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December 09, 2007

Prophets and Promises

Sermon: Advent 2 Prophets, Promises, Prepare the Way
Isaiah 11:1-10, Ps. 72:1-7, 17-18, Matt. 3:1-12

Introduction to scripture: We recall that John was born first, within a year of Jesus. Now a grown man, a prophet, John the Baptist, cries out in the wilderness, proclaiming love and truth, justice and peace, and the coming of God into our lives. Prayer…

The community prayer we recited together during the lighting of the Advent Candle will guide my sermon this morning. We will look at Prophets—Promises—and Prepare the Way…

Prophets— Great Creator God, may we be open to the spirit of John the Baptist, who proclaimed your coming.

It takes guts to be a prophet. It also takes a whole lotta love. At the very least, you have to love God. And I think the most effective prophets also love the people they are preaching to. This is evident in why Jesus touched so many people the way he did. Anyone can stand on a street corner and proclaim the end of the world---and relish the destruction, the pain, the suffering. It takes a special person to be a prophet.

Prophets are known for their ability to say the difficult thing—to speak the truth in the face of adversity. They are also known for their ability to cast God’s vision before the people. Our Hebrew scripture reading this morning is from the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was a major prophet in the land of Judah (the southern kingdom as it is commonly known). Scholars believe during Isaiah’s time, the northern kingdom had become part of the Assyrian empire. Isaiah uses the events of the northern kingdom to try and bring the people of the southern kingdom, who are still independent, back to God.

In the tradition of his contemporaries, Isaiah attacks social injustice as the most glaring factor in Judah’s tenuous relationship with God. He exhorts the people to place their confidence in God and bear witness to this as they go about their daily lives—both public and private. In the scriptures leading up to today’s reading, Isaiah informs the people that a remnant will be all that is left. From that remnant a messianic king will come.

John the Baptist came proclaimed that the messiah was coming. He reminded the people that their actions had separated them from God and now was the time to repent—return to God. Turn back to the way of life charted by the covenant between God and his people Israel. John was a counter-cultural fellow. The Gospel writer provides extemporaneous information to drive home this point. Our gospels aren’t full of explicit details and yet we are given a detailed description of what he wore and what he ate. And we are told that the people flocked to him. They came from Jerusalem, all across Judea, and the region along the Jordan River. They confessed their sins and were baptized in the river.

John throws some strong words at the Pharisees and Sadducees—“don’t just act repentant. You’ve got to believe it in your heart. Your life has to reflect a change of heart for God can see whether you’ve repented or not.”

We recall that representatives from the Pharisees and the Sadducees are the ones who end up setting Jesus up. It is those in positions of power, security, affluence and status who have the most to lose when a messenger from God comes to town. And so it is harder for them to repent of their ways and John knows this.

John informs them, you can’t depend on being a descent of Abraham. Likewise, we cannot depend on being a life-long Christian. We can’t rely on past work done by ourselves or others on our behalf. We are being asked to turn back to God, to start fresh again, today…

Great Creator God, may we be open to the spirit of John the Baptist, who proclaimed your coming.

We continue with the prayer—Help us to hold fast to the promise of your creative and transforming love even when this world seems a wilderness to us.

This world does seem like a wilderness…
A 19-year old kills 8 others and then himself in Omaha.
The continued and escalating presence AIDS/HIV, Homelessness
Children dying because they don’t have access to health care
Home loans coming due with huge increases that might result in foreclosure
Families eating only one meal a day…All this in the US

What about when we move into the larger world…
Genocide throughout Africa, especially right now in Darfur
Children dying from Malaria when a $10 net would protect them from the mosquito, Farmers unable to feed their families on what they are paid for the crops they produce, Global Warming and environmental calamities,
Animals slaughtered for human entertainment or trinkets

As people of faith, we hold fast to the promise of God’s creative and transforming love in the midst of this wilderness. This Holding Fast is not a light, one handed event. It is a two handed, intentional action. When we gather, we are “holding fast”—reaffirming our belief in God’s presence even if it might seem as if God has abandoned the world. And in our “holding fast”, we reaffirm our desire to tap into God’s creative and transforming love that we might be part of the solution.

In Isaiah we read, “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and the little child shall lead them.” God’s promises include a peaceable kingdom. Psalm 72 also speaks of the coming of a just ruler, who will bring a kingdom of profound peace into being. Our world, rocked by war, terrorism, violence, and prejudice of every kind, knows nothing of such peace.

The prophets, who lived in their own time of wilderness, remind us that peace is not possible without the precondition of justice. Pope Paul VI said, “If you want peace, work for justice.”
Just like in Isaiah’s time when social injustices were rampant, we have wars fueled by racism, national or religious supremacy, or economic disparity. The Christian insistence on the sanctity of every human life—rich or poor, old or young, disabled or able-bodied, enemy as well as friend—makes the cry for justice an imperative among us.

We cannot have the fruit of peace without sowing the seed of justice. If we want the horrible headlines to stop, we have to commit ourselves, one by one and heart by heart, to the goal of justice worldwide. It is our willingness to gain at the expense of another’s loss that encourages every kind of evil to flourish. We cannot continue to consume a lion’s share of the world’s goods while those who harvest the food we eat, and manufacture the cheap textiles we buy, languish in poverty.

There can never be peace in a world where this arrangement is the normal order of business. We must “holding fast” to God’s promises of creative and transforming love.

Then we will we be able to sustain the difficult work of sowing the seeds of justice. For justice is the harder, manual work that must be done day in and day out, for the fruits of peace to flourish.

Help us to hold fast to the promise of your creative and transforming love even when this world seems a wilderness to us.

We conclude the prayer—Help us to prepare your way in this world, so that your glory may be revealed and all people shall see it together; through Jesus Christ.

How then shall we do this? How shall we prepare the way so that God’s glory may be witnessed around the world? We must start with our own lives and the places of influence in our lives. It is there we can work for justice so the fruit of peace may be revealed. The challenge for us is to develop ministries that are intended to nurture peace and justice to the world. We do that by finding and aligning ourselves with God’s creative and transforming love already at work in the world.

One such organization is Heifer International . It has been a champion of peace since its beginnings in WW II. Here this testimony from one recipient. High in the mountains of Cambodia is a small village called Pramaoy. For many years Pramaoy had been an isolated community, made up almost exclusively of former soldiers who moved there after the Khmer Rouge leader was overthrown. The village had suffered from a brutal genocidal rampage in which at least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution, forced hardships or starvation. Today, families are moving into the village—some who were once victims of the regime’s brutality. Now former enemies must learn to work together to build a lasting peace and they are.

One Heifer Int’l project that was started there in 2006 is helping 180 poor families in six rural communities improve their food security. Each family received one cow along with the training. One family is proud of the wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and flowers that grow in our garden.

When asked whether there have been any problems between community members, especially soldiers and victims, the husband, a former soldier, was quick to say that there has been no discrimination between the groups. They are happy to have Heifer’s assistance. Through Heifer’s efforts, they have learned that they need to live in peace and love each other.

There are so many issues. So many people and places in need. How do you choose what to do? How do you know that the organizations you support are actually doing what they promise? It’s overwhelming! Not only is it overwhelming, it’s hard to see beyond our cloistered community and feel for people around the world.

We belong to a global church with a heart for peace and justice. The United Methodist church has a way for us to organize our missions and to make the most of our efforts. There are thousands of organizations around the world who will connect us as UM with the people in need.
This coming year, we will work to become more financially stable and spiritually fit. As we do this, we will have the means, the passion, and the willingness to reach out in loving witness to the world. Each month next year, we will highlight one mission and include information about that mission at least one Sunday a month.

With that in mind, I want you to take out your card, Prepare the Way…Produce Fruits of Peace.

(We read the cards together and then each person was asked to check one area that they would be willing to work on during 2008. The cards were placed in a basket at the front of the sanctuary when people came forward to receive communion.)

John the Baptist reminds us that we can only produce such fruit if we are planted in the soil of God’s word and blessed with the waters of grace. For if we are planted in the soil of God’s word and blessed with the waters of grace, we will be able to Hold Fast to the promise of God’s creative and transforming love at work in this world. May the fruit of our lives be such that many are fed and nourished because of our faithfulness to God’s call in our hearts.

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM