Sermon Bah Humbug! Making Change Isaiah 9.6-7, Luke , A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and authority will be on his

Transcription

1 1 Sermon Bah Humbug! Making Change Isaiah 9.6-7, Luke , Scripture A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and authority will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal One, Prince of Peace. There will be vast authority and endless peace for David s throne and for his kingdom, establishing and sustaining it with justice and righteousness now and forever. With all my heart I glorify the Lord! In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior... God has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed. God has come to the aid of the servant Israel, remembering God s mercy, just as promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to Abraham s descendants forever. Sermon Charles Dicken s The Christmas Carol is a story is a story that I remember watching in its various iterations throughout the Christmas season- whether it was in black or white, or the Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse version. My heart of course always went out to Bob Cratchet and his family, especially his

2 2 disabled son tiny Tim. Dickens takes the reader on a journey with Ebenezer Scrooge. We all prepare ourselves for journeys in different ways. We all are invited to embark on a journey as we begin the 4 weeks of Advent. Is there some work that we need to attend to within our hearts? Perhaps this is an invitation for needed change? Perhaps there is an actual physical journey to prepare for- a new job, a new home, a new relationship, or perhaps liberation from something that binds us? Perhaps you already know what you are to do to prepare for this journey, because you were called, clearly and frighteningly, by a heavenly messenger. This sage advice from a wise soul is still ringing in your ears like chimes or bells reminding you of what you must do. Bah-Humbug, you like Scrooge, might be saying, there isn t time for this journey. I ve got money to make, and too many things on my to do list before Christmas comes. Come on Pastor, can you just give me some inspiration to get through my week already?

3 3 This timeless story of Scrooge s journey with the Ghost of Christmas, Past, Present and Future is where we find ourselves this Advent, and gives us permission to examine our own lives, our past which needs redeeming, our present examined, and hopefully giving way to new possibilities in the future. Scrooge didn t have a choice whether to begin the journey. There is a haunting ringing of bells, and after a long day of cheating and being stingy with everyone he encounters, Scrooge is visited by his old friend Jacob Marley, a terrifying ghost who is covered in chains attached to a heavy chest, presumably filled with what he spent his life seeking- wealth. Dickens said of Scrooge, Warm weather can not warm him and wintry weather cannot chill him, the only thing that sways Scrooge is money. Scrooge is warned by Marley to change his greedy heart, or else he too will become enslaved by his greed, chained to that which he loves the most. Greed is the story of the world that we live in, it is infused in the air that we breathe, and in many ways we find power in our need to possess things. We

4 4 find this way of life inescapable, and yet like Marley delivers to Scrooge, we hear a warning in our scripture. Most of the time we aren t visited by ghosts demanding we examine our past, but in Luke s gospel we read that Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel, sent by God to deliver news that would terrify any teenager- Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you. But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Mary was given the news that she would bear God s child, and that he would be the messiah, the savior that would bring peace to the world. It isn t clear at the beginning that Mary is going to accept the task presented to her. In all fairness she is startled by an Angel, but we come to see that she accepts the call to bear and mother God s holy Son. Mary is also asked to go on a journey to deliver news to her cousin Elizabeth, who has been unable to have children, that she too would have a child. It is once Mary reaches Elizabeth that we hear Mary exclaim the words from our scripture this morning...mary has come to accept and recognize the importance of her calling to be the mother of Jesus, the bearer of God s Son.

5 5 With all my heart I glorify the Lord! In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior... God has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed. God has come to the aid of the servant Israel, remembering God s mercy, just as promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to Abraham s descendants forever. This is my favorite scripture in the whole of the Bible. I adore literature of all kinds that presents young people as saving the world. Mary, a female young adult who has been given arguably the most important job of mere humans of all time- to give birth and mother Jesus, God s Son, who will restore God s vision a world where the poor are lifted up, and the powerful lose their thrones. This is the opposite vision of what Scrooge had spent his life working for. At least what he wanted before he was visited by his friend Jacob Marley. Sending away the rich empty? Why? So that the hungry can be given good things? Bah-humbug! Why would he advocate for resources to be given to the poor, when he has had to work hard for everything he has ever earned? What on earth? Bah-humbug! I am reminded of a later passage in Luke of

6 6 Jesus preaching on greed saying it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." But that s the difference between God s vision or Scrooge s, or God s vision and our own. Mary s song of joy comes as she recognizes the importance of her role in God s revolutionary plan of saving the world. Jesus birth and coming to live among us was going to give us all the chance to change our Bah-humbug ways, to learn to be more brave, and work towards God s vision and intention for the world. The new Disney Pixar movie Moana tells a story of a young girl who is the daughter of the chief of a Hawaiian island, and who is being prepared to take on the leadership of her people. From a young age Moana listened to her grandma tell the story of the island goddess Te Fiti, and how the demi-god, and shape-shifter Maui stole her heart, a green stone that would be sought after by many. Without her heart the island crumbled, and as a result Te Ka, a lava monster rose from the waters, and had taken hold of the resources, fish are no longer plentiful, and their coconut trees are growing sick. As a toddler, Moana is chosen by the water to be the one who would restore peace to the island and nature, and just as the ocean gives her the stone of

7 7 the heart of Te Fiti, her father comes and rescues her from the waters, telling her that the waters are dangerous. And never to go past the reef, there is danger out there. But as a result of her early connection to the water, Moana now as a young adult feels an intense call that puts her at odds with her father and her responsibilities on the island and her calling to explore the waters of the deep. This is when her grandmother reminds her of the tale of the goddess Te Fiti and urges her to go after the demi-god Maui, handing her the stone that the ocean had given her as a child. Moana knows that she must leave even though she will risk her father s disappointment and trust. She makes her journey to Maui, and despite his efforts to escape Moana, the ocean won t allow him, and he agrees to go with her to restore the heart of Te Fiti, if first he can regain his hook, which he is sure will help him to regain his shape-shifting abilities. They face the Kakamora, tiny-coconut covered warriors, they recover Maui s hook from the monster crab Tamatoa, and then Moana makes an attempt to cross through the islands inhabited by the Lava Monster Te ka. Te Ka sends a giant wave toward her, and the canoe capsizes, and Maui isn t able to shapeshift, taking a hit from Te Ka and leaving his hook damaged. Maui leaves Moana, discouraged and ready to give up, its then she is visited by a stingray, her grandma. Filled with hope, Moana

8 8 decides to try again to reach Te Fiti, and she makes her way through the fire raging sea of Te Ka, with the help of Maui who shows up to fight the monster just in time. This is when Moana realizes that Te Fiti is no longer there, and she turns to see the spiral heart of Te Fiti is on Te Ka, and in a breathtaking image, Moana steps into the waters, and they clear for her, like Moses parting the waters. Walking toward Te Ka, she tells him to listen to the voice inside himself. He calms down, and Moana walks up to him and puts the heart in the spiral-shaped gap in his chest. With the heart restored, Te Ka returns to his original form, as the island goddess Te Fiti. Maui apologizes to Te Fiti for stealing her heart, and she opens up her hand and reveals the hook, completely repaired. Te Fiti lifts up Moana and hugs her, then returns her to the shore. Sailing back home, Moana sees that all the plants and fish have returned. Each of us has a role in helping make God s vision a reality. We have only to decide who we want to be in the story? Are we like greedy Scrooge, the rich who God promises to send away empty handed? Are we the hungry who God promises to provide for? Could there be a possibility that we might be called

9 9 like Mary to extraordinary work? Work like Moana, that some might say is dangerous, or comes from being called by extraordinary messengers? I was listening to one of my favorite musical groups the other day, Sweet Honey in the Rock. They were singing Wade in the Water, (sing) Sung by Harriet Tubman, known as the Moses of the Underground Railroad, she had this song in her repertoire to remind escaping slaves to travel by stream or in water sources. This was a method that wouldn t allow for tracking. Water covered tracks and the tracking dogs couldn t find their scent. The song represents a method of resistance in a world that was the opposite vision of what God intended. Sweet Honey shared this wisdom before they sang the song... If you want change in your life, and there is a storm, go into it. If you want to avoid it, don t walk into the water. Wade on in the Water, cause it's really gonna be troubled. How will you respond today? Will you take this Advent journey? Even though the journey may involve risk or giving something up? Sometimes asking us to be braver than we think we are? Perhaps this is the meaning of

10 10 Jesus words Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. The miracle has just begun in YOU for the sake of the world... God Bless us Every One!