Advent - Year B -- 2020
Indexed by Date. Sermons for Advent Year B
Isaiah 40: 1-11
Psalm 85
Mark 1: 1-8
If there is one message we all really, really, really want to hear this year it is the one that says, “It’s over, we can go back to normal; social distancing and mask wearing and frequent hand sanitizing is part of a past we can now forget!
Wouldn’t that be great!
The prophet Isaiah, in words often better known from The Messiah, by George Frideric Handel, than they are from the scriptures themselves, speaks of comfort coming to a people in distress. Destroyed roads will be restored and their world, and their lives, will be great again! What hope those words must have given to a despairing people, in exile after having been invaded by a powerful enemy bent on world domination.
Often, Chritians look to these words of Isaiah and see Jesus of Nazareth. They (maybe we) say, “look he’s talking about Jesus”. But we must remember that they had to wait about 500 years for the babe of Bethlehem! That’s a real marathon!!!! The comfort of which Isaiah spoke was likely much more immediate and closer at hand.
Yet Isaiah proclaims this as Good News! By God’s grace, leaders arise and lead the people from despair to hopefulness, from darkness to light. Isaiah was speaking to a people in exile, and was speaking of a hope that would come to pass far sooner than 500 years in the future!
Just imagine - in 500 years the leader of the World Health Organization announces that COVID is over, herd immunity has been reached and COVID is only a bad memory. Our governments remove all pandemic related restrictions’ oops, it would the governments of our descendants. Our descendants would not have a clue how to live according to the norms we thought, well normal, until this March!
We’ve all heard, and probably used, the expression, “what a difference a day makes!” Things can change in the blink of an eye: someone is killed in a car accident, or dies suddenly, or loses a job, or an unforseen event changes the plans of many.
COVID came upon us fairly quickly. Although I was involved on the periphery of pandemic planning at a long term care facility about 20 years ago, it’s hard to be on “high alert” for that many years! I began to think that the health experts had been wrong; in the 21st century a world-wide pandemic similar to the 1919 Spanish Flu was very un-likely. Then China started to build hospitals - from start to finish in record time! We all know that last year at this time last year experts were beginning to worry that this virus would hop on a plane and circle the globe. AND IT DID! It has affected everything we do outside our home since March.
World-wide, governments were left scrambling. How to contain it? How to treat the number of patients who would contract it? Could a vaccine be developed? Many countries are at the mercy of multinational drug companies whose first ain is profit rather than the public good.
I don’t have to list all the disruptions to our lives that have come about because various, every-day, activities have been deemed unsafe. We know them all too well.
This passage from the book of Isaiah employs the images and activity of road-building to convey the message of the changes that must happen in order for the one who has the good news to come to them.
Tourism is big business in many parts of Canada. People come here for the fishing and other outdoor pursuits and to relax at their cottages. People flock to PEI for the beaches, fresh lobster and the Charlottetown Festival. I There is a joke about the seasons in PEI - it goes something like this: How many seasons are there in PEI. Answer: 2- “Winter and construction”.
I don’t know much about these things here in Saskatchewan, but in PEI it seems that every year, during the height of tourist season, there are slowdowns and lineups on highways and roads everywhere. It seems that just about everyone gets caught in construction - and frequently! The red soil is unique but I would rather see it in a plowed field than stretching ahead of me on what should be an smooth asphalt strip with a yellow line in the middle! You can repair roads in other seasons but its impossible to build one in the spring rains or the cold of winter!
I recall the sewer and water line upgrading project in the town where I used to live. Founded in 1895, this town had water and sewer lines had been there since day 1! One of the first streets to be done was the one that went by my subdivision. There was no other way to get there either, unless you had your own helicopter. The holes they dug in the morning had to be filled in at night - and it took months and months. The next year they moved to another street.
There is a community on a heavily travelled road in PEI that is known for its hills. Finally, they undertook a major project to fill in the valleys and cut down the hills - on the road surface. Some people did not want to love, so now, their houses are high above the road with massive retaining walls preventing them from “slip sliding away!” Kiat cost a few zillion dollars but it makes travelling through the community a much more pleasant experience, especially when its icy!
I gather that such road preparation was common in the ancient world when a some sort of dignitary would be due to come by. Years ago the Roman Catholic Ponitff visited a poor South American village and the government had municipal water installed just before his tour, but only in the places he visited. We want things to “look good” for the people of influence.
But we also want them to more than “look good”; we want them to “be good”. We want them to meet the needs of people and to enable connection and transportation and physical means of communication.
As a people of faith, the COVID pandemic has left us all wondering what church is about, back when we could not gather at all and now when our numbers are limited as well as our activities. You can connect from home where I can’t see you at all, or you can come here and wear masks - and I can’t tell if you are smiling or not and we can’t share a cookie or a cup of coffee - or a hug and visiting in people’s homes is discouraged or off limits. We ask the same question over and over again, “how are we to be Christian Community when we can’t break bread together?”
Some independent churches have rebelled against government restrictions on their activities and have gone as far as opening their doors to anyone who wants to come, in any numbers and without any restrictions. They stage rallies which break all the rules and advocate for freedom of religion. In some cases this has resulted in fines and in others, increased the spread of COVID.
Yet, the churches who are following the rules are still frustrated. Whether they are open or not, all churches have to take a second or third look at everything through the COVID lens. Planning for Christmas Eve has been no exception! How do we proclaim the good news of Jesus in these times!
To all the frustrated church goers, Dr Bonnie Henry, the BC medical officer has said: "Faith is not a building, It is not about Sunday mornings, it is about every day. It's not about rights, it's about community."
The question for us is: do we still believe the Good News that God comes to us with liberation and life? If so how do we convey this safely in this pandemic time.
Over the past year I wondered how our parents and grandparents managed during the various epidemics when they had no internet, no telephones, and even no electricity to facilitate the communications and kinds of connection we take for granted. And vaccines were not invented yet!
I know the Pastoral Care Committee is hard at work (and looking for more help) connecting with people (mostly by phone), expressing caring, building virtual roads over which to communicate the good news. I am assured that knowing you aren’t forgotten is a tremendous lift for many people.
We are a people of Good News. The people in Exile in Babylon were asked to look toward a brighter future in which they would be able to celebrate their relationship with their God in safety and in freedom. They were to look for the ways in which roads were being built. They were to look to the messengers who were speaking good news and pointing out to the people signs of God’s presence.
Comfort. Comfort my people. God will always come and be present.
Amen.
Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11
Luke 1: 47 -55
John 1: 6-8, 19-28
As we journey through the season of Advent, and as we come ever closer to Christmas, we need to remember that Advent is about much more than waiting for baby Jesus! Our Advent scriptures speak about actively hoping for a new world. It seems that each generation of biblical prophets spoke of this new world. In Advent, we try to be more open to the needs around us, to give to organizations which help the poor and hungry, to spend more time with family and friends. Advent is about actively waiting for the world of which Jesus spoke. Advent is about living into being the expectations of peace on earth and good will to all. Advent, like Mary, is a season pregnant with possibility.
This leads me to ask the question, “What are we hoping for?” When I was young, and perhaps even as a young adult, I had certain hopes for Christmas and, for the most part, they could all be put under the tree! I also knew that we would eat the same things, each year, more or less. If it was just a matter of a few groceries, that was easy! However, as I grew older my expectations changed. I craved the things that could not be wrapped and put under a tree. Often, they were things no amount of money could buy or problems no money could fix!
Advent, as an observance of the church, does not really have much to do presents under a tree or decorating the house. It has little to do with planning the meal or the family get-together! How many times have we had to make changes this year because of the pandemic and ended up disappointed, at least in expectation!
I’m not saying that those things should not be part of our celebration but that isn’t what Advent is really about. Advent is about much, much, more!
Advent is not concerned with remembering one little teeny weeny historical event - the birth of one baby in a remote corner of what was then the mighty Roman Empire! In the spirit of that small baby, all grown up, Advent wants to change your life and the lives of those around you; Advent wants to blow your socks off.
Advent has high hopes and wants to fill us with high hopes!
There is a poster I have seen which says something like, “how can I soar with the eagles when I live with a bunch of turkeys?!” Too often our results fall short of our hopes or even our expectations but perhaps its not that we expect too much, but that we don’t expect enough! Maybe we are content to stay in the turkey pen when we should be stretching our wings and preparing to soar!
Advent is about reaching for the sky. Advent is about going “all in” for the Good News of Jesus! It’s not content with half measures and small potatoes. Just as only the best of the crop is used as seed, in this season of the year, we are called to give our best!
Lately, I’ve been reading through a series of murder mysteries, set mostly in a remote village in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. One of the books centres on the murder of the estranged daughter of a wealthy family. During the investigation, one of the elderly men in the family is often seen sitting quietly, on a bench, looking over the lake. When asked what he was doing he would reply, “my sums!”
Of course most in the family, and the police inspector, thought he was adding up his money. At the end of the novel he reveals to the police that when he sits like that, on a bench overlooking the lake, he is “counting his blessings.”
This year many of us have had to shift from focussing on our losses, on our missed traditions and expectations, to focussing on our blessings. Since March of this year we have needed to move from what we can’t do to what we can.
When we look at the original context of the passage from Isaiah we need to remember that he was writing to a people in exile. I have no idea what their lives were like while in exile, but one characteristic was that, “this place wasn’t home”.
It would seem that theirs was a life of lament and loss! Canada has had a long history of welcoming people, as individuals, or as large groups, who could no longer live safely in their country of origin. In fact, the vast majority of people in North America are descendants of immigrants whether they be from the Highland Clearances in Scotland, the waves of Eastern Europeans to come to the west in the early 20th century, or “the boat people,” folks fleeing Bosnia or Myanmar. Most come here in the knowledge that they are never going “home” again. It must be very traumatic, especially when the choice was leave or die!
I’m not sure if the average person in this biblical exile thought they would ever be back again, or not BUT it seems that their attitude was one of despair. The role of the prophet was to proclaim hope in the midst of desolation.
But, as they say, “that was then”. The questions for us are, “Where is our hope and what are we called to proclaim? What is the Spirit of the Lord calling us to proclaim in the midst of what we might see as desolation?
One of the things that we can focus on is what we might call, “the long view”. One of the country’s medical officers (Perhaps it was Dr Tam) said not that long ago, “no pandemic has ever lasted forever.” Do you remember all the hype over Y2K. I have a very tattered Y2K T-Shirt - it’s tattered because that was 20 years ago!
My former parishioners posted a picture of their children on Facebook with the note, “the days are long but the years are short.” When we are in the midst of the day to day, whether it be the round of tasks involved with a busy life, or the fear of something over which we have little control it is easy to feel bogged down, that this will “never end” and you can’t possibly do it for one more day, or week or month.
But we know that if we focus on just the day, the year will take care of itself. We are called to proclaim that God’s overarching plan for creation is health and wholeness of life and we are called to live each day in trust and in faith.
There are two very well-known people in very public jobs who have taken to various forms of social media, such as Twitter, to get their message across. One is Donald John Trump, 45th President of the United States of America! The other is Jorge Mario Bergoglio, otherwise known as Pope Francis. I won’t bother with any of Mr Trump’s missives but a few years ago, the world received a Tweet from the Pope which went like this, “We are called to pray for the poor and then, we feed the poor. That is how prayer works.” That’s what I mean about active expectation. We imagine a world without poverty and work to make that happen.
I was listening to a radio program on Wednesday morning about whales and whale songs. Human beings almost annihilated whales before they realized they were on the brink of extinction and that something could be done. The same is true of the trade in ivory which has almost driven elephants to extinction. Human beings have had to realize that human greed is destroying our fragile planet and to listen to the prophets who are able to lead us all back from the brink.
Advent does not accept that the current situation is permanent. Advent is a season of hope. Advent is a season of Good News!
What is the good news in 2020? Well, it’s not that we can soon go back to the way things were! Even if we are able to, do we really want to? The ways we did thigs was a large part of what caused this mess in the first place. Do we want nursing homes to be places where people can earn a profit at the expense of our elderly citizens? Do we want our lives to be so consumed with consuming and going and doing that we forget how to be? Even the people in Exile knew they had not been the people they were called to be - but they were assured, as we can be, of a life of blessing where we are aware of our place in God’s scheme.
While the rat race in which we lived up until 10 months ago may not have caused the pandemic, it certainly led to its spread. Our lock-down has challenged us that some of those things we spent a lot of time on, are really not that important.
In a family a baby changes everything? Christmas comes every year and because of its frequency we have forgotten that it should change everything - Even when their children leave home, a couple can’t go back to the way things were, 20 or 25 years before. They must seek blessing in their new lives.
We must seek blessing where we are - seek to be a blessing where we can - trust in the God of blessing who came as a vulnerable child long ago, and who comes to us, to guide, comfort and challenge us each year, each day.
Amen.
2 Samuel 7: 1-11, 16
Song of Mary (Luke 1: 47-55)
Luke 1: 26-38
A few years ago my oldest nephew was giving me a tour of his, FINALLY, almost completed house. As a building contractor, working for other people, he had put his own house on the “slow track”. He told me that one of the first things they were going to do was to invite all the kids to stay over.” By this he meant his cousins who had come for sleep-overs on weekends all through their growing up years! Clearly he had an idea of what his home would be like - a place of welcome and hospitality with space for others. I suspect he and his fiancé have had many such gatherings by now - at least before COVID.
We all know that there can be a big difference between a house and a home; the differences having little to do with how much space there is, or its monetary the value.
When I was about 5 I saw a picture at my Aunt and Uncle’s house - it was in a magazine, or on a church bulletin cover, and it was of a couple putting their tiny baby to bed in a dresser drawer lined with a blanket. I thought it rather odd since each member of MY family slept in a real bed or crib. My aunt explained that some parents don’t have a crib for their baby.
Over my years in ministry I have visited a wide variety of dwellings people referred to as “home” - one I recall clearly, should definitely have been long ago condemned. Another was small, very small, and quite plain, but they built it themselves, adding to it as they could afford it. It was “theirs” and they were very proud to call it “home”.
When our committee welcomed a family of Rohyngan refugees to Nova Scotia in early 2019 we rented what we felt we could afford - a small apartment on the upper floor of an old house. They were perfectly happy with it, that is, until they ran out of oil in the middle of the night. We taught the dad how to read the gauge on the oil tank and told him which committee member to call when it was getting low! In February in Nova Scotia you can burn a lot of furnace oil - and you can only wear so many sweaters!
In today’s old testament passage the word “house” is a play on words. David wanted to build a physical place of worship, a “house of the Lord” because the important and revered symbols of God’s presence were stored in nothing better than a tent. He felt guilty that he was living in a palace of cedar, the “in thing”, I guess for the powerful and wealthy!
However, David was told that God was the one who was going to be the house builder, the house would be a “royal house;” a house of flesh and blood.
Of course we read this passage during the time when we are expecting the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, the “Son of David”. After the people of Israel fell on hard times, politically, the belief arose that a new king would come from the house of David and that they would once again be wealthy and both feared and respected among the nations.
These are the last scripture passages of Advent; the next ones are passages of the fulfilment of the promises. The next scriptures you will hear proclaim the birth of this long awaited Messiah!
This leaves us with the question: “for whom are these promises fulfilled?” As the body of Christ, “are these promises for us and if they are for us, are they for us only”? Is it a “private benefit” or does this Good News extend through us to the world, to all of creation? In other words, “who gets to live in this “house”?
We will soon, along with angels, sing the Good News of “peace on earth” and good will to all people. We will gather in this church, or around our devices, or sit quietly with our bulletin in hand, to encounter the words we have heard each Christmas of our lives.
Most of us are perfectly happy to move into God’s house” for a few days at Christmas. After Christmas is over though, are we willing to live in the house God will build for us and to share it with others? Will the birth of Jesus make any difference in our lives come January, February or onto next October?
If we were truly honest I believe we would admit that the entire Gospel message for today is not one we always want to hear - it’s nice to hear about the poor being “lifted up”, but NOT if that means we are the wealthy that are to be “brought down”. When we look at it that way, we get our backs up and resist. BIG TIME! We make excuses for our standard of living, for our choices, for our privilege.
One of the ways, historically, that the church has made Jesus safe (for the rich) is to make all of these promises about an afterlife. We reason that the hope surrounding Jesus is really about heaven! We proclaim that if you are “right with Jesus” you will go to heaven when you die. Of course, you are to go through life, content with your lot in it, and wait for death for the great levelling!
This point of view can certainly be little more than the social control of the few, exercised over the masses of the poor. That is not the Gospel, in my mind.
Except for COVID, this year, we may not really want all that much change, or at least not the kind of change Mary is proclaiming. I suppose it all sounds fine until we realize we might well be among the rich ones. Except for a small fraction of Canada’s population, even those of us who are of very limited means, are incredibly wealthy in comparison to the rest of the world.
Today we have presented to us a message of the power of God to change the ways of human beings, to reverse common expectations and assumptions and to build a world in which success is seen in a completely different way!
Years ago, when I was in theological school, in Halifax, we learned about what we called “God’s preferential option for the poor.” We learned that the God of the Bible seemed to favour the ones the world had left behind. We learned about the connections in the global economy that enabled some people to become fabulously wealthy while others, who were a large part of the reason the others were wealthy, stayed in poverty. The United Church put our a poster which challenged us: Let us live more simply so that others can simply live. Another put the choice bluntly: Justice or Just Us!
Hundreds of commodities, such as bananas, chocolate and coffee are imported to Canada so that our lives can be enhanced. Yet the people who actually do the work, on the ground, derive little benefit from the cash crops - the profits and benefits of which go to shareholders. As we know, the North American farmer is often forced to grow crops in ways that are damaging to the environment and unsustainable in the long term, all to make ends meet and to satisfy the multinationals who control the means of production such as the cost of diesel fuel, seed, fertilizer and machinery.
What would the world’s house look like, if every resident had enough of what was needed for a safe and meaning-filled life? It would look very different, to be sure!
You might ask, “Why am I disturbing you all with this when “it’s Christmas” and you want to feel better, especially this year?” Well, aren’t we all a little like George Jefferson, from that 70s and 80s TV show, wanting to get our own “piece of the pie”.
Of course money does not buy happiness - though having enough to not lie awake at night worrying about the cost of rent and groceries sure helps.
There has been a lot of talk lately, about a Guaranteed Annual Income, especially because of the economic impact of COVID. I’m not sure how it would work, logistically speaking, but it would be an income on such a level that would enable everyone to have a dignified life. There are a lot of nay-sayers but something needs to happen, to get people into affordable and safe housing and have enough food and clothing.
Perhaps the question for us is: “How can we be part of this action of divine reversal. How can we build those level roads I talked about a few weeks ago?” How can we allow God to build us into a house for all people; not just some!
While there is a saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” , the global economy is not one of those things; it’s badly broken! Over the years we have seen the rich become richer and the poor become poorer! We seem stuck in a system which pits the middle class against the poor out of the fear that they will join the ranks of the poor. It pits indigenous people and people of colour against the rest of us out of fear. It tells us that justice for all will mean suffering for us!
Christmas, for the church, is not about commemorating a bunch of events from 2,000 years ago but welcoming the God who came to change hearts and lives and through those hearts and lives, to change the world.
As we journey to the stable let us have the courage to look at ways in which we can make that stable a home of love and true justice.
Amen.