I can’t remember when I first heard the message, after all I’ve been the church all my life.  But I can picture two men who exemplified for me the Christian faith, and both were at one point or another my Sunday School teachers – Paul Sabo and John Harmon.  I can’t remember exactly what they taught me, but I remember that they modeled what being a Christian was like.  I also remember that they stood with me, even after I left the Episcopal Church.  They loved me and cared about me.  John even surprised me by flying down to LA to be at our wedding.  I also remember my youth ministers at the church I attended during most of my high school years – Steve, Del, and Ray.  Although I may look at the scriptures today in a very different way from what they taught me, I can say that they cemented within me a love for the Scriptures that continues to this very day.  I could go on and name my teachers in college and seminary, who helped me understand more fully the Christian faith and the Scriptures that stand at the heart of this faith, people like Herb Works, Dennis Helsabeck, Jim Butler, Scott Bartchy, Colin Brown, and Jim Bradley.  Each of these teachers helped prepare me for the journey that I have taken to this point. 

    The message of this passage reminds us to pay close attention to the things that were passed down to us. Remember what you were taught, because, as the New Living Translation renders verse 14 – “You know you can trust those who taught you.”   There is, the author reminds us, a relational component to the way in which we experience the teachings of our faith.  

    Deeply rooted in this passage is a reminder that if our faith is to have any impact on our lives and the lives of others, we must be fully instructed in the substance of our faith – and not just doctrinally, but also in terms of the foundational Christian practices, including loving God and loving our neighbor.  It might be instructive to remember that Alex and Rial didn’t just decide one day to be Stephen Ministers and then the next day received their badges and authorization in the mail!  No, they went through lengthy and rigorous training.  Right now Alex is also beginning her seminary training, which is a reminder that the call to pastoral ministry requires lengthy training as well. 

    In this text we discover that  the foundation for every form of ministry is a proper grounding in the Scriptures.  The mentor pastor commends Timothy for his commitment to understand and live out the teachings of the Scriptures, which in his case would have been what we call the Old Testament.  According to this letter, Scripture is inspired by God and useful for the purposes of God.  Yes, these sacred writings are theopneusto.  That is, they are, as the Greek makes very clear, God-breathed.  That doesn’t mean that God verbally dictated the words of Scripture, nor does it mean that they are necessarily inerrant or infallible.  But this passage does suggest that when we attend to the words of Scripture, when we wrestle with them, and seek to understand and live out the message that is found in these words, God promises to be in them and with them, so that we might be taught, corrected, and trained in righteousness.  As you hear this litany of possible uses, it’s clear that the author has in mind the full body of a person.  The Scriptures are useful to instruct our minds, but they also help form the way we live in the world, and that is because the Spirit is present in them and with them as well as being in us and with us. 

2.  Persistent   

    Therefore, being proficient in the things of God, we are ready to proclaim the message of God to the world.  But, this will take persistence, which isn’t the same thing as stubbornness.  I know first hand about stubbornness, for I have been known to be stubborn!  So, persistence doesn’t mean doing the same thing year after year, even though all the evidence suggests that it might be time to try something new, which might work a lot better!  It’s good to remember that church leaders sometimes get a burr under the saddle and can’t seem to get rid of it, and so they beat that old proverbial horse until it can’t move any further.

    But, as the author of this letter makes quite clear, the call to ministry isn’t always a bed of roses.  This young pastor, as I mentioned earlier seems to be feeling abandoned by his people, who are chasing after the latest spiritual fads.  Although Paul is probably not the author of this letter, he would have understood what Timothy is going through, because when we read his undisputed letters, we discover that he faced untold difficulties with the churches he planted.  Paul told the Corinthians, for instance, to bear for a moment with his jealousy for them, because he was perturbed by their willingness to entertain views of God that were contrary to his teachings, which led him give a litany of his own sufferings for the Lord.  After all, he’d been imprisoned, flogged, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and set adrift at sea, along with facing the dangers of bandits and floods (2 Corinthians 11).  Despite the odds, Paul remained faithful.  That is, he was persistent in his calling.

    And if you need a more contemporary lesson in persistence, just think about the thirty-three Chilean miners who spent nearly ten weeks underground.  What a joy it was to watch them emerge from the mine the other day. But that moment came only because the people involved were persistent.  The miners decided that they would survive, and so they worked together to accomplish this goal, while above ground a team of people – engineers, psychologists, physicians, miners, and more -- joined forces to not only bore a hole in the ground so that the trapped miners could be pulled to safety, but they continued to provide words of inspiration and encouragement to them, much like this pastor did for Timothy.

    With the examples of Paul and the Chilean miners in our minds, like Timothy, we hear a call to remain true to our gifts and calling, which God’s Spirit has poured out on the church of Jesus Christ.  Some are teachers and some are prophets, some assist those in need, and others listen attentively to the concerns of others.  Some give financially beyond measure so that the ministry of the church can proceed and God’s name might be proclaimed.  Yes, we are being encouraged to stay true to our calling, even when things get difficult and we feel abandoned.  The reason we can do this is that God remains faithful.  Even when we feel alone, we can take heart in the promise that God remains present with us in season and out.   So, be persistent in your ministry – convince, rebuke, encourage others with utmost patience.  And, perhaps, like Timothy, you will hear a reminder to do the work of an evangelist.  But, whatever your calling, be proficient and persistent in carrying out your ministry in its fullness.    

Preached by:

Dr. Robert D. Cornwall

Pastor, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Troy, Michigan

October 17th

Ministry Sunday