Sermon

Three Words

by The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean

This is not the first time I have begun an Advent homily by saying that at this time of year, I find that three little words often coax a response from a lot of people. Some chuckle, others frown and a few bite their tongues lest they utter words they shouldn’t.  Those three words are: Christmas tree stand.  Ah, the memories associated with a Christmas tree stand. From putting the stand together, to getting the tree just right, to the needles that fall off of artificial and real trees alike and find their way into your ear canal – those memories can be unforgettable no matter how hard we try.

In the parish office at this time of year, there is an equivalent to the Christmas tree stand. There are three different words which are sure to elicit a response. Those words are: Copy Machine Broken.

The devil in all its wrath is not nearly as frightening as a non-functioning copy machine. From bulletins and inserts, to mailings and materials for concerts, let alone the usual stuff, the copy machine becomes the center of the office’s universe.  And so, despite the years of education represented in the staff, and even though we are committed, faithful Christians, we unashamedly rely on superstition and incantations to ensure the copier’s health. We cross our fingers, pamper our machine, we compliment it and promise it anything it wants so long as our print job gets completed.

You may have seen the commercial where a man is trying to start his car. He turns the key and as the starter grinds he caresses the dashboard and pleads with his baby to start.  All of my cathedral office colleagues engage in similar rituals.  We praise the machine, we light candles. Rumor has it that Canon Schaefer softly sings Anglican chant as he waits for his materials.

All of this is to say, be it copy machine, Christmas tree stand, Christmas cards, baking, shopping, decorating – whatever, there is more than enough to keep us busy at this time of year, and thus, distract us from the purpose of this Holy Season.

This morning is the perfect time to encounter two messengers of God: Baruch, and John the baptizer, and truly hear their words, for we need a little Advent.

Baruch lived in the 6th century before the common era and was the scribe, disciple, and friend of the prophet Jeremiah. His writings resemble his master’s, including words of hope and warning, and like Jeremiah, Baruch witnessed the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.  Over the centuries numerous traditions have grown out of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic commentaries that are fascinating.

In our first reading, Baruch’s hymn of expectation and approaching joy stirs his people to a renewed faith.  The promise of God’s glory is real: Arise Jerusalem, stand upon the height, look east, for your deliverance draws near. Echoing Isaiah, Baruch proclaims that the high mountains and hills will be made low, valleys filled to make level ground so that Israel may walk in safety. In the midst of siege and captivity, when there is every reason to despair, the prophet holds firm to hope, glory, and the everlasting reign of God. He leads his thirsty people to restoring waters. What remains is for them to drink, to take off the garment of sorrow and affliction, and put on forever the beauty of the glory of God.

Such promise! Such hope!  If you live in darkness, look harder. If you can’t see light around you, then look inward. For there, in your heart, God’s light and hope is always present. Then live out of that hope, as the child of God you are.

Enter Prophet Number Two.  Luke introduces John with the style of ancient historians. It is the 15th year of Tiberius (A.D. 28), Augustus’ successor, who was strongly anti-Jewish. Luke names Pontius Pilate, who was governor of Judea, three client kings who served at Rome’s pleasure, and the high priests Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas (who was the high priest in office, while Annas remained the power behind the office). Luke’s readers would have known of the brutality of the Roman rulers and that Jesus was crucified under these same powers.

Luke writes that John’s task is to prepare the way for the Lord so that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Having begun the section with a list of rulers who did not bring wholeness or salvation, Luke ends with the expectation of a true Lord who can bring these about. [ www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=2354]

The expectation builds!  Hope is within Israel’s grasp! Deliverance. But more that than.

The prophets, writes Rabbi Abraham Heschel, see life differently than we do.  When you and I hear of a “single act of injustice—cheating in business, or exploiting the poor—we regard such an act regrettable, disgusting. To the prophets, such acts are disasters of monumental proportions. To us injustice is injurious to those most affected; to the prophet, injustice it is a catastrophe, it is a threat to God’s world,” which must be named, judged, and made right.  Heschel goes on to say that prophets proclaim God’s message in “notes one octave too high for our ears…using words that begin to burn where conscience ends.”  [The Prophets, pp 4,10]

The prophets help us regain our perspective, “turn round right” as the Shaker hymn says, which is the essence of repentance.  We have all read of studies that conclude that Americans have become desensitized to violence and infidelity due to television and movies, music, video games, and our reverence for celebrities.  We, too, have become desensitized if we easily accept the plight of the poor, and dishonesty in daily life and in government, as simply the way it is in the real world.  The prophets shout to us: No! God’s world is the real world! God created this world; God’s vision is reality. In God’s world hope reigns, justice is for all, and none are wanting.

Luke writes that John is a voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord.  The evangelist is certainly referring to the desert, but perhaps also to the wilderness in us, where the landscape is parched like a desert, in desperate need of a flood of baptismal water to restore our hope. Luke labels as wilderness our hunger for repentance so deep and profound that the accepted order of things, the accepted landscape of life, is radically changed. The valleys of want for food are filled, the high mountains of inequality and injustice are brought low, and the crooked path of indifference is made straight.  This is what we are to live for, the prophets proclaim. No Babylonian army as in the days of Baruch, or Roman army in the time of John, has laid siege to us. Our chains are of our own making, and by God’s grace, we can be free.

As the baptized people of God, and together as the Body of Christ, we are to live in hope, live with hope, and be vessels of that hope which is found in Jesus Christ.  Baruch and John the Baptist urge us to live with expectation and urgency, and change all we must in order to serve with a new heart and new spirit.
We know the challenges to all of this, and most of them reside within us.  Our life experiences cause us to fall somewhere between Dickens and Pope, Charles Dickens “Great Expectations” and Alexander Pope’s line that, "Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed!" [ www.geraldtondiocese.org.au/homily__2nd_sunday_of_advent1.htm]

The prophets exorcise such cynicism from us!  In the heart of the Church, and in each of us, is a deep longing for hope. We nurture that hope with prayer, feed that hope with the grace of the Eucharist, and live with hope by emptying ourselves and becoming servants.

Those lines of three words: “Christmas tree stand”, and “copy machine broken” take a back seat to three words from each prophet: “People, look east!”  And “Prepare the way!”

Shut out the distractions. Hear the Prophets and heed their promises. The Lord is coming, at the last day, and each day in the lives of sisters and brothers in need. Live in hope, and incarnate hope.

Prepare the way of the Lord!

© Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral