Year B
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Canticle 15
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8,19-28<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s Advent 6\u2026 and we wait\u2026 and while we wait\u2026 today’s reading from 1 Thessalonians reminds us to\u2026 Rejoice always\u2026 pray without ceasing… and give thanks in all circumstances\u2026 and even Philippians 4:4 exhorts us to\u2026 Rejoice in the Lord always\u2026 but really\u2026 these days\u2026 it seems like there’s less to rejoice about\u2026 and less to give thanks for\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We’re still waiting for this crazy pandemic\u2026 global warming\u2026 not so peaceful transition of power\u2026 racism and social injustice\u2026 food insufficiency\u2026 health care overload… living wage\u2026 heteronormative\u2026 vaccine shortage\u2026 this every 500 years rummage sale to be over\u2026 and we’re hoping that we can unload all the stuff that isn’t of God and which never served us well\u2026 and we’re praying that we won’t unknowingly relegate to the trash bin\u2026 and later regret\u2026 what is of God\u2026 if only we had eyes to see the gift and the treasure that it is… <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m waiting for some gifts I ordered online to arrive\u2026 I don’t like to wrap gifts\u2026 I’m not a good at it\u2026 but Joel is\u2026 the gifts that Joel wraps have such tight\u2026 and even\u2026 and crips folds\u2026 they look like the paper was either spray-painted on… or shrink-wrapped on\u2026 I think too much about how it’s going to just be torn off and thrown away\u2026 I think I’ve got bigger fish to fry\u2026 and so one thing I do\u2026 is just wrap them in some tissue paper and slip them into a gift bag\u2026 easy peasy\u2026 1\u2026 2\u2026 3\u2026 done\u2026 for me\u2026 having to wrap gifts that right way\u2026 is a kind of penance\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s Gau-de-tay Sunday\u2026 it’s a Sunday when we take a break from the penitential nature of Advent\u2026 and we mark this break\u2026 by using rose colored hangings and vestments\u2026 we take a break\u2026 some people don’t know that Advent is penitential\u2026 that it’s a time to express regret not only for our individual\u2026 but maybe especially for our corporate wrongdoing\u2026 for the ways we’re so quick to resist God’s ways\u2026 and embrace human ways\u2026 some people think Advent is just the time we put up the tree and the lights\u2026 and get out the decorations\u2026 and finish our shopping and baking\u2026 and in our Americanized version of Christianity\u2026 it’s become so easy to gloss over the underlying penitential nature\u2026 because we want to rush right on to Christmas morning\u2026 and rip all that wrapping paper right off\u2026 or empty those gift bags\u2026 and see who got what\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that’s why we celebrate a seven-week Advent\u2026 it’s to slow things down\u2026 to shift our narrow-focus from the birth event itself\u2026 to the wider-focus of why the birth event happened in the first place\u2026 to remind ourselves that God took on human form\u2026 because God intended to heal a broken creation\u2026 to heal the world\u2026 to offer up the gifts that include boundless love\u2026 unmerited grace\u2026 underserved forgiveness\u2026 and eternal life\u2026 and this is a reason for joy\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rev. Valerie Bridgeman\u2026 professor of Homiletics and the Hebrew Bible at the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio\u2026 writes\u2026 my mother often said\u2026 that joy is based in God\u2026 not in what\u2019s happening around you\u2026 I wonder about her words as I read Isaiah\u2026 it seems clear that for the prophet\u2026 joy is bestowed on people because of God yes\u2026 but also because of changes in the people’s circumstances\u2026 brokenhearted people have their wounds tended\u2026 captives are liberated \u2013\u2013 and here she imagines that means captivity from oppressive systems\u2026 unjust countries\u2026 addictions\u2026 and more \u2013\u2013 and prisoners are freed\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can\u2019t you hear the cheers arising from those set free under all these conditions\u2026 and looking ahead\u2026 you see these commitments in the song that Mary sings in Luke (1:46-55) which includes this “reversal of fortune” theme\u2026 some may believe it\u2019s harsh to suggest that the rich will be turned away empty\u2026 after all\u2026 why can\u2019t we all just be among the “haves” right\u2026 but I think the joy of the exploited in the song\u2026 in which they rejoice in what has been visited on them being turned on their oppressors\u2026 is a call to repentance and empathy\u2026 fueled by God\u2019s justice\u2026 the rich will go away empty\u2026 not because we’ve imposed human vengeance\u2026 but because they themselves have repented of their greed and hoarding\u2026 and they’ve repented\u2026 because they empathically experience all people\u2026 [yes\u2026 all people\u2026] as their sisters and brothers who deserve God’s justice too\u2026
And so if joy is based in God\u2026 and not in what\u2019s happening around you\u2026 how do we reconcile this seeming disconnect\u2026 in the November newsletter\u2026 I wrote about how my daughter learned that mixed feelings were normal\u2026 and healthy\u2026 that it was possible\u2026 indeed part of our human wiring\u2026 to hold two or more feelings in tension\u2026 lament for the suffering that’s going on around us\u2026 and joy for God’s promise of salvation\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even Fr. Henri Nouwen wrote\u2026 I am increasingly impressed by the Christian possibility of celebrating not only moments of joy\u2026 but also moments of pain\u2026 affirming God\u2019s real presence in the thick of our lives\u2026 a true Christian always affirms life\u2026 because God is the God of life\u2026 a life stronger than death and destruction\u2026 [and so] there is always reason to hope\u2026 even when our eyes are filled with tears<\/em>\u2026 and we know from Hebrews 11:1 that faith is the assurance of things hoped for\u2026 and the conviction of things not seen\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n In today’s Gospel\u2026 the priests and Levites from Jerusalem ask John three times who he is\u2026 and three times John answers who he is not\u2026 and by doing so\u2026 he is creating a negative space\u2026 John knows that he must name the roles to which he is not called… before he can affirm that to which he is called\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And by knowing who we are and who we’re not\u2026 we can create a space that the Spirit will fill\u2026 and when\u2026 as The Rev. Phil Hooper wrote\u2026 we are willing to cultivate the space in ourselves for God to accomplish God’s work\u2026 then we must also be willing to disappoint the expectant throng\u2026 we must be willing to embrace the emptiness of what we were never meant to be\u2026 and then\u2026 perhaps\u2026 we will find the One Voice that was ours to claim all along\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I served on the Nominating Committee for the Ninth Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio\u2026 there were seventeen people in the cohort\u2026 seventeen worldviews\u2026 seventeen perspectives\u2026 seventeen agendas\u2026 seventeen sets of baggage brought to the table\u2026 seventeen kinds of wounds that were maybe hoping to be healed\u2026 perhaps even seventeen litmus tests that would instantly determine who was in and who was out\u2026 and if every one of us insisted that our thoughts and feelings and stuff\u2026 mattered more than anyone else’s\u2026 then we wouldn’t have gotten anything done\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n But we had a consultant from the national church\u2026 who guided us\u2026 who helped us lead ourselves\u2026 and she taught us about reaching consensus\u2026 that is\u2026 knowing deeply and clearly what we thought and felt\u2026 and knowing deeply and clearly why we thought and felt what we did\u2026 but not holding on so tightly\u2026 that we were unable to be formed by each other\u2026 and by the presence of the Holy Spirit\u2026 that we could still name our own personal preferences\u2026 but not be so attached to them\u2026 that we couldn’t relinquish them for the sake of the collective wisdom of that group\u2026 during those months\u2026 and for the task with which we had been charged\u2026 and we did indeed find that One Voice\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We may not find much of what’s familiar this Christmas\u2026 many of us will be in much smaller gatherings\u2026 there’ll be no Two Churches’ progressive dinner\u2026 no candlelit Silent Night\u2026 and as we anticipate what will or will not be\u2026 we may feel bereft\u2026 but in remembering\u2026 we can remember what was and what will become \u2013\u2013 pray God next year \u2013\u2013 in the empty spaces we are unable to fill now\u2026 and it doesn’t matter what presents are under the tree\u2026 or how they came to be there\u2026 or whether they’re meticulously wrapped\u2026 or have found their way into gift bags\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because in each of the synoptic Gospels\u2026 Jesus asks the disciples\u2026 Who do you say that I am<\/em>\u2026 and if we deeply and clearly ask ourselves who are we not\u2026 we will know better who we may become\u2026 and we will put the craziness of this time behind us\u2026 and we will speak with the One Voice that God gifted us from before time\u2026 and therein\u2026 lies our joy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 Canticle 15 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026 It’s Advent 6\u2026 and we wait\u2026 and while we wait\u2026 today’s reading from 1 Thessalonians reminds us to\u2026 Rejoice always\u2026 pray without ceasing… and give thanks in all circumstances\u2026 and even Philippians 4:4 exhorts us to\u2026 Rejoice in the Lord always\u2026 but really\u2026 these days\u2026 it seems like there’s less to rejoice about\u2026 and less to give thanks for\u2026 We’re still waiting for this crazy pandemic\u2026 global warming\u2026 not so peaceful transition of power\u2026 racism and social injustice\u2026 food insufficiency\u2026 health care overload… living wage\u2026 heteronormative\u2026 vaccine shortage\u2026 this every 500 years rummage sale to be over\u2026 and we’re hoping that we can unload all the stuff that isn’t of God and which never served us well\u2026 and we’re praying that we won’t unknowingly relegate to the trash bin\u2026 and later regret\u2026 what is of God\u2026 if only we had eyes to see the gift and the treasure that it is… I’m waiting for some gifts I ordered online to arrive\u2026 I don’t like to wrap gifts\u2026 I’m not a good at it\u2026 but Joel is\u2026 the gifts that Joel wraps have such tight\u2026 and even\u2026 and crips folds\u2026 they look like the paper was either spray-painted on… or shrink-wrapped on\u2026 I think too much about how it’s going to just be torn off and thrown away\u2026 I think I’ve got bigger fish to fry\u2026 and so one thing I do\u2026 is just wrap them in some tissue paper and slip them into a gift bag\u2026 easy peasy\u2026 1\u2026 2\u2026 3\u2026 done\u2026 for me\u2026 having to wrap gifts that right way\u2026 is a kind of penance\u2026 It’s Gau-de-tay Sunday\u2026 it’s a Sunday when we take a break from the penitential nature of Advent\u2026 and we mark this break\u2026 by using rose colored hangings and vestments\u2026 we take a break\u2026 some people don’t know that Advent is penitential\u2026 that it’s a time to express regret not only for our individual\u2026 but maybe especially for our corporate wrongdoing\u2026 for the ways we’re so quick to resist God’s ways\u2026 and embrace human ways\u2026 some people think Advent is just the time we put up the tree and the lights\u2026 and get out the decorations\u2026 and finish our shopping and baking\u2026 and in our Americanized version of Christianity\u2026 it’s become so easy to gloss over the underlying penitential nature\u2026 because we want to rush right on to Christmas morning\u2026 and rip all that wrapping paper right off\u2026 or empty those gift bags\u2026 and see who got what\u2026 But that’s why we celebrate a seven-week Advent\u2026 it’s to slow things down\u2026 to shift our narrow-focus from the birth event itself\u2026 to the wider-focus of why the birth event happened in the first place\u2026 to remind ourselves that God took on human form\u2026 because God intended to heal a broken creation\u2026 to heal the world\u2026 to offer up the gifts that include boundless love\u2026 unmerited grace\u2026 underserved forgiveness\u2026 and eternal life\u2026 and this is a reason for joy\u2026 The Rev. Valerie Bridgeman\u2026 professor of Homiletics and the Hebrew Bible at the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio\u2026 writes\u2026 my mother often said\u2026 that joy is based in God\u2026 not in what\u2019s happening around you\u2026 I wonder about her words as I read Isaiah\u2026 it seems clear that for the prophet\u2026 joy is bestowed on people because of God yes\u2026 but also because of changes in the people’s circumstances\u2026 brokenhearted people have their wounds tended\u2026 captives are liberated \u2013\u2013 and here she imagines that means captivity from oppressive systems\u2026 unjust countries\u2026 addictions\u2026 and more \u2013\u2013 and prisoners are freed\u2026 Can\u2019t you hear the cheers arising from those set free under all these conditions\u2026 and looking ahead\u2026 you see these commitments in the song that Mary sings in Luke (1:46-55) which includes this “reversal of fortune” theme\u2026 some may believe it\u2019s harsh to suggest that the rich will be turned away empty\u2026 after all\u2026 why can\u2019t we all just be among the “haves” right\u2026 but I think the joy of the exploited in the song\u2026 in which they rejoice in what has been visited on them being turned on their oppressors\u2026 is a call to repentance and empathy\u2026 fueled by God\u2019s justice\u2026 the rich will go away empty\u2026 not because we’ve imposed human vengeance\u2026 but because they themselves have repented of their greed and hoarding\u2026 and they’ve repented\u2026 because they empathically experience all people\u2026 [yes\u2026 all people\u2026] as their sisters and brothers who deserve God’s justice too\u2026 And so if joy is based in God\u2026 and not in what\u2019s happening around you\u2026 how do we reconcile this seeming disconnect\u2026 in the November newsletter\u2026 I wrote about how my daughter learned that mixed feelings were normal\u2026 and healthy\u2026 that it was possible\u2026 indeed part of our human wiring\u2026 to hold two or more feelings in tension\u2026 lament for the suffering that’s going on around us\u2026 and joy for God’s promise of salvation\u2026 Even Fr. Henri Nouwen wrote\u2026 I am increasingly impressed by the Christian possibility of celebrating not only moments of joy\u2026 but also moments of pain\u2026 affirming God\u2019s real presence in the thick of our lives\u2026 a true Christian always affirms life\u2026 because God is the God of life\u2026 a life stronger than death and destruction\u2026 [and so] there is always reason to hope\u2026 even when our eyes are filled with tears\u2026 and we know from Hebrews 11:1 that faith is the assurance of things hoped for\u2026 and the conviction of things not seen\u2026 In today’s Gospel\u2026 the priests and Levites from Jerusalem ask John three times who he is\u2026 and three times John answers who he is not\u2026 and by doing so\u2026 he is creating a negative space\u2026 John knows that he must name the roles to which he is not called… before he can affirm that to which he is called\u2026 And by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1047,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}