Sunday, December 7, 2008
Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13, II Peter 3:8-15a, Mark 1:1-8
This Advent month of December is one of the most challenging times of the year for us at Christians. Every day we see and feel the conflicts between the values of American Society and the values of Jesus. Every day, in dozens of little ways...we choose whether we will blindly go along with the consumer values of American society… or choose to intentionally follow the way of Jesus that is very different from our society.
Most of us are still beginners in learning how to live and work in this society… and still make following Jesus the greatest priority in our lives.
Every 2nd Sunday of Advent, the Scriptures invite us to hear the story of John the Baptizer. John was a wild counter-cultural character who did not go along with the crowd. Scripture says he wore a garment of camel’s hair. In today’s dress code, he would probably have worn a biker’s leather jacket and chains and worn his hair in a long ponytail. John was an “in your face guy” for God. E.g. He publicly criticized Herod, the governor of his state, when Herod started living with his brother’s wife. John didn’t have an ounce of political correctness in his body. He confronted both powerful and weak, both rich and poor with the message of God.
In John’s day, the Roman army controlled Israel. Many Jews blamed all their problems on the Romans and the pagan values which they imposed on the Jewish people. But John’s message did not focus on the Romans and their values. John called people to take responsibility for their own choices…to repent, to change their own ways, so that they would be prepared for the coming of Christ, the one God was sending to bring hope and a new way of life to the world.
Often we American Christians blame our secular, self-centered, culture for many of the problems we face. But this morning in the wilderness of a global economic depression, the wilderness of job losses and home foreclosures, in the wilderness of addictions to drugs, alcohol, violence and sex, in the wilderness of fear and anxieties about the unknowns of our future, in the wilderness of temptations to buy and spend more than we have… during the Christmas season… for things others don’t really want or need…in the midst of this wilderness where we live…John the baptizer says…stop looking at what’s going on around you. Just look at your own lives and choices. In what ways are you preparing the way for Christ to come and bring hope, guidance, peace, change, healing in your lives…and into the lives of others around you?
John knew that the power to change lives and change societies would come from Jesus. Jesus would fill people with the Holy Spirit…the power of God’s transforming wisdom and love. Jesus was and is eager to give his Spirit of love and wisdom to any person who is willing to open their lives to the direction and guidance of God’s Word and Spirit.
So how do we open ourselves to Jesus and his Holy Spirit?
How can we, like John, prepare the way for Christ to come through us into the challenges and problems of our lives… and the lives of people in the world around us?
First, we need to remember every morning when we get up, that we are on this planet to fulfill a mission from God. You and I are not really in charge of our lives. We don’t just get up in the morning and do whatever we want. God created us and sent to this world, at this time and place in history… to live as representatives of God, to do the will of God each moment of each day, just like Jesus did. Christ wants to speak and act in this society, in this generation, in this month, through you and me.
Second, if we are to fulfill our daily mission from God, we need to make time every day to get our directions from Christ. We need some time in the morning, to ask for the help of Jesus for all we will face during the coming day. We can picture Jesus walking along side us throughout the day, wherever we go…always whispering words of guidance…breathing fresh energy into our weary bodies… reconnecting us with the deep peace of Christ who dwells in our hearts.
Third, we will receive additional guidance if we take time to read a bit of the Bible each day. Our Prayer Book invites us to take at least 5 or 10 minutes each morning and/or evening for prayer and reflection on the Bible. We might use the lessons from Sunday…or the daily scripture readings in the back of the prayer book, or read Forward Day by Day or some other daily reflection on Scripture. If we are to fulfill our mission from God, we need to check in daily with Christ, open ourselves to a fresh guidance from God’s Word and Spirit so that we can live our one-day-at-a-time mission, not in our own limited strength and wisdom…but relying on the help and guidance of God.
A fourth spiritual practice which helps us live our counter-cultural mission as followers of Jesus… is to create little ways to remind ourselves during each day that we are constantly depending on Christ for help and guidance. I have one friend who’s watch beeps every hour as a reminder to pray. I know people who take a walk or a run at lunch or use their exercise time to refocus their day and their relationship with Jesus. I know people who have words or pictures in their homes and offices that they look at as reminders of God’s presence and guidance. Some people listen to tapes or CD’s of Christian music that helps them re-center on Christ while they are in the car. Others intentionally keep their car radio off so they use their car time to talk with Jesus. Others use their trips to the bathroom throughout each day as times to check in with God and reflect on how the day is going. What are your reminders during each day to keep you returning to your primary connection with Christ?
A final practice which helps us prepare the way for Christ to come and guide our lives… is to have a person or small group of people we can talk with regularly about the joys and challenges of following Christ. None of us are smart enough to figure out how to follow Jesus all by our selves. Life is too complex, our mission in this society is too demanding. We need to find spiritual friends and with whom we can talk about how to keep Christ in the center during December, about how we enjoy the given gifts of our culture without being destroyed by the toxic, self-focused elements of our society. We need others whom we can ask to pray for us… and for who we can pray during the stresses and strains and dilemmas of our lives. Just being here together this morning in worship, to hear God’s word and receive Christ into our lives through the sacraments, helps us all to prepare to live as Christ’s representatives during this week.
There is so much we don’t know about the future of our personal lives, the future of our nation, the future the world. But God reminds us this morning through both Isaiah and John that God is going before us, preparing the way. We don’t have to be in charge. Christ will guide us. Christ will show us the way, one day at a time. And Christ wants us to prepare the way for others we talk and work with every day, to recognize and experience the loving guidance that God wants to give them and give to all people.
How do we, like John the Baptizer prepare the way for Christ to come again to this planet? We prepare the way for Christ’s coming by little daily spiritual practices, by asking God every morning to help us with the mission he gives us for each day, by prayerfully reflecting on God’s guidance in the Bible each day, by reminding ourselves throughout each day that our life flows from Christ, not from ourselves… and finally by joining in conversations, worship and prayer with other Christians, we prepare the way for Christ to shape and guide every area of our lives.
Of course, the real test of all these spiritual practices is… how do we actually live each day. How do we handle drivers who cut us off… and take the parking places we have been waiting for? How do we relate with other people: friends, strangers and enemies? Can our children and friends, co-workers and neighbors see that our primary love is for God and our neighbors by looking at the way we talk and act and spend our money and our time? Do others see that we are simplifying our lives so that we can help and serve others who are in more need than we are? These are challenging questions, yet these are the kind of questions that Jesus and John the Baptist ask this morning.
Now, lets close our eyes and in the silence be aware that Christ is with us...and that Christ loves each of us, right now, just the way we are…with all our imperfections.
Given all that we have heard from Scripture this morning…what little changes is Christ inviting you and me to make in our lives this week so that we, like John the Baptizer, can prepare the way for Christ to come into our lives and through us, come into our society and world?