Finishing the Course

As I have referenced before, for many years I was a competitive sailboat racer. And for a large part of those years I crewed for a single skipper, who along with his wife became good friends of Grady and me. Bill and I raced up and down the southeast coast and traveled each year to the National championships, where although we never one, were always in the top third of the championship group, often taking home some silver.

And it was a joy racing with Bill because after a while we could anticipate each other moves around the race course. I knew to automatically change the sails as Bill would point the boat up or down, and we could tack in perfect synchronicity as we went around the race course. And because we didn’t have to think about what we were doing, it gave us a lot of time to discuss strategy on how we were going to finish the race course.

When Grady and I moved to Florida, I still raced with Bill for another year, but it was apparent that he would need to find a new crew, and I a new skipper. So through some friends I did find a new skipper living in Melbourne. We met and got along fine, so we decided to try to race together. That first regatta, was a mess for both of us. We were sailing out of Melbourne, and luckily the weather was fine. But we couldn’t get our efforts synchronized. He assumed that when he changed course, that I would pull in the sail to a certain point, but I assumed the exact opposite. Poor Bob almost did make it that regatta, I will never forget when I beaned him in the head with the spinnaker pole because he was not standing where Bill always stood!

The next regatta was in Sarasota and when we got there, early Saturday morning it was blowing stink. Which means that the winds were ripping! It was one of those kind of days, that even getting the small 21 foot boat launched in the water was difficult. And the minute the sails went up you could not hear above the roar of the flapping wind and you would just have to take off, white knuckled and pray that you wouldn’t capsize. It was a kind of wind that I loved racing with Bill in. When you are perfectly synchronized it can be a true test of skill and knowledge to finish the course without capsizing or seriously injuring yourself.

But that day, I wanted no part of racing, because I knew that my new skipper and I were not yet practiced enough together to weather such a challenge. I truly doubted that we could make it around the course, even though both of us had done it before in similar winds with different people.

None the less, we did it. Bob threw me a life jacket and off we went. Was it scary? You bet? Did we almost not finish? Several times – but we did. Were we as competitive as before? No, but there was hope that the two of us would come to get to know each other well enough that soon we would be in competitive racing form. And by Sunday, as we pulled the boat out of the water, we were satisfied with our efforts and for finishing the course.

Now I start with this story because Paul in our scripture reading today, is worried about the Ephesians finishing the course. Paul has been with the Ephesians for 3 years and Luke tells us that many miracles and healings were done by Paul, in the name of Christ. Even in the midst of quite a few challenges , Paul’s ministry amongst the Ephesians was probably the most productive seasons of his ministry in any other place and time, and the hope, probably of both Paul and the Ephesians was that Paul would remain there for a long time, using Ephesus as kind of a base for his missionary work in the area.

But then God steps in, in that pesky way that God has and challenges Paul to change course. The Holy Spirit calls Paul to go to Jerusalem and then onward to Rome. So he calls the Ephesian leaders together to say goodbye and give them parting instructions.

And that is where our scripture reading begins today. Reading from Acts chapter 20, verses 24-27.

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that all you among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Paul emphasizes to the Ephesians that his ministry is to testify to God, and this Paul has done faithfully in the midst of the Ephesian community. He never shirked his duty and he always testified and witnessed to the marvelous purpose of God. Paul declares what we all should declare, that our value only comes in how our words and actions

point to Christ and the cross.

And even though it might sound cold to us, Paul tells the Ephesians that he is not responsible for how the Word of God is received, but that our responsibility is only to share the hope and promise with others.

But Paul does not end his goodbyes there, for although he is not responsible for the Ephesians, he

wants to help them finish the course that God has set for them.

And so he gives them four words of advice:

1). Watch out – Beware the wolves.

Acts 20:28-31 Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Paul did not have to get an MBA from Harvard Business School to know that when a leader leaves, there often is a vacuum that Satan uses to exploit a community. And he gets real specific in saying that the attack can often come from within, as people grab and scheme for power and distort the truth. Paul cautions the Ephesians to be alert to this and to be on guard. His tears are a reference to the how this type of activity can tear apart God’s work and God’s church which has been built on the blood of Christ.

2). So to guard against such an attack, Paul encourages the Ephesians to remain in the word.

Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

God’s message of grace, God’s self-emptying love as revealed in Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Remain in God’s word, in order to receive and be reminded of God’s promises and hope. This prepares a community to receive a new leader, in order to finish the course. Because it reminds us that God uses people in seasons to tend to his flock and to lead them.

When the going is good, sometimes easy to stop staying in the word. But when hard times fall, it is the practices we have done that helps us remember whose we are.

Marianna McKinney recently had surgery for a brain tumor. She had to undergo many tests before and after the surgery including multiple MRIs. She told me how she got through them, with all the humming and the claustrophobia was to sing all the old familiar hymns.

Another parishioner on her deathbed in hospice, had her family surround her as they recited scriptures that they knew by heart. She passed from this world to the next with the word of God as her escort.

But it is more than just personal comfort. When we read scriptures as a community, we understand whose we are, and how we are to follow the cross of Christ.

3). Another way to Guard against attack, is to follow Paul’s example.

Paul makes this point in verses 33-35. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, `It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Not because Paul’s example should be idolized, but because it pointed to the cross of Christ. When a leader leaves, it is important to celebrate their ministry and to the ways that they pointed to the cross of Christ. Their examples help us to imagine how we ourselves are leaders and point to the goodness of Christ, without it all being about ourselves.

Our leaders help us to understand our calling, both personally and as a church. We see their example, and it helps us to believe that we too may be faithful to our calling to follow Christ. Newbigin wrote “The deed and the word do not always have to go together. But they must both be seen to be part of the same reality – the reality of a new power, a new reign which has broken this world." We can't say we believe one thing and act another way.

4). Finally, Paul prays with the Ephesian leaders in their grief.

Acts 20:36 - 21:1 And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they all wept and embraced Paul and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they brought him to the ship.

Paul does not ignore their grief, does not tell them to buckle up and get over it. No, Paul knows that the answer to our grief is prayer. That when we pray together, we have a stronger sense that Jesus in our midst and that he is equipping us to continue the course so that we may complete it.

Our tears remind us of the tears Christ shed on the Cross And we know that our tears are not for naught. Rather as we surrender our tears in prayer to Christ, He gathers them up and redeems them. And this act of Jesus gives us hope and strength to move onward and forward with Him to the cross.

So we see, that whenever there is a change in leadership, whether in sports, or at work or even in the church, it is important to keep four things in mind:

1). Be watchful for evil in our midst and beware the wolves.

2). Guard against evil by faithfully staying in the Word and message of Christ.

3). Celebrate the ministry of the outgoing leadership. Their example taught us a lot what it means in concrete terms to take up the cross of Christ and claim it as our foundation.

4). Pray, pray, pray, and not just alone but with each other and with our leaders, acknowledging our grief even as we claim the Cross of Christ as our past, present and future hope.

Easter Sunrise

Romans 6:3-11 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.


For a brief while Jesus who was with God since the beginning and who had created the heavens and the earth, emptied himself and in obedience to God came to earth in the form of a human man, so that he could save the world, not condemn it.

And while he was here on earth he healed many, gave hope to the poor, loved the children and the widows, brought the marginalized into his community, ate with the lowest of the lows and challenged all of us to look at our sin and the way we use power to hurt others. All the while he was scorned by those who should have embraced him and misunderstood by many.

All this he did as a gift for us.


When his time here on earth came near to an end, he endured being betrayed by a friend, one of his inner circle. His trial by the authorities was a sham.

The guards beat him and stripped him, mocked him and spit at him. They dragged him to Golgotha where they lay him on a cross with two common criminals on each side. The guards were joined by a large crowd and the elders and chief priests and scribes. Their hatred and disbelief lead them to mock Jesus and taunt him calling him the King of Jews.

Jesus in his love for us, brought them and us, and all of our sin and evil to the foot of the cross, and then he gave his final self up for us. He emptied himself completely up to his Father for us. And then he died.

All this he did as a gift for us.


And at the moment on Good Friday when Jesus died, it must have seemed to the world that evil and sin had won over goodness. The world would stay in darkness and we would scratch out our existence in hatred and sin.

Yet a lone centurion witnessed to the truth. He said, Surely this man was the Son of God. Truth and goodness had prevailed. Jesus has brought us to the cross so that our sins could be forgiven and so that evil could reign no more on earth.

But it was a lone light in the darkness. It was just a flicker and the world had little hope that the light of the goodness of Jesus was for us, that we could claim it. It was a distant light, like the light we see now in the trees. Flickering, illuminating just a little bit, but still leaving us to grope hesitantly in the darkness and in the shadows.

He had died for us, but was it a gift we could receive and claim for our lives?

Three days the world lived in twilight. They took Jesus down from the cross and buried him in a tomb. They put a large boulder at the entrance of the tomb and then they went home and waited.
The last time I was in the Keys, I got up early to see the sunrise. I bundled up in a blanket, just as some of you are bundled here today and I went and sat on the beach and waited. With each passing second the sky changed, colors were introduced, rays of the yet as unseen sun danced off the clouds on the horizon. Twilight was so much better than the darkness, there was so much expectancy and so much hope of something to come that was better than the dark. But still there were shadows and uncertainty.

The ocean remained dark and menacing. The trees moved in the breeze and seemed to loom around me. There was a chill in the air that I could not avoid. There was beauty and goodness but there still was a threat or a potential that darkness would swallow up the light and we would be plunged right back into the chaos of the night.

And just right before the sun indeed peeked over the horizon, there was a pause. Probably not a long one in the span of time of creation, yet a hesitation, that was palpable. It made me hold my breath. It was if the suspension of time was meant to draw me to the promise to come…was preparing me to accept its promise…was inviting me into the new day…I leaned forward as I sat on the beach…

And then the sun in all its brightness came over the horizon and lit up the ocean and the land and my face. Sunrise…The promise of a new day…was indeed there for me to enter into. It had been given to me as a gift that morning and I took it with all its promise and hope.



So the new morning, when the women came to the tomb and found it empty. Jesus had risen. He now sat at the right hand of his father. The heavens were alive with the sounds of praise and halleluiahs, that Jesus, who had emptied himself and came to earth to save us, had indeed brought salvation to the world. A new day had come to earth and to heaven and Jesus was and is Lord of it all. Death, evil and sin would not have the final say. Light would prevail. We would not have to grope around anymore, but we could enter into the new day that the Lord had made.

All this he did as a gift for us.


And the light revealed that Jesus had taken all that was ordinary, all that was familiar to us and made it new. And he did this because he loved us with a love that was stronger than death, stronger than evil, stronger than sin..

When the sun rises and overcomes the darkness, the ocean is still the ocean, the trees still the trees, I am still who I am.

But everything is different now. There has been a change. The light has illuminated everything in the world in a new and fantastic way. By coming to the cross, our sins have been forgiven, we have been liberated and in response we give ourselves up to Christ as an offering to him.

And Jesus takes us in all of our ordinariness and he reshapes us so that we may become extraordinary. Unified with Jesus’ we too become a gift for the world.


In communion we see this. We offer up to Jesus ordinary bread and juice and through the work of the Holy Spirit it becomes a gift to us from Jesus. What is ordinary, becomes extraordinary, life giving, becomes something that points to the goodness of Christ.

All this he did as a gift for us.

But how often do we think of ourselves as extraordinary as a gift for the world. Now I know that sometimes we will say about an egotistical person that they think that they are God’s gift to the world.

But how often do we really understand that in the resurrection Jesus offers to us the gift of a sacred life. A life lived for Jesus, a life that points to Jesus. A life poured out for others, a life of humility and obedience to Jesus. A life of giftedness that is to be shared not hoarded.


Paul in our scripture this morning sees the work of Christ this way. As a gift. He then challenges us to make a decision. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t stay in twilight and live in the darkness while also having one step in the light. Our liberation is not about us having our own way, living as we want to live. The pregnant pause of twilight has occurred. We will either live for Christ or we will live for ourselves.

Jesus has offered us his life, his death and his resurrection. He has offered us the freedom of a sacred life lived as a gift from God to be shared with the world. Will we be slaves to the twilight, to the security of the shadows that hide our shame and guilt, to the darkness where we can gain power and use fear and intimidation for our own gain?

We will either live lives of sacred worth or we will live lives of waste and sin.

Will we turn our backs to the light, or will we seek it for our lives? Will we in response to Christ’s actions, offer ourselves up to Christ so that he can re-form all that we are into his goodness, or will we deny Christ and live according to our needs and our desires?

Scrimmage v. Pilgrimage

Mark 1:21-28 And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Right before our scripture reading, Jesus has battled Satan in the wilderness and has exited the victor of this the first battle of many. Immediately he calls four men to his side to continue his battle against Satan and immediately they enter a synagogue where Jesus teaches. Mark does not tell us what Jesus teaches. But obviously his words are met with confusion and amazement.

In Mark’s scripture people react differently to the teachings of Jesus. While most seemed to be amazed by Jesus, they seem also not ready to follow him. There questioning seems to indicate that they choose to say to Jesus, we’ll get to you Later. And so Jesus leaves them behind as he continues onward in his journey, leaving those behind who are unable or unwilling to make the pilgrimage with him.

Most of the hearers in the synagogue that day seem paralyzed, not ready to hear Jesus’ words. Many question what they have heard. Obviously they are not prepared to hear what Jesus has to say to them. They might be amazed but they are not ready for action.

Now maybe we should be kind to the assembled crowd that day. It had been ages since a prophet had been in their midst. Malachi had promised so much but those promises seemed to have faded with each passing day. Yes, the assembled were there to prepare themselves to receive a Messiah, but let’s face it, the daily grind, the pressure to conform to Roman ways, probably had dulled their expectation for a Messiah. Complacency had taught them to guard their faith and their community and to be suspicious of anyone who would challenge their traditions and ways. And so when an uninvited Jesus pops in and begins to teach with authority it is hard for those in the synagogue to immediately respond to his teachings with anything but amazement and questioning.

But at least one person in the synagogue hears the words of Jesus and responds. The man with the unclean spirit, isn’t even supposed to be in the synagogue, maybe he has sneaked in, after the service had started. Who knows how far he has come to see Jesus and to hear his words. And immediately the unclean spirit who has possessed the man begins to battle with Jesus, sparring with words. But Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit and commands it to be silent and to come out of the man.

In the midst of the seemingly paralyzed congregation, the power of Jesus to heal and save the world continues onward.

The question then becomes for the rest of the Gospel of Mark, will we follow Jesus. Will give up all of ourselves to make the pilgrimage with Jesus, to claim with authority the authority that He, Jesus has been given by the Father? Will we venture out with Jesus into the unknown wilderness and do battle with evil or will we remain behind in the safety of our own created security? Will we rest in on the sidelines, saying we will get back to you Jesus later, and in the process lose our ability to recognize Jesus’ victory over sin and death and his healing presence that brings wholeness?

Now as most of you are aware, it is Super Bowl Sunday. So I want to bring in some imagery from the sport to help illustrate my point.

In football the play is continuously on and off. I wonder if the creators did this to make room for 1 million dollar ads, but I don’t think so, since football, at least college football came long before the invention of television. This on and off play, marked by long periods of time outs, huddles and inertia, is punctuated by short outbursts of energy and motion.

And I wonder if sometimes we treat our faith like a football game, something to grapple with periodically, and then we huddle, take a time out, or switch sides. Now granted in all this, the periods of no activity are preparing for the activity. But what if the whole point of our faith is to possess Jesus like a team possesses a football?

Something to be possessed or tossed about, all in an effort to “Win” or score points?

Do we spend our efforts and time wanting to possess Jesus, rather than let Jesus possess us? And in our efforts to possess Jesus do we miss out on seeing Jesus in our midst?

During these outbursts of play there is a line of scrimmage, an imaginary line beyond which an opposing team cannot cross. That imaginary line is heavily defended and if it moves then it is assumed that the opposing forces are winning, and that the defenses are weak and breaking down to the offensive force.

That was the line that the scribes drew in the synagogue that day. A line that was meant to shore up the defenses against unclean spirits, against outcasts, against false prophets who would tear apart the world of faith of the Pharisees. A line, granted drawn out of fear and self-preservation. But in drawing that line, those in the synagogue could not recognize Jesus as their Messiah. Yes they were amazed, but they also questioned and when Jesus left, Mark does not record that they followed, as others had and would through out Jesus’ ministry. In fact in Mark, there seemed to be a rather distinct scrimmage line between those who followed Jesus and those who could not or would not.

And I wonder if we create such line of scrimmages today in our world. It’s been almost 2000 years and Jesus has not come back yet. In the meantime, we have tried to keep our faith alive. Yes we have been given the Holy Spirit, but let’s face it, some of the ways that we live out our faith would make it very hard to recognize Jesus come back into our midst. Would we be like the people in the synagogue, if a stranger walked into midst right now, uninvited and began to teach with authority? Would we question the stranger? Would we even recognize the authority of the teacher? Would we get annoyed that following the stranger into our midst would be the chaotic mess of someone who was consumed in sin wanting healing?

And those scrimmage lines might extend even beyond the realm of the church. Maybe we have personal scrimmage lines. Do we say “Jesus you can have all of me up to a point, up to this imaginary line.” Do not cross that line, or I will have to defend with all my might, or worse even deny you and your power for my life.

I believe the man with the demons, had no such line. He was so consumed with the unclean spirit, that he had no hope other than Jesus. He could not rely on his own defenses, he had to give all of himself to Jesus in order to be healed.

So instead of these outbursts of faith meant to possess Jesus, marked by scrimmage lines to defend what if instead we lived our faith as a pilgrimage.

A pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place.

One where we all start on different paths, but we have the same goal. And like the pilgrims of old, as we start out on our treks we are guided by the Holy Spirit, by Scripture, by those who went before us and told us of the many things they encountered and saw.

In Italy, where my stepmother is from, there is a church, between Rome and Florence, outside the ancient walled city of Lucca, where pilgrims would converge and rest as the made their pilgrimage to the Holy Land. And there, they would try to communicate with each other in their unfamiliar languages and they would tell stories about Jesus and share their faith stories. All the while they were inspiring each other to move onward toward the Holy Land, their final destination.

Curran is going to the Holy Land. Many of us won’t have that opportunity.

But it doesn’t mean that we aren’t on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. That Holy Land is a physical place, but it is also a spiritual place where we let Jesus guide us on our journey through this life. A place where Wesley says we will eventually rest in the will of God and be united forever with Jesus. A place few arrive permanently before they die, but still a place we yearn to travel to each and every day of our lives as Christians.

In our scripture today, I imagine that the scribes and Pharisees, sitting in their synagogue, thought they had arrived.

They were safe, they were confident in their faith. They were the keepers, the protectors of the faith. They had no need for a travel plan, they had already arrived.

When they encountered Jesus, they could not recognize him for who he was, because they had not prepared themselves to know Him.

But someone in the congregation did recognize him. An outcast, a man with a demon. And man who needed healing, who had been trapped and enslaved by evil forces. He recognized Jesus. He called out to him.

So do we live our lives as if we are on a pilgrimage to find Jesus? Do we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us ? Do we rely on the resurrection of the Jesus to be our compass? Do we bring with us the Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments for sustenance? Do we travel alone, or do we rely on our fellow travelers in the church to strengthen and encourage us when we are tired or when we stumble?

Mark repeatedly tells us in his gospel that Jesus disturbs and distabilizes the established. What do we do when that happens on our pilgrimage? Do we retreat to our fortressed walls of security, or do we press onward, allowing Jesus to change or correct our course? Do we walk clothed in our baptism, taking sustenance from our communion meal? Do we continuously seek to encounter the risen Lord Jesus and his hope for healing, redemption and peace?

In the year 433, Saint Patrick was a pilgrim journeying to the King’s court. En route, he and his men prayed a special prayer of protection, later known as the Lorica or Deer’s Cry. At one point St. Patrick and his men were surrounded on both sides by Druids who lay in hiding, ready to kill. The druids however only saw a gentle doe followed by twenty fawns as St. Patrick and men passed by. There was no slaughter that day.

I believe this was the prayer or something just like it that brought the man with the unclean spirits to Jesus that day in the synagogue.

May this prayer bless you on your pilgrimage with Jesus as it has all who have ever prayed it on their journey.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every person who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

Honor

Last Wednesday, a 51 year old husband, father, son, church and community leader lost his valiant battle to recover from complications from open heart surgery. Rob was one of those leaders that was always present at any event, providing his quiet leadership and assistance. He never drew attention to himself, but always did things for others with an earnestness and humility. Therefore, we were amazed today to see the sanctuary of our church, overflowing with those who came to celebrate his life at his memorial. There were well over 450 people, the largest memorial the church could remember. It really should not have surprised us, that was just the kind of guy Rob was.

At the reception to follow, the line snaked around the church campus, with people wanting to express their condolences to Rob's widow Sherrie. For two hours they came, sharing hugs and stories with Sherrie. You could see that Sherrie received so much comfort from their words and actions.

During those two hours, I stood near Sherrie, dressed still in my robe and stole from the memorial service. I did it partially because I was worried if she could make it through; so I was there to give her brief and occasional respites with a drink of water. But I also did it for another reason.

In all the church committee meetings that I have attended over the past year and a half, Rob was the only person, who would stand up when I walked in the room. It was a way for him to show me respect and honor. At first I was embarrassed, after all I was not used to such kindness, but then I came to draw strength from it. So on the day of his memorial, I stood next too his widow, in my robe and stole, in honor and respect to Rob.

In the church we often talk about how much better the world would be if we just showed more of Christ's love to others. I wonder what kind of world it would be if we just showed each other a little more love in the form of honoring each other as made in the image of Christ? I think that is what Rob taught me, and I think the world is a better place because of him, I know I am a better person.

Sisters

Advent Watching

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Isaiah 64:1-9 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence-- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.

Isaiah challeges us to ask: What do you keep watch out for?

Recently, with the serious downturn the world economy has taken and the looming threat that my husband Grady was going to loose his job, I began to watch out for deals. I now comb grocery weekly ads and coupons on the internet to find deals and reduce our family’s spending.

Some are watching the stock market closely to see if we are going to have any savings to retire on, or whether we are going to have to work longer or take on a part time job.

Some might be watching signs in our bodies or the bodies of friends or family, to see if an illness is getting worse or better. Watching for fever spikes, or new symptoms that indicate a treatment is working or not.

Others watch over their children, looking for signs that they are growing up well adjusted, or whether they are succumbing to the myriad of temptations that the world throws at them.

All of these things we watch over have something in common, we are looking for hope in the midst of sometimes what seems a chaotic and changing world. Hope does not live in a vacuum but comes out of a deep felt human need.

As we end our Thanksgiving celebrations, we enter into a season in the Christian year called Advent. It is a time of hope and watchfulness. As we approach one of the most sacred days of our year, Christmas. It is a time, that we spend in reflection, pondering what hope does Christmas bring?  We know that Christ has come, so why do we need to keep watching and anticipating? Can’t we just get on with it all? What are we watching for as Christmas approaches if Christ came over 2000 years ago?

We are watching for God’s activity in our lives. For his presence. We are anticipating Christ’s return and until that time we are hopeful to catch glimpses for God’s will for our lives.

It is very easy to get lost in all the rush toward Christmas that our country has made as a tradition, to lose the meaning of Christmas. To lose what we as Christians anticipate with the joyful tidings of Christ’s birth. So the church almost over two thousand years ago, maybe in anticipation of our busyness, established a season to pause and reflect on what the birth of Christ means.

Over the four Sundays of Advent we learn and talk about hope, peace, joy, and love… We learn what the activity of Christ, born as a human, brings all these things to our world.

Today we especially talk about hope.

But to understand hope, it is important to know what we kind of hope we are watching for. Is it the hope of a newborn baby in a stable who is the embodiment of God’s love for us, is it for a shepherd, is it for a political Messiah, is it for a personal Savior?

As the birth of Jesus approached, we read in the NT scriptures about Mary and her hope for a Lord and Savior that would, as Luke records, “(Luke 1:52) bring down the powerful from their thrones, and lift up the lowly;. This was Mary’s hope.

Meanwhile the shepherds waited in their fields, Luke 2:8 keeping watch over their flock by night. Now it is easy to imagine these shepherds as something out of an idyllic hallmark card. But it was dark, and it was cold and there were coyotes and all kinds of dangers around them.

Perhaps what the shepherds were watching for was something in the maze of all the stars in the sky, that would bring good tidings of comfort and joy.

And then there were the people of Israel, waiting and anticipating, hoping, but for what?

Our Scripture for today, helps us to understand the hopes of the ancient Israelites, but also sheds light on our hope today.

Isaiah 64:1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence-- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

The people of Israel were seeking God to come down. They saw God who was distant and withdrawn. They missed God’s presence in their lives. They wanted him back.

Many of us experience God this way. As some grand figure, that has created us, and then stepped away to watch us live out our lives. This God is awesome and mighty, but also distant and cold. A God who is like a watchmaker, who creates us, winds us up and then sets us down in the midst of creation to run our course.

This is a God that we hope will tear open the heavens and come down the mountain to save us from the chaos of our lives.

We want God to be our Father. A loving parent who will do irrational things to save his children. Who will love His children and give His life for them.

We want God to be with us - to be connected with us.

Abraham Lincoln once wrote: "...I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side." The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: Six Months at the White House by Francis B. Carpenter (Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1995), p. 282. Also, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by Ward Hill Lamon (Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1994), p. 91. and By REV. MATTHEW SIMPSON, D.D., Sermon at the burial of Abraham Lincoln.

Federal dead on the field of battle of first day, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Library of Congress

God is on the side of right, but for us to see that right, to know it confidently is something that requires more than a simple wish or disposition. It requires a commitment to follow God, to seek His will in all things and a humility to know that we rarely have the ability to understand it all.

For, we constantly sin, and we stop seeking the presence of God in our lives. We get distracted by the things of the world, by power and ambition, by pride and vanity, by so many things and we fail to seek the presence of God within our lives. And it is easy to blame God, to claim that He has hidden his face from us.

Isaiah tells us: There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

It seems such a small thing to get distracted, but the consequences are huge. When we fail to seek God, when we sin and do not ask forgiveness, when we become distracted we lose the hope of God in our lives. The hope is there, available to us, but we forget, out of our own neglect we no longer have the bond of relationship with our creator. God did not sever it, we did.

And because of this, the prophet Isaiah weeps and proclaims that "We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."

No longer rooted to our creator, we are at the whim of our sinfulness and worldly evil.

But all is not lost, and the prophet Isaiah in a bold assertion makes his claim on God.

"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people."

You made us, you own us, you are responsible for us, we belong to you, that is what Isaiah boldly asserts.

And that is the Advent claim we can make as well. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have all turned our eyes away from God at some point in this past year. But, the story does not, cannot, will not end there. For God sent his only Son Jesus Christ so that we may be forgiven.

God sent Jesus to us, so that we may always know with full assurance, that God is with us, Emmanuel. Two ancient Hebrew words, for God (El) and with us (Emmanu). God is with us yesterday, today and tomorrow.

He will not forsake us, he will not abandon us, for he has created us, and He has sent his only son

to claim his family relationship with us. He will forever be with us, to help mold us, his creation, not so that we all become identical jars of clay, but that we would become jars of clay filled with hope, peace, comfort and joy.

Water Vessel from the William Itter Collection

Paul tells us that He, God, who started a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ comes again. God is with us, and His bond with us is not broken by time or space, and He will continue to mold us, and form us, until the day when his work will be completed in Christ. Until then God remains with us..

But as all of you know, we can take for granted our family ties and relationships. We can choose to break the bonds and turn away from our loved ones. We can choose to journey alone or with others who think and act like us. We can choose to turn a blind eye to God’s presence in the world,

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote,

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

And only he who sees it takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”

We can choose this advent season to stay wrapped up in the busyness of commercialism. We can pluck up possessions rather than take time to spend in quiet contemplation and prayer, missing the many ways that God surprises us daily in small acts of the sacred.

We can opt to remain in the gloom of your circumstances, failing to experience the peace of Christ, that comes from knowing Him.

We can decide to watch signs of the times and become lost in our own self made desperation, bypassing the hope of God in Jesus Christ to redeem the good out of any situation we might find ourselves in.

Or like the prophet Isaiah, we can ask for forgiveness for the sins of the past, and we can share stories of God’s presence in your lives this past year. And when we do this we free ourselves to turn towards the rising star in the East and become watchful for the hope and promise of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us for this upcoming year.

How will God, the Potter, shape us this upcoming year? What promises does he hold for us? What hope will he bring to this world? So that on Christmas day, we may join creation in singing praises to our God, who did not abandon us, even when we sinned, but chose to send his only Son to us, to tie the binds that unite us forever in solidarity with Him.

So what are you going to watch for this Advent season?

Come to the Waters