UNWRAPPING THE GIFTS OF CHRISTMAS: PEACE Luke 3.1-6 and Luke 1.68-79 Second Sunday of Advent, Year C, December 6, 2015 -- Rev. Dr. Charlie Berthoud Covenant Presbyterian Church -- Madison, WI Of the four gospels in the Christian Bible, the gospel of Luke has the most narrative about the birth of Jesus, so it s a favorite around Christmas time. One commonly-read section is from Luke 3, about John the Baptist encouraging people to prepare the way, part of which you just heard. (You ll hear the rest next week). Another commonly-read section is the song of Mary, which you ll hear on December 20, in two weeks. And the best-loved and most commonly read section of Luke would be the first 14 verses in chapter 2, about the decree from Emperor Augustus, the shepherds in the fields, and the song of the angels about peace on earth. (We are singing a song about that song of peace at the end of worship today.) You ll hear this reading on Christmas Eve and you ll hear it from Linus van Pelt in the Peanuts Christmas special, which celebrates 50 years this year. Just prior to these famous fourteen verses, and surrounded by these other well-known Christmas readings, we have our second reading for today, the song of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Zechariah was a priest and his wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron the famous priest. They were older and had no children. One day, alone in the Temple, Zechariah the priest was told by an angel named Gabriel that he and his wife would have a baby, who would become John the Baptist. According to the angel, John would turn the disobedient to the way of the righteous and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Zechariah doubted the news about the birth, and the angel made him mute. He doesn t speak again until after the child was born, and his song of praise is our reading for today. It s actually one of six songs of praise in the beginning of Luke. The others are all about Jesus. In the first two thirds of the reading Zechariah praises God for the past actions, showing mercy, remembering the covenant. The final four verses focus on what the child who became John the Baptist will do and be. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
Cov. Pres. Madison WI, p. 2 to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. * * * * * Christmas is 19 days away. The music is all around us. The Christmas lights are shining. There is excitement in the air. So I thought today would be a great day to talk... sin! Actually it wasn t my idea. Sin is mentioned in both scripture readings. As much as we might want to focus on the happy stuff and warm fuzzies of Christmas, the season of Advent this time of preparing ourselves to really welcome Jesus into our world and our lives invites us to ponder deeper things, including sin. We could reflect on the sins of the world around us: environmental issues, poverty, violence, terrorism. But we need to start with ourselves. So I m going to tell you a story about our dog. Cece was our sweet mutt who lived for almost 15 years after we got her from the animal shelter, and we had a lot of fun together over the years. We used to live in Pittsburgh and we a couple times a year, we made the 500 miles drive to my mom s house in Connecticut. In summer time, several years ago, we arrived after dark, and we were all tired. Even though my mom had told me not to, I opened the door and let Cece run out into the yard. She had been cooped up in the car all day. We started unloading the car, and just a few seconds
Cov. Pres. Madison WI, p. 3 later, we heard a yelp. Cece came running back to us, gagging and coughing and sort of foaming at the mouth and smelling horribly. The reason my mom told me to not let the dog run around the yard was because in the few days before my arrival, Mom had smelled a skunk outside. So not only did we have a stinky dog, but I also feared the worst possible scenario for I told you so in all of human history. To my mom s credit, she said nothing. How does this relate to sin you ask? Two ways. One is that I totally ignored what I was told to do by an authority figure. I know that my Mom, may she rest in peace, as wonderful she was, was not God. But I ignored her wisdom and it caused problems. How often do we knowingly ignore God s wisdom and think we know better? How often do we not do what God calls us to do, because it would be inconvenient for us? So did I sin when I didn t do what my mom suggested? I don t think so, but when we don t do what God teaches us to do when we lie, or cheat, or commit adultery, or act greedily, or fail to love one another then we do sin. The second way this story relates to sin is in thinking about Cece our dog. She saw a critter and impulsively chased after it. That s what dogs do. And we chase things too. We chase after money, after stuff, We need to be better than dogs and learn how to control our impulses. The New York Times had a fascinating article last Sunday called Addicted to Distraction about how we are collectively getting addicted to our technology. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/opinion/sunday/addicted-to-distraction.html Author Tony Schwartz writes: Addiction is the relentless pull to a substance or an activity that becomes so compulsive it ultimately interferes with everyday life. By that definition, nearly everyone I know is addicted in some measure to the Internet.
Cov. Pres. Madison WI, p. 4 And later he writes: The brain s craving for novelty, constant stimulation and immediate gratification creates something called a compulsion loop. Like lab rats and drug addicts, we need more and more to get the same effect. Physiological addiction is real and we re learning more about how much a problem it is. But we are not helpless. Addictive behavior is a combination of nature and nurture. If we happen to have a genetic predisposition towards alcohol, or greed, or arrogance, this doesn t give us the excuse to wallow in bad behavior. We need to learn from the 12 step groups, the recovery groups that support alcoholics, drug abusers, and other addicts. The first step is admitting a problem, and the next step is getting help. So today I invite you to think about sin in your own life. Or maybe it would be easier to think about something that isn t right in your heart or in your day to day living. Maybe it s addictive behavior with technology, or alcohol, or lust. Or maybe your issue is greed, or indifference, or being negative. Or if you ve been sitting here thinking about all the sins that your spouse, or your neighbors, or your friends need to be dealing with instead of your own, then bingo I think you found that being judgmental is what you need to focus on. I encourage you to prayerfully lift in up before God. Dear God, I acknowledge to you that I struggle with Help me to let go. Help me to change. Thank you for the grace and mercy of your forgiveness.
Cov. Pres. Madison WI, p. 5 And as you prayerfully acknowledge the sin in your own life, I hope you ll hear the Good News of the gospel and be strengthened by it. John the Baptist came proclaiming baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Zechariah sang about the tender mercy of God, with hope that people who grow in knowledge about God forgiving sin, so we could be guided in the way of peace. And Jesus came, proclaiming God s kingdom, inviting people to turn around and to live in new ways. Every Sunday as we worship we do these things: acknowledging our sin and welcoming the Good News. And then we share the peace of Christ. Being forgiven gives us peace. And we are called to share this peace. Unwrapping God s gift of peace means being honest with ourselves and welcoming God s forgiveness, and journeying into a new life. Amen.