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Three challenges from
the Advent message
Reflections on the lessons for the 3rd Sunday in Advent
By The Rev. Mark A. Lewis, Vicar
Isaiah 65:17-25
Psalm 126
1 Thessalonians 5:16-28
John 1:6-8,19-28
Theology is starting to move on us at the end of this century. Ideas that have been forming in scholarly circles for generations -- even a century -- are starting to move into the realm of popular Christianity. Things that scholars used to ponder are finally becoming things that folks in the pews are believing. Our own Bishop has more than a little to do with that.
There was a time when religious professionals thought of God as the "ground of being" the "infinite within" the "prime mover of creation".
And churchgoers thought of God as a humanlike father figure with a beard and a robe who lived in the sky, seeing all, and deciding whether or not to fix all.
That division is not nearly so sharp now as it once was.
And some traditionalists -- folks who detest change and movement -- are threatened and infuriated by that.
And they fight the drift of time
and human spirit tooth and nail,accusing people who are
willing to explore the theological pathways of our times of
not being Christians at all,
unless they join the fundamentalists in their futile
fight
against the Spirit of God moving
in the hearts
and minds
and lives
and times
of real people
on a real journey.
One charge religious fundamentalists level at religious progressives has long been that the new ways of looking at a life of faith place human beings at the center of things and push God to the back seat.
In fact -- calling progressives "humanists"-- conservatives commonly claim that God gets bumped out of the picture altogether as a new type of Christianity evolves that places service to the poor and battles for social justice in the place of worship and salvation.
I don't happen to think so.
Plenty of others do happen to think so.
And to both sides of that ongoing debate the Bible has something to say. It's an ongoing debate, all right, going on since John the Baptist's day. And what was true about him is true about all of us, too.
"He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light."
When we gather for worship, we aren't doing it to put on the best show we can for our own entertainment and edification.
When we feed the hungry and speak out for the oppressed, it is not to offer them the benefit of our competence, or intellect, or resources.
We do those things and everything else (ideally) not to show our own particular light, but to testify to the light of God that shines into the world, light that is is coming into the world, through many portals including -- through the grace of God --
US.
It's confusing in church.
We have the start of a new year on the first Sunday in
Advent. Then, a month later we have the New Year's Day
everyone else celebrates.
So here, in Advent, in between the beginnings of new years, I want to place before you three challenges stemming from the preaching of John the Baptist, three measures that ask how we are testifying to the light from beyond that shines into the world from deep within us.
Do we
hear the Advent message?
The message that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
For 2000 years now John has gone
ahead of each new advent of Jesus telling anyone who 'll
listen that it's time to get ready
for excitement,
new life,
new hope.
It's coming. Get ready, he says.
In the midst of the facts and figures of our lives, are we aware that God is breaking in to do new things with us and new things for the world through us?
Or are we not yet ready
for love
and hope
and faith
and joy
and peace
and justice?
John warns us that Jesus comes in each moment of our lives asking us to start living right now in the Kingdom of God.
Dare
we live the Advent message?
The message that the kingdom of God is at hand.
That would mean embracing with a reckless lack of reserve an incalculable breadth
of forgiveness,
and justice,
and liberation.
If we do that, the world will look
at us and see much more than a testimony to light, something
more like a blinding shower of light.
Since Jesus, has anyone ever seen a person who disregards
class,
race,
past mistakes,
gender,
sexual orientation,
age
prejudice,
politics,
religion
and whatever else
is on your list of things never to disregard?
And note, I say "disregard", not
"tolerate".
Forget about them.
Stop even noticing them.
This challenge applies not only to national and
international issues, but equally to neighborhoods,
families, and individuals.
Preparing to testify to the light (remember, we ourselves are not the light), are we brave enough to let go of the things that bind us?
To liberate
our minds
and our time
and our energies
from judgement
and separatism
and turn them over
to the ideals of the light?
Can we
be messengers for the Advent message?
The message that the kingdom of
God is at hand.
There is no better way to testify
to the light than by proclaiming
-- through words and deeds,
in our relationships, commitments, and causes
-- that we have bet our
whole stake on the truth that day by day God is fashioning a
new creation and making it out of
US,
...and out of the whole world.
It will really surprise people who
have not seen the light to which we testify --
we will be showing something
very new to them --
if we find ways to live as though the stuff and status we
collect and hoard were not the most important things about
us.
Merely incidentals.
It will make a real difference -- it will push the light into new corners -- if we seriously move to correct the injustices and inequities over which we actually have some power -- at home, at work.
The light is most strikingly displayed when we speak what we believe, even when ours is the lone voice in a costly circumstance.
One difference between listening to
a sermon by a religious progressive (I confess) and one from a fundamentalist,
is that I am happy to report that these proofs of testimony
are not rare among us.
I look out at my congregation and I see many people who testify to the light, many more who try hard, still more who honestly want to.
And, really, who would ever bother to be involved with church at all without wanting to shine the light of God's restorative, liberating, all-encompassing love into the places where we live?
The coming kingdom of God is in our choices as we decide what to do with the split seconds between heartbeats that all add up to become our lives.
John says,
Choose to use your moments to
testify to the light.
It is entirely possible to start right now.
In ways that lie at your fingertips,
hear the light,
live the light,
show the light.
And you will find at length that
the tiny steps you have taken
will have relocated your life to an entirely different
place,
to a kingdom where light has eclipsed darkness.
-- Mark Lewis
Your comments or questions are welcome MLewis@secaucus.org.
Links to additional "Reflections on Lessons" may be found at the bottom of the Sunday web page.