In Taize worship service, this little prayer we just sang is so haunting. It begs God s presence

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Kelly Neal
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1 November 29, 2015 Luke 21:25-36/Jeremiah 33:14-16 (unison) Watch Joy Douglas Strome Prayer for Illumination: Stay with me, stay here with me, watch and pray, watch and pray. Stay with me, stay here with me, watch and pray, watch and pray. Amen. In Taize worship service, this little prayer we just sang is so haunting. It begs God s presence in urgency. It is soft and yet so loud. It is full of expectation and sorrow. It assumes presence, yet fears its absence. It is advent tied up in five words. Advent, as we talked about at All Church Night a week ago, is that season that prepares us to be open to God s presence among us. It s not that difficult to grasp, but very difficult to live into. As one of our young participants summarized for us that night: this is the thing before the thing. Oh, how perfect. The thing before the thing. Let s be clear, the thing we are getting ready for is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, Son of God, enfleshed on this earth, moving in tandem with God, as God, finding us where we are, knowing our human aches and pains in order to teach us about God s remedy to the same. Incarnate, that word that makes us wiggle a bit is a big one. Moltmann talks about fortuitous incarnation, that idea in theology that the love of God needed a vehicle, a way to find expression in the world, and Jesus was it. God comes to us in baby s breath.incarna, the Latin root, meaning of the body, of the flesh..this world, not the next, this living, breathing world that we know as humans, that s the world that God enters.let s try to keep that close as we move on.as trying as our times might be, it is this world where we are planted, and wishing for the sweet by and by won t get us there any faster or any more peacefully.this world, this flesh and body world, is the world God chose to incarnate, and that is where we are starting as we experience the thing before the thing. Incarnation: Reading the Signs of our Times. Each week we ll explore another facet of this theme through our scripture readings, music and the events of our times, and hopefully we will come to the conclusion on Christmas Eve, that we are ready once again to claim that God comes to us in one small child, in order to teach one large complex world the way of peace. The thing before the thing, however is the task today. And the watchword today is, well, watch.

2 Jeremiah has a vision. The days are surely coming, when I will fulfill the promise I made in those days, a righteous branch will spring up, and that branch will execute justice and righteousness Jeremiah has a vision that includes a different reality than the one they are now experiencing. In the midst of his own imprisonment, he can still see the way that God is calling them. In the midst of catastrophic change of life and circumstance, Jeremiah believes that this is not the end of the things. This is not the end, this is not the end of things Gungor sings, and he could be quoting Jeremiah. But bottom line for all of them, those who were carted off to Babylon, and those who stayed at home and plowed the fields and kept things going without leadership is this: all will live in safety. And this safety will be so pervasive that the land will be called The Lord is our Righteousness. Safety. We are all hanging on that watchword this week aren t we? Who feels safe? What does that even mean? What does it mean if you are a child or a child of color or a child of poverty or a child in trouble or a child on drugs or a child loose on the streets? What does it mean for the child buckled into carseats, and picked up and taken here and there, and monitored every moment, and protected above all else and educated and fed and loved and who has a future? In Jeremiah s vision, the second scenario is available for all. And this is where we Christians are ripping our hearts out this week. How can we make this happen? The selection from Luke is a curious one for the first Sunday in Advent. This comes just before the passion narrative and sets up the conditions that are ripe for the end of Jesus life. These are the signs that the end of this world as we know it is coming, Luke says..the kingdom of God is near when you see the fig tree blossoming, when you are alert enough to see the signs of God s incarnation in your midst. It is important to point out that for Luke these signs are not imminent or near as urgent as in Mark s similar text. That s the difference a few decades brings to the perspective. No, Luke s warning about signs isn t like run for cover, God has had it with us and is coming back carrying a big stick. Instead Luke writes these absolutely relevant words for us today, this day, the day of this week

3 in this year Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly. Be alert at all times, Luke cautions, you could be so busy worrying about everything that you miss God right in front of you.it s like the thing before the thing..you could miss it if you aren t careful. I want to show you a little video I found this week. I m feeling a bit ambivalent about it, making it the perfect video for this liminal time of Advent. Nothing is ever quite right in Advent. But it provoked me to hear Luke s words in a different way, and maybe we need a simple message in order to understand a tough one. So hear goes this is no plug for Allstate, but it is just a nice commercial:/youtu.be/ki1bkm22up0https:// Bad things can t stop us from making our lives good. It s good advertising and it s good gospel truth. For Luke s people, wishing that Jesus would hurry up and take care of everything for them, it was true that people needed to get on with their lives, that they had to take care of everything in Jesus place, that they had to fulfill the purpose of God as Jesus had taught them, that they had to stand up and raise their heads, be alert at all times,.so that as they watched for God, they were also watching out for all of God s children. Oh it would have been easier if God would have come with a big stick and taken out all the bad guys, and it would be easier for us if God would come and set this mess of a city to rights for us, but that isn t real. Real children are at risk. Real children can t read. Real children have no role models. Real children are born to be prophetic and lead. Real children are smart and compassionate and can take charge of this world. It is real children in this real world in this real, hurting divided city that we are responsible for, that we have covenanted with God to protect and impact together. Real children need us to call out our politicians who aren t paying attention to the poor, who talk big on television but don t have a clue about how to make anything lasting or looking like peace happen, real children need us to call them on their lies. Real children need us to watch out for signs of drug addiction, because it is killing our neighborhoods and our communities, and making no future

4 the norm for many of our young people. Real children need us to watch out for signs of trauma, for the ways we expose them to violence on a regular basis (oh, it s just a game, they know the difference.) and then we act surprised when violence becomes a way of life. Real children need us to stand up and lift our heads to this higher calling that starts and ends with peace always. Real children in this life in this world in this city need us, so that they can hope for a future..not just a future where everyone goes to Disneyland, but a future where everyone survives their childhood. Bad things can t stop us from making our lives good. Making all our lives good. Making all our lives, despite differences and economic standing and geographic location..all lives good. That is gospel hope. Hope that isn t just about looking for the silver lining, but expecting that in the midst of the messiest of mess we humans can concoct, that God can shed light on that mess, and offer a way where there was no way. Hope that depends on incarnation, the incarnation we learned about in a tiny infant boy, that is also spreads into each of our bodies in the same way, flowing through our blood streams, coming out in the words we speak, in the air we breathe and literally turning us from the inside out into those who are going to make peace happen. A little girl on a video can t make up for the tragic losses we are experiencing, and it doesn t mean to trivialize all the real pain that we are experiencing. The throbbing that we feel and hear just under the surface of every person interviewed on the evening news lets us know that grief and anger is raw, and it should be. The little girl just embodies for us both the fragility and the power of goodness that must be our real watchword for this day. A little child gets our attention and our instincts should be to protect that idealism at all times, not just try to beat it out of them with words like: grow up, or get real, or get even. So, it begins.this thing before the thing. We watch, we stay alert, we listen intently to everyone out there who is offering some moment of good news or hope or strategy that leads to peace. What feels particularly poignant about this work we do in these next days..the thing before the thing is this: What if, in this moment of angst and worry and concern over all that is not right, we fall back on our faith and discover that we are the very ones who can solve this, we have the tools

5 in our tool belt to expose injustice, to welcome the stranger no matter what country they come from, we have prophets in our midst and prophets from old who carry God s vision in their heart and model how to take risks to get the word out there. We have a legacy of peacemakers to draw from, who never got cynical, but just kept at it, who saw all that humans could do to degrade and minimize life and did not give up on the message that life could be good. We know how to make life good and it is the message that the world needs more than oil, more than jobs, more than international relations, more than education, more than anything. Life, a good life, is God s plan for the world. And to let any other message get in line ahead of that is on us. We have to get ready to stand up and raise our heads to see God incarnate in those around us, to act where we can, to pray when there isn t anything else left to do, and to sing like crazy the songs that lift our own spirits in worship to sustain us. and to remember what is coming, the light of the world, the prince of peace, who is Christ our Lord. I want to close with a poem/creed by Allen Boesak, anti apartheid activist in South Africa who wrote this Advent Credo..I ll read the italics, you read the bold.

6 Allan Boesak Advent Credo It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to destruction and loss This is true: For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life; It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and poverty, death and destruction This is true: I have come that they may have life, and that abundantly. It is not true that violence and hatred should have the last word, and that war and destruction rule forever This is true: Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called wonderful councilor, mighty God, the Everlasting, the Prince of peace. It is not true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil who seek to rule the world This is true: To me is given authority in heaven and on earth, and lo I am with you, even until the end of the world. It is not true that we have to wait for those who are specially gifted, who are the prophets of the Church before we can be peacemakers This is true: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall have dreams. It is not true that our hopes for liberation of humankind, of justice, of human dignity of peace are not meant for this earth and for this history This is true: The hour comes, and it is now, that the true worshipers shall worship God in spirit and in truth. So let us enter Advent in hope, even hope against hope. Let us see visions of love and peace and justice. Let us affirm with humility, with joy, with faith, with courage: Jesus Christ the life of the world. From Walking on Thorns, by Allan Boesak, Eerdmans, Amen.

Sermon for Advent III Year B 2011 Laughing in Our Sleep

Sermon for Advent III Year B 2011 Laughing in Our Sleep Have you ever laughed out loud while you were dreaming? I ask because I read an article this past week where the author claims to have laughed out