December 10, 2006 Sermon
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Advent 2 – C
December 10, 2006 Allan Conkling
Anyone who has been in the market for buying a new home has heard the real estate mantra: “Location, location, location!” This morning we get a sense of the importance of “location, location, location” in our faith as Christians. Luke’s list of names and places reminds us that Christianity is based on a literal person located at a precise time in history. Why God chose that particular time in history or that particular location is unanswerable. The fact that Jesus was born before the age of mass communication, or in a little known part of the world, and not to royalty while perplexing to me, didn’t bother Luke at all, other than to note simply that it happened. His point was, that unlike the other mythological gods of Greek or Roman or Egyptian pantheons, which were the stuff of legend and fantasy, Jesus was a real flesh and blood person. Luke identifies and names real, historical people and real locations—people who were alive at the time and critical players in the life of Jesus. As the years passed, this would become extremely important for our faith, since this religion is what we call “incarnational”: that is, God isn’t just “out there” or on the top of Mount Olympus somewhere. Rather we believe that God, in a unique way, chose a precise place in history, to take on our human nature and live as one of us.
The flip-side of this story of course, is that the deliberate care which Luke takes to set the literary stage for Jesus and his ministry also bids us to attend carefully to our own location and place in history. Incarnation is an ongoing thing. It is both back then, and at the same time in every age among God’s faithful people. And so we have to ask: Where is God active among us now? Do we discern the spirit of Christ among us today? Where is God in all of this?
In Advent these are excellent questions to ponder, given the nature of a season that is for the vast majority of folks focused on secular concerns. This time of year can get so busy and distracting that, when we think about God at all, it is in terms of the long ago and far away—in nativity scenes, and on Christmas cards of Mary Joseph and Baby Jesus away in a manger. That’s why the Church, in its wisdom, reads John the Baptist stories in Advent. Unlike the others, Tiberius, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Trachonitis, Lysanias, Annas and Caiaphas—only one had a message that would endure. Only one remains to challenge us to consider why we are here. That one voice calls to us from the wilderness across the ages to look at ourselves and the things we do and the things we stand for.
I once heard a preacher say that “most of our preparations for Christmas don’t prepare us for Christ at all,” and I guess that can be true. As happy as the holidays are for most we also know how shallow this time can be. Behind all the glitter, glitz and tinsel, can be an emptiness, even sadness and depression, that many people feel during this time of year. People feel pressure to spend when they don’t have money, to party when they don’t feel so great, to be nice to those they don’t really like. We say the holidays are for kids – but look how they fight! No, John the Baptist didn’t literally address the problems of 21st century America…he was talking prophetically about a new age that he believed was dawning in the messiah Jesus. However the words can be a reminder where ever we are, not to forget our priorities: “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”
Paul is another one who can help us keep our focus. His prayer that he wrote to the church in Philippi—another important location in history—can be ours as well: “That your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight” producing a “harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ”. Love, knowledge, and insight—gosh, what gifts these would be to find under a tree!
I am also drawn to first reading we heard this morning. It is from one of the books of the Apocrypha, in what used to be called the Catholic Bible. Actually it was part of all Bibles up until the Reformation, when the Protestants decided to leave it out. It was written almost 200 years before Jesus was born, around the time of the book of Daniel. Written during a time of intense persecution, it was good news in the midst of suffering, consolation for those who struggled with their faith. For those wanting to put the Holy back in the Holidays, try this some time: Take a pencil and underline all the places where you see the words, “Jerusalem” and “Israel”. Then, substitute your name, the name of someone in your family, or someone you love and see what you get….
Ø “Take off the garment of sorrow and affliction, O _______[NAME] and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.”
Ø “Arise, O _________, stand upon the height, look toward the east and see your children gathered. God will bring them back to you.”
Ø “God has ordered that every high mountain and hill be made low, and the valleys filled in, to make level ground, so that __________ may walk safely in the glory of God.”
Ø “The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded/protected _________ at Gods command. For God will lead ________with joy in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from God.”
See then that is not the season, nor the presents, nor the parties or the traveling which inspires hope, but God.
God speaks to us today no less then he did in ages past. He meets to us in our worship, in the bread and wine; we sense God all around if we but open our eyes, ears and heart. As we wait in this time of the already but not yet pray God to hallow this time and place.
“On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry announces that the Lord is nigh; / Awake and hearken for he brings glad tidings of the King of kings.”
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Revised: 12/18/06