Year A
\u00a0Isaiah 35:1-10
\u00a0Canticle 15
\u00a0James 5:7-10
\u00a0Matthew 11:2-11
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026\u00a0 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When there’s going to be a space launch\u2026 like Thursday’s Falcon 9 rocket\u2026 which deployed an array of low-Earth orbit satellites\u2026 there are literally hundreds\u2026 if not thousands of variables which must be seamlessly integrated and precisely coordinated before the final countdown is given\u2026 the first launch of the Artemis Program’s Orion rocket for example\u2026 was scheduled for August 29th\u2026 that launch was scrapped when it was discovered that there was a hydrogen leak\u2026 and there are not only technical issues\u2026 but weather-related concerns which cause other delays\u2026 like Hurricane Ian which interrupted another targeted launch window\u2026 Artemis was finally launched on November 16\u2026 everything must be integrated and coordinated\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And those of you who bake\u2026 know that not every award-winning recipe turns into an award-winning dessert\u2026 the quality of the ingredients themselves\u2026 their temperatures\u2026 and the order in which ingredients are combined\u2026 whether they’re folded or stirred\u2026 the baking time\u2026 whether there are “hot spots” in the oven\u2026 even altitude can inform the oven temperature and baking time\u2026 and whether you want to serve mom’s angel food cake\u2026 or chocolate eclairs\u2026 or baumkuchen<\/em>… for your Christmas dessert\u2026 everything must be integrated and coordinated\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so rocket launches\u2026 and baking\u2026 and many other things which we wish to accomplish and for which we wait\u2026 are often waiting for circumstances and conditions to come together just right\u2026 even our reading from James this morning reminds us to be patient in waiting\u2026 like the farmer who waits for the early and late rains\u2026 waits for the precious crop to emerge from the earth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n John the Baptist\u2026 emerged in the wilderness\u2026 his was a voice crying out\u2026 waiting for the one whose sandals he was unworthy to carry\u2026 for the one who would baptize with Spirit and with fire\u2026 and now\u2026 he is silenced in prison\u2026 he anticipated that there’d be instruments of destruction and division\u2026 an axe\u2026 a winnowing fork\u2026 and fire… and he wonders if he got it wrong\u2026 after all\u2026 when Jesus asks John’s disciples to tell him what they see and hear\u2026 Jesus offers them a litany not about destruction\u2026 but about healing and restoration and new life\u2026 John may have been like the father (in Mark 9:24) who asked Jesus to cure his son of a spirit which would make him unable to speak\u2026 and foam at the mouth\u2026 and make him rigid\u2026 and when Jesus affirmed that all things can be done for the one who believes\u2026 the father said\u2026 I believe\u2026 help my unbelief<\/em>\u2026 John’s doubt may have been like this\u2026 or it may have been like the doubts expressed by Mother Teresa\u2026 who wrote in a letter\u2026 My God\u2026 I have no faith… I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd my heart\u2026 I am afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy\u2026 if there be God\u2026 please forgive me\u2026 <\/em>John’s doubt may even have been like Jesus’\u2026 who called out from the cross\u2026 My God my God\u2026 why have you forsaken me<\/em>\u2026 John’s doubt\u2026 may be like some of ours\u2026 we may hear John’s words as though they are ours\u2026 and we may feel silenced by the prisons of our own doubt\u2026 but doubt is part of the Christian experience\u2026 and claiming joy is an antidote to doubt and despair\u2026 it is an act of holy resistance\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today we celebrate Gaudete Sunday\u2026 when the church lightens the mood a little\u2026 that’s why [TC] today’s altar hangings are\u2026 [HT] that candle on the Advent wreath is\u2026 rose-colored\u2026 this color offers the encouragement\u2026 the joy\u2026 for us to continue our spiritual preparation and wait for Christmas\u2026 for the Incarnation\u2026 and for the subsequent fulfillment of God’s will for all of creation\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this joy is reflected\u2026 in today’s reading from Isaiah\u2026 the created order shares in the divine glory\u2026 and in the work of reconciliation\u2026 a land that was scorched by the enemy in war\u2026 even as Ukraine’s has been\u2026 will be renewed and restored\u2026 and the people are reminded that they and the land… belong to God\u2026 the promise of divine presence means that judgment also makes room for salvation… and while several readings from Isaiah during Advent [ Isaiah 2:4 and 11:1-10 ] celebrate the coming transformations of weapons\u2026 economies\u2026 social orders\u2026 and yes, even wild animals\u2026 today’s reading announces the coming transformations of locations\u2026 emotions\u2026 and of human disabilities\u2026 it sings of liberations\u2026 jubilant homecomings\u2026 and the end of all sorrow and sighing\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n This joy is also reflected in Canticle 15\u2026 The Song of Mary\u2026 in its proclamations and promises about how God will deal with the proud and the mighty\u2026 and how God will satisfy all kinds of hungers\u2026 and remember the promise made of mercy\u2026 and like the Song of Miriam in Exodus (15:20-21) and the Song of Hannah in 1Samuel (2:1-10)\u2026 The Magnificat was probably well established in the community by the time Luke used it in his Gospel\u2026 and Luke’s passage also makes the earliest connection between John the Baptist and the prophetic incarnate Word who he baptized\u2026 Jesus who invokes Isaiah’s promise\u2026 and reassures John that God’s promises are real\u2026 and while we too hunger for the promises of God’s justice\u2026 we sometimes doubt their veracity\u2026 because part of our Christian faith is doubt\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many things which happen fast\u2026 like snap decisions and smart-aleck answers\u2026 like lightning strikes\u2026 and 5G download speeds\u2026 fast food regardless of the quality is pretty fast\u2026 Amazon Prime delivery is fast\u2026 instant karma is very fast\u2026 but some things are not\u2026 some things take a very long time\u2026 it takes about 230 million years for our solar system to make one revolution around our pinwheel-shaped galaxy\u2026 and the last time we were\u2026 where we are now\u2026 dinosaurs were just starting to appear on the Earth\u2026 and when you consider that it took more than 225 years for slavery in this country to be outlawed\u2026 when you consider how many decades it took black men to be given the right to vote (1870)\u2026 that it was fifty more years before women were given the same right (1920)\u2026 and that it was fifty more years before women could have a credit card in their own name (1970)\u2026 when you consider all the precedents and laws which have come to be understood as discriminatory and prejudicial\u2026 it can come as no surprise that change takes a long time\u2026 but it does happen\u2026 and the fulfillment of God’s plan for all of creation\u2026 is just\u2026 going\u2026 to take\u2026 some time\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Martin Luther King, Jr. said\u2026 Morality cannot be legislated\u2026 but behavior can be regulated\u2026 and while judicial decrees may not change the heart\u2026 they can certainly restrain the heartless<\/em>\u2026 that’s partly why Congress just passed the Respect for Marriage Act\u2026 to protect Mitch McConnell’s marriage to his Taiwanese wife Elaine\u2026 and Justice Clarence Thomas’ marriage to his caucasian wife Virginia\u2026 and the nearly one-million same-gender marriages in the United States\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n You see\u2026 we are all in various prisons of our own making\u2026 those of us who know it are eager to get out of them\u2026 but when we leave those constraints behind\u2026 we must be prepared to embrace more boundlessness\u2026 and the truth of it is hinted at in Ps. 118:5 which says\u2026 I called out to God from my narrowness\u2026 and God answered me with a vast expanse<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n You see\u2026 we were not created to be small\u2026 and God’s diversity was never intended to be divisive\u2026 and what we are waiting for\u2026 is everything\u2026 not the biggest and best and most expensive things\u2026 and not the power to constrain\u2026 but the power to set free\u2026 not the authority to diminish\u2026 but the ability to empower\u2026 we are waiting to possess the eternal now\u2026 the Ground of Being\u2026 and our deepest human yearning is to be like raindrops falling into the river of God\u2026 so that we and God become indistinguishable from each other\u2026 and what we will co-create\u2026 is the seamless integration of God’s will for us and for all of creation\u2026 and we will leap with joy in the womb of our confinement when this freedom is at hand\u2026 it will take some time\u2026 but it will be so worth the wait\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A\u00a0Isaiah 35:1-10\u00a0Canticle 15\u00a0James 5:7-10\u00a0Matthew 11:2-11 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026\u00a0 speak your truth\u2026 When there’s going to be a space launch\u2026 like Thursday’s Falcon 9 rocket\u2026 which deployed an array of low-Earth orbit satellites\u2026 there are literally hundreds\u2026 if not thousands of variables which must be seamlessly integrated and precisely coordinated before the final countdown is given\u2026 the first launch of the Artemis Program’s Orion rocket for example\u2026 was scheduled for August 29th\u2026 that launch was scrapped when it was discovered that there was a hydrogen leak\u2026 and there are not only technical issues\u2026 but weather-related concerns which cause other delays\u2026 like Hurricane Ian which interrupted another targeted launch window\u2026 Artemis was finally launched on November 16\u2026 everything must be integrated and coordinated\u2026 And those of you who bake\u2026 know that not every award-winning recipe turns into an award-winning dessert\u2026 the quality of the ingredients themselves\u2026 their temperatures\u2026 and the order in which ingredients are combined\u2026 whether they’re folded or stirred\u2026 the baking time\u2026 whether there are “hot spots” in the oven\u2026 even altitude can inform the oven temperature and baking time\u2026 and whether you want to serve mom’s angel food cake\u2026 or chocolate eclairs\u2026 or baumkuchen… for your Christmas dessert\u2026 everything must be integrated and coordinated\u2026 And so rocket launches\u2026 and baking\u2026 and many other things which we wish to accomplish and for which we wait\u2026 are often waiting for circumstances and conditions to come together just right\u2026 even our reading from James this morning reminds us to be patient in waiting\u2026 like the farmer who waits for the early and late rains\u2026 waits for the precious crop to emerge from the earth\u2026 John the Baptist\u2026 emerged in the wilderness\u2026 his was a voice crying out\u2026 waiting for the one whose sandals he was unworthy to carry\u2026 for the one who would baptize with Spirit and with fire\u2026 and now\u2026 he is silenced in prison\u2026 he anticipated that there’d be instruments of destruction and division\u2026 an axe\u2026 a winnowing fork\u2026 and fire… and he wonders if he got it wrong\u2026 after all\u2026 when Jesus asks John’s disciples to tell him what they see and hear\u2026 Jesus offers them a litany not about destruction\u2026 but about healing and restoration and new life\u2026 John may have been like the father (in Mark 9:24) who asked Jesus to cure his son of a spirit which would make him unable to speak\u2026 and foam at the mouth\u2026 and make him rigid\u2026 and when Jesus affirmed that all things can be done for the one who believes\u2026 the father said\u2026 I believe\u2026 help my unbelief\u2026 John’s doubt may have been like this\u2026 or it may have been like the doubts expressed by Mother Teresa\u2026 who wrote in a letter\u2026 My God\u2026 I have no faith… I dare not utter the words and thoughts that crowd my heart\u2026 I am afraid to uncover them because of the blasphemy\u2026 if there be God\u2026 please forgive me\u2026 John’s doubt may even have been like Jesus’\u2026 who called out from the cross\u2026 My God my God\u2026 why have you forsaken me\u2026 John’s doubt\u2026 may be like some of ours\u2026 we may hear John’s words as though they are ours\u2026 and we may feel silenced by the prisons of our own doubt\u2026 but doubt is part of the Christian experience\u2026 and claiming joy is an antidote to doubt and despair\u2026 it is an act of holy resistance\u2026 Today we celebrate Gaudete Sunday\u2026 when the church lightens the mood a little\u2026 that’s why [TC] today’s altar hangings are\u2026 [HT] that candle on the Advent wreath is\u2026 rose-colored\u2026 this color offers the encouragement\u2026 the joy\u2026 for us to continue our spiritual preparation and wait for Christmas\u2026 for the Incarnation\u2026 and for the subsequent fulfillment of God’s will for all of creation\u2026 And this joy is reflected\u2026 in today’s reading from Isaiah\u2026 the created order shares in the divine glory\u2026 and in the work of reconciliation\u2026 a land that was scorched by the enemy in war\u2026 even as Ukraine’s has been\u2026 will be renewed and restored\u2026 and the people are reminded that they and the land… belong to God\u2026 the promise of divine presence means that judgment also makes room for salvation… and while several readings from Isaiah during Advent [ Isaiah 2:4 and 11:1-10 ] celebrate the coming transformations of weapons\u2026 economies\u2026 social orders\u2026 and yes, even wild animals\u2026 today’s reading announces the coming transformations of locations\u2026 emotions\u2026 and of human disabilities\u2026 it sings of liberations\u2026 jubilant homecomings\u2026 and the end of all sorrow and sighing\u2026 This joy is also reflected in Canticle 15\u2026 The Song of Mary\u2026 in its proclamations and promises about how God will deal with the proud and the mighty\u2026 and how God will satisfy all kinds of hungers\u2026 and remember the promise made of mercy\u2026 and like the Song of Miriam in Exodus (15:20-21) and the Song of Hannah in 1Samuel (2:1-10)\u2026 The Magnificat was probably well established in the community by the time Luke used it in his Gospel\u2026 and Luke’s passage also makes the earliest connection between John the Baptist and the prophetic incarnate Word who he baptized\u2026 Jesus who invokes Isaiah’s promise\u2026 and reassures John that God’s promises are real\u2026 and while we too hunger for the promises of God’s justice\u2026 we sometimes doubt their veracity\u2026 because part of our Christian faith is doubt\u2026 There are many things which happen fast\u2026 like snap decisions and smart-aleck answers\u2026 like lightning strikes\u2026 and 5G download speeds\u2026 fast food regardless of the quality is pretty fast\u2026 Amazon Prime delivery is fast\u2026 instant karma is very fast\u2026 but some things are not\u2026 some things take a very long time\u2026 it takes about 230 million years for our solar system to make one revolution around our pinwheel-shaped galaxy\u2026 and the last time we were\u2026 where we are now\u2026 dinosaurs were just starting to appear on the Earth\u2026 and when you consider that it took more than 225 years for slavery in this country to be outlawed\u2026 when 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