Getting Ready for God Isaiah 61: 1-4, It does not seem that long ago when I was back in New York preparing for the move to

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1 1 Getting Ready for God Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11 It does not seem that long ago when I was back in New York preparing for the move to Wisconsin. No move is simple, whether it be across town or across the country. I have done it often enough, though, that I can be fairly organized and efficient with all the details. This time, however, was a bit different for I had to seriously consider all I had accumulated over my eight years there. How would I fit what had filled a square-foot house into a two-bedroom apartment? I had to carefully evaluate the value of just about all I owned from both an emotional and practical standpoint. Some things were simple. Snow shovels, for example. I had a pretty good sense they would be available in stores here as well. Even my books, which are so very precious to me, were pared down to half of what they had been. My piano? That was a heartbreaking decision as I accepted the reality it was not worth the cost of moving it and then having it re-tuned. Besides, I don t believe the neighbors around me would appreciate any 2 am concerts, the quiet time of night when I loved to play. It all became distilled into a single concept purpose. How would whatever object I had serve my new life here in Wisconsin? As the Jewish people of today s text made their way back to Jerusalem, they faced a similar dilemma. Moving physical belongings was not a difficult decision. As exiles in a strange land, they had neither the time nor the material wealth to accumulate much. What had been most important to them the Temple and the Ark of the Covenant was gone, never to return. It was not personal acquisitions that needed to concern them. It was the intangible, those values that were often difficult to delineate clearly or contain, those things that did not fit well into moving boxes. In earlier times when they settled in the Promised Land God had provided specific instructions on how and where to build the Temple, on the proper elements of worship and sacrifice, on the rules and regulations that oversaw most of daily life. Yet now there was only a history of being let down and betrayed; there was no divine clarity providing insight on how to reconstruct life. God s call, though, was clear it was time to find their way back to God.

2 2 From this point forward both the tone and trajectory of the Scriptures change. The people of God were moving back home but to something very different than their experiences. Gone was the nation defining them with its walls and borders, with its laws and limits. Instead, they had to sift through the ashes of the generations to figure out what mattered most. With the rich history of relationship between God and the people, with the legacy of tradition and Law, what was most important as they moved back to where their story began? The answers of the prophets were surprising, because it was not a return to what they had formerly been. It was a new world in which they were finding themselves, one with a purpose and identity that was rooted in yesterday but becoming flesh in an altogether startling way: The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to let the oppressed go free. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. 1 Oh, yes, a very different focus. No longer was their call to a nationalistic, insular identity but one that cared for the outcasts, the imprisoned, the ones kept under the control of the powerful, those beyond their borders. It was a radical mindset to which God was calling them now. One that would become reality in Jesus of Nazareth who used those very same words from the scroll of Isaiah when he began his own ministry. It was not a call to greatness or grandeur but to a vision of relationships based on wholeness and compassion for all of God s creation. It is a statement that God is with us when the most vulnerable among us are treasured and nurtured. This time of year we are deep in the midst of Christmas preparations. There are parties and concerts galore. Decorations spill over from houses, businesses, churches, even into the streets! Christmas music fills the airwaves as we hear sleigh bells ring and Rudolph with his nose so bright. One would be hard-pressed to not notice the festivities. There is such pressure to make each Christmas more memorable than the last and to structure the perfect holiday experience. What have 1 Isaiah 61: 1, 11 NRSV

3 3 we done to ourselves? The most wonderful time of the year has been replaced by something beyond our control, something far beyond a baby born to bring justice and peace to the world. Makes me sound like a Scrooge, doesn t it? And I m not. I love Christmas and its beautiful traditions that tug at our hearts. In the ornament collection I have gathered over the years are treasures, cross-stitch made by my dad in his last years, crocheted ones my mom loving created. And yes, those did make the trip to Wisconsin! When I decorate my tree, I recall the stories of Christmas s past, of those days when I was young, when my children were young, when life was so very different. Those are memories I hold deep in my heart of hearts. All the decorations here also tell of days gone by, of people who poured themselves into Chrismons and candles, into wreaths and trees. It speaks to who we are as a community of faith. As wonderful as those recollections are a part of the way we experience Christmas now, they are not and never were the focus of Christmas. This season of Advent is a time of preparing for God in our midst. Christmas is a reminder of who we are called to be. We hear the familiar Christmas story differently when we make room for God in the center of our retelling of what we know so well, in the center of all our living. We bring with us what matters most the relationships that make life worth living, space for people to discover the best of themselves as God created us all to be, faith in the God who walks with us always. We are to make Christmas, not a season of celebration, but a way of life all year round. Such an attitude, though, runs against our culture that is more focused on outward glitter and presents. Christmas as a time to reconnect with God? How odd. Yet why else are we here if not for God? As a society, Christmas does give us a time to relegate the darkness of our days and nights to the background, to revel in joy and beauty, to remember friends and family, to connect with traditions of the past and perhaps even create some new ones. Heaven knows we need such a message of groundedness and hope! Yet Christmas is more, so much more, because its purpose is to join us to the Holy. The Grinch was no lover of Christmas. He outscrooged Scrooge! Determined to get rid of the laughter and delight in the season, he set about trying to destroy it all. He didn t stop at just stealing

4 4 presents. No! He went down to Whooville in the dark of night and took the presents, the trees, even the food! There was nothing left to speak of the wonder of Christmas. On Christmas morning as he stood at the top of the mountain ready to throw all he had stolen into an abyss, a confusing sound came from the village below. Christmas music, joyous Christmas songs that confused him. Why weren t they devastated by his damage? Why were they happy? And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. 2 Yes, it is a bit more. Advent, this season of readying ourselves for God, calls us to take Christmas as the ongoing promised presence of God-with-us-always to heart, to dig a bit deeper and determine what we want to take with us on our journey of life and our journey of faith. As a community of faith, that is not an uncomplicated task. What matters, truly matters, to us? The more we consider that question the more we realize that Advent as the journey of preparation and Christmas as the presence of God is our life s work, not simply a season. We are always getting ready for God to be among us, and we live our lives as those who know in the core of our beings that God is with us now and always. It changes all our conversations from who we are as a community of faith to who we are as individuals. Whatever decisions we make, regardless of the topic, the driving factor should always be the question: do our words and actions show that we believe in the God of Christmas who is with us? Imagine committee meetings, even Session meetings, if that were the motivation! Think what it could be if we thought about that when we meet to eat, to play, even to worship. Does this, all this, pronounce that God is here? On this day we stand here in the early stages of a journey, one in which we must choose what goes with us, what we value, what we need to discard, and the purpose of it all. There are lessons, traditions, histories that speak of faith in the God of all time. There are lessons, traditions, histories that do not do us any favors but instead weigh us down, putting up a wall of separation between us 2 Dr. Seuss. How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Random House Renewed 1985.

5 5 and others, between us and God. As we explore and evaluate, as we ponder what we are holding in our hands and in our hearts, the yardstick of God-with-us will serve us well as we travel this road of transition. The vision of which the prophet wrote was not one defined by any outward trappings of power and possessions. Instead, it was shaped by righteousness, which is being in relationship with God and with one another, and by salvation, which is wholeness and healing. It was a vision grounded in people in caring for one another and helping one another discover the fulness of life. It was a vision in which all of living reflected the presence of God-with-us. That is also our vision as a community of faith. We might never fill this sanctuary again as it was in days gone by. There may never be hordes of children running up and down the halls. We might not, and then again we might. We simply don t know. Besides, that is not our purpose. We are here to do as the prophet wrote, The spirit of the Lord is upon us, because the Lord has anointed us; God has sent us to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives, to let the oppressed go free. 3 That is truly the gift of Christmas when we become the presence of God for one another for the world. Let us pray. Help us, Holy One, to treasure the beauty of these days, to enjoy its festivities and traditions, to welcome family and friends, to remember the stories of the past, and the hold on to the hope of tomorrow. While we prepare ourselves, remind us that you are already here, waiting for us to follow you into your tomorrow. Amen. The Rev. Melodie A. Long First Presbyterian Church Oshkosh, Wisconsin December 16, From Isaiah 61: 1 NRSV