Christmas Turns the World Right Side Up!

The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, the 2^nd Chapter

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 

One hundred years ago tonight, something remarkable happened.  World War I was only months old, but after the initial flurry, both the Germans and the Allies had dug into trenches that stretched 440 miles across the Western Front from the boarder with Switzerland to the North Sea.  In places, the trenches were just yards apart.  

The remarkable thing that happened 100 years ago tonight, is that at some point, a soldier on the German side put a make shift Christmas tree up on top of his trench and lit it up with candles.  Then he started singing Silent Night.  The English and the French on the other side didn’t know the German words but they knew the tune and they too began to sing.  Then, slowly... here and there... someone would stick their head up out of the trench to see if the other side would shoot.  No one did.

Make shift signs from the German side, written in broken English began to appear.  “WE NO FIGHT.  YOU NO FIGHT.”  The English made make shift banners that said MERRY CHRISTMAS and put them up and waited for a response.  Eventually men climbed out of the trenches and headed across no-man’s-land to meet with soldiers on the other side.  The first thing they did was to retrieve their wounded and their dead together.  They attended the burials of one another’s fallen soldiers and then exchanged food, tobacco and souvenirs with one another.  They sang more carols with more familiar tunes and played soccer.   

It has since become known as the Christmas Truce.  It was a truce that didn’t come negotiated by diplomats or ordered from above.  It came literally from the people in the trenches.  It was VERY unofficial and in fact, the leadership... the brass... didn’t particularly like it at all... but it happened none the less.  It started with one person... just one tired, lonely, wet and hungry person who decided to put up a make shift Christmas tree and sing Silent Night instead of choosing to continue the fight.  The choice that one person made... to set up a tree and sing rather than fight... spread up and down the line on both sides.  

In all of the accounts I read of this, words like “unbelievable,” “impossible,” “unprecidented” or “up side down” are always used to describe this Christmas truce.  But what if, for just that short amount of time, there in the spaces between the trenches of a war that would eventually claim the lives of eight and a half million people... what if... right there in the power of Christmas... in the power of Emmanuel... the power of “God with us”... what if the world wasn’t UP SIDE DOWN, but instead... in that brief time where grudges and hatred and anger and violence were set aside... what if in those moments, the world was really, for a change, actually... RIGHT SIDE UP?  

Why is it, that we think that returning violence for violence is normal?  Why do we believe hatred and grudges and being divided and holding onto old hurts and offenses... some of them generations old, is “normal” BUT setting aside all that pain and hurt and sharing a drink and food and some songs is “unbelievable” and “up side down”?  This story from 100 years ago tonight reminds us, that with the power of Christmas... with the power of God coming in Christ to live among us, the ways of pain and hurt and resentment that so many in the world call “normal” are really not at ALL “normal” and don’t have to be our ways any more.  

After all, if a soldier that had been shot at, shelled and bombarded... if a soldier who had been living in the mud and muck of a barbed wire lined trench with not enough to eat or drink... if a soldier who had been through all of that could decide, strengthened by the power of Christmas, to set up a little, candle lit tree and sing Silent Night instead of holding onto hate and grudges and continuing to fight, isn’t there a chance that with the power of Christmas... with the power of God’s love lying in the manger, we could do it too?

You and I don’t have a world war to set aside, but each of us have people who have hurt us and wronged us.  We’ve been told that holding onto resentments, hurts and division is “normal”... that getting even is simply how the world works... that any other way would turn the world UPSIDE DOWN.  This Christmas story reminds us... It’s just not true!  Hate, fear, violence, revenge and grudges aren’t “normal” and they don’t bring us life.  This Christmas story reminds us in one more powerful way, that living in Christ... practicing lives of love, peace, generosity, compassion and sharing with one another is REALLY how God intends us to live and live abundantly!    

One Hundred years ago it started with just one soldier... just one!  He set up a make shift Christmas tree and let the power of God in Christ begin to work.  The power of Christ, it turns out, had the power to transform the most violent place in the WHOLE WORLD that night.  What would happen if we set that same power of Christ loose in the world again tonight?  Why can’t we grab hold of the power of Christmas, set up a Christmas tree, sing carols together and allow the power of Christmas to begin to change our world?  It started then with just one soldier, deciding to do something differently... is there any reason you and I could not choose, right here... right now, to do the same?

May THIS Christmas tree... our glowing candles... our singing and most importantly, the power of Emmanuel... the power of “God with us”... strengthen you to live differently... to pass on God’s infinite and unconditional love to everyone you meet in this coming year.  May each of us choose each new day of this coming year, to live NOT by the ways that field marshals, generals, presidents, kings and kaisers say is “normal”, but instead choose to live “Right Side Up” in the power of Christmas, under the loving reign of the Prince of Peace.  Amen.  

Christmas Right Side Up!

The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, the 2^nd Chapter

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time

came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left

them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 

One hundred years ago tonight, something remarkable happened.  World War I was only months old, but after the initial flurry, both the Germans and the Allies had dug into trenches that stretched 440 miles across the Western Front from the boarder with Switzerland to the North Sea.  In places, the trenches were just yards apart.  

The remarkable thing that happened 100 years ago tonight, is that at some point, a soldier on the German side put a make shift Christmas tree up on top of his trench and lit it up with candles.  Then he started singing Silent Night.  The English and the French on the other side didn’t know the German words but they knew the tune and they too began to sing.  Then, slowly... here and there... someone would stick their head up out of the trench to see if the other side would shoot.  No one did.  

Make shift signs from the German side, written in broken English began to appear.  “WE NO FIGHT.  YOU NO FIGHT.”  The English made make shift banners that said MERRY CHRISTMAS and put them up and waited for a response.  Eventually men climbed out of the trenches and headed across no-man’s-land to meet with soldiers on the other side.  The first thing they did was to retrieve their wounded and their dead together.  They attended the burials of one another’s fallen soldiers and then exchanged food, tobacco and souvenirs with one another.  They sang more carols with more familiar tunes and played soccer.   

It has since become known as the Christmas Truce.  It was a truce that didn’t come negotiated by diplomats or ordered from above.  It came literally from the people in the trenches.  It was VERY unofficial and in fact, the leadership... the brass... didn’t particularly like it at all... but it happened none the less.  It started with one person... just one tired, lonely, wet and hungry person who decided to put up a make shift Christmas tree and sing Silent Night instead of choosing to continue the fight.  The choice that one person made... to set up a tree and sing rather than fight... spread up and down the line on both sides.  

In all of the accounts I read of this, words like “unbelievable,” “impossible,” “unprecidented” or “up side down” are always used to describe this Christmas truce.  But what if, for just that short amount of time, there in the spaces between the trenches of a war that would eventually claim the lives of eight and a half million people... what if... right there in the power of Christmas... in the power of Emmanuel... the power of “God with us”... what if the world wasn’t UP SIDE DOWN, but instead... in that brief time where grudges and hatred and anger and violence were set aside... what if in those moments, the world was really, for a change, actually... RIGHT SIDE UP?  

Why is it, that we think that returning violence for violence is normal?  Why do we believe hatred and grudges and being divided and holding onto old hurts and offenses... some of them generations old, is “normal” BUT setting aside all that pain and hurt and sharing a drink and food and some songs is “unbelievable” and “up side down”?  This story from 100 years ago tonight reminds us, that with the power of Christmas... with the power of God coming in Christ to live among us, the ways of pain and hurt and resentment that so many in the world call “normal” are really not at ALL “normal” and don’t have to be our ways any more.  

After all, if a soldier that had been shot at, shelled and bombarded... if a soldier who had been living in the mud and muck of a barbed wire lined trench with not enough to eat or drink... if a soldier who had been through all of that could decide, strengthened by the power of Christmas, to set up a little, candle lit tree and sing Silent Night instead of holding onto hate and grudges and continuing to fight, isn’t there a chance that with the power of Christmas... with the power of God’s love lying in the manger, we could do it too?

You and I don’t have a world war to set aside, but each of us have people who have hurt us and wronged us.  We’ve been told that holding onto resentments, hurts and division is “normal”... that getting even is simply how the world works... that any other way would turn the world UPSIDE DOWN.  This Christmas story reminds us... It’s just not true!  Hate, fear, violence, revenge and grudges aren’t “normal” and they don’t bring us life.  This Christmas story reminds us in one more powerful way, that living in Christ... practicing lives of love, peace, generosity, compassion and sharing with one another is REALLY how God intends us to live and live abundantly!    

One Hundred years ago it started with just one soldier... just one!  He set up a make shift Christmas tree and let the power of God in Christ begin to work.  The power of Christ, it turns out, had the power to transform the most violent place in the WHOLE WORLD that night.  What would happen if we set that same power of Christ loose in the world again tonight?  Why can’t we grab hold of the power of Christmas, set up a Christmas tree, sing carols together and allow the power of Christmas to begin to change our world?  It started then with just one soldier, deciding to do something differently... is there any reason you and I could not choose, right here... right now, to do the same?

May this Christmas tree... our glowing candles... our singing and most importantly, the power of Emmanuel... the power of “God with us”... strengthen you to choose to live differently... to pass on God’s infinite and unconditional love to everyone you meet in this coming year.  And when all the other Christmas trees are gone, may that one lone Christmas tree... the one you see every time you take the ferry... that one lone improbable tree that stands on top of that pier at the ferry terminal... you know the one I’m talking about... May that little, year-round Christmas tree that stands up to wind and wave all year long continue to remind us all to live, NOT by the ways that field marshals, generals, presidents, kings and kaisers say is “normal,” but instead choose to continue to live “Right Side Up” in the power of Christmas all year long, under the loving reign of the Prince of Peace.  Amen.

"Greetings, favored church!"

The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, the 1st Chapter

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he

came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Can you stand it any more?  Only three days left!  And FINALLY we have some Christmasy sounding Bible lesson!  I know, we talk about Jesus coming all Advent, but it’s mostly about the adult, resurrected Jesus returning to finish making everything into the way God wants it and not the baby Jesus in the manger.  It’s either that, or we talk about John the Baptist, the weird, smelly, bug eating guy announcing Jesus coming.  But today we get some real BABY Jesus news!

Last week was John the Baptist again.  He didn’t meet the religious authority’s expectations and he told the world that God was going to do something very, very different.  In the past, you see, God had forgiven people for the stuff they messed up only AFTER they said they were sorry.  That was what John the Baptist was doing with his Baptisms in the wilderness.  But NOW God was planning this new policy for creation, God was going to do something so that we would be forgiven for everything even BEFORE we had done anything wrong!   A pretty radical change from the heavenly head office!  We found out too last week, that even if the change comes from God himself there were still a whole bunch of people who thought of themselves as very faithful people who didn’t like that change.  

Now, this week, we’ve come around the corner from John the Baptist to find Mary.  Now, in Mary, God continues to use the most unexpected people to announce this radical new policy.  God is looking to use a woman in a society that didn’t value women... a poor woman in a society that valued wealth and a young, poor, woman, in a society that valued maturity and experience.  Poor, young, woman.  That’s three strikes.  On top of that, the only way a poor young woman could have any standing in that society was to be married or have a male child, and Mary didn’t have either. 

So, to review... God first picks a guy who eats bugs to announce this change and then the bottom of society's ladder bring this new policy to life.  WOW!  God can sure pick ‘em don’t you think?  But the really funny thing is… God is still picking some of the most unlikely characters to announce and bring that new, radical policy of unlimited grace, love, forgiveness and compassion into the world even today!  And at the top of God’s “unlikely character” list... IS US!  God is calling Union Church to proclaim God’s radical new plan for the world.  God is calling THIS CHURCH to bring Christ into this world!  Greetings favored church!  The Lord is with YOU!

When MARY heard that particularly unexpected news she felt a bit perplexed, confused and even scared.  I suspect when you hear that you and this church are being called by God to bring Christ into the world that might give you some of those same feelings.  BUT, God says to YOU the same thing God said to Mary...  “Do not be afraid, Union Church, for you have found favor with God.  And now you will bear the Son of God to the world and his name is Jesus.”  How can this be you might be asking yourselves?  How can we, here on an island in Maine, a bunch of stoic, shy, keep-to-ourselves, island folks with our little brown church bring Jesus to the whole world?  We’ve never done that before!  We can’t do that!  Now, you may THINK you can't do that, but the angel of the Lord says to you, the same thing he said to Mary, “the Holy Spirit has come upon each one of you in your Baptisms, and the power of the Most High has overshadowed you, Union Church; therefore the child that you are to bring to the world is a Holy Child, the child that you are bringing to the world is the Son of God.”  

You may not think you can bring the Son of God to the world, but take a minute and remember all the things that God has already accomplished through this congregation over the years.  You built a church and when that one burned down you built a second church... this church to serve not just a few, but to serve the whole island community.  You have cared for each other in good times and in bad, creating a safety net for people when tragedy enters their lives.  You opened up the parsonage to be a day care to fill a deep need within our community and invited everyone to attend.  You created Lunchbox to provide a regular meal to those who need a meal or simply need a time to share a meal with others.  When you heard that kids might be hungry in the summer you extended Lunchbox into the summer and even brought lunch to the quarry to try to make a difference.  You’re welcoming the idea of a combined Christmas worship with Pleasant River Chapel.  You raise money all the time for folks in need and do Jingle Bells every year, you put on Bean Suppers, support community concerts, open the building to The Wind, and AA and the food pantry and meals on wheels and countless others and the list goes on and on.  You really should remember, Union Church of Vinalhaven, Maine, to be strong, be brave, keep on standing up for what is right and good, keep stretching and opening yourselves to the possibilities that the future is bringing to you and always remember that NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.  

When Mary heard all that, she said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  That’s what Mary said, “let it be with me according to your word.”  The question for us is what will WE say?   We have been asked by God to do EXACTLY what God asked Mary to do... to bring Christ to the World.  That calling from God is not for ourselves.  That call from God is not for our own comfort.  It really is exactly like Mary’s call and her’s didn’t bring her comfort.  This call from God isn’t about our own status or power or place in the community.  It really is like Mary’s call, it’s a call to self sacrifice and a call to challenge our own fears, expectations, need for control and the temptation to put our comfort, wants and desires first instead of the needs of others first.  This call that we have received from God is much more a blessing for everyone else... out there... than it is a blessing for us.  Again, it’s just like Mary’s call... A call to bring Christ to the world to bring healing and give hope and build connections in places and to people who need healing, hope and connections, even when that means, like it meant for Mary, that there might be real sacrifice and even some really painful times along the way.  

This really and truly is a blessed congregation!  This is a blessed congregation for one reason, and one reason alone... because God has said that we are!  Mary took HER blessing with all the joy and with all the sacrifice that was wrapped up in that blessing and opened herself up to God and said “let it be with me according to your word.”  The question for Union Church going into the future is how will we respond to God’s call for us next...  how will we let our future BE according to God’s Word?  Amen.  

Fails to Meet Expectations

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 1st Chapter

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 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. 

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the

Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. 

Fred had one specific expectation about Christmas... that his kids would come home.  That worked fine until Fred’s youngest daughter’s husband became a pastor.  Every year, without fail, Fred would ask us if we were planning on coming home to Alabama for Christmas and every year, without fail, we would have to explain how a pastor skipping out of town before Christmas was frowned upon and so we wouldn’t be able to be there for Christmas.

  

I think we all have Christmas expectations.  My expectation for Christmas involves a big Swedish Smorgasbord on Christmas Eve, opening presents and going to the late service at church.  Becoming a pastor and leading two, three and in one church I served, FOUR Christmas Eve services meant my expectations needed to change.  Then, when Kelly became a flight attendant, inevitably working on Christmas, we stopped even trying to do it all on that day.  Now we usually just eat Chinese take out in between services (because they’re the only places open) and just move our family Christmas traditions to a completely different day.  It’s SO much better!    

But it’s not just Christmas that comes with strong expectations.  The things in our life that carry lots of meaning also carry strong expectations.  How we want our church to look and feel, for instance, can also be a very strong expectation.  Smart research types say that the church you attended when you were 11 years old is most often the church you subconsciously look for or try to re-create for the rest of your life, no matter how long ago age 11 was for you.   So people work, sometimes not even knowing why, to shape their current congregation so it looks and feels like the congregation they knew when they were 11.  They expect their congregation to be that way because deep down, at some primal, human development level, that is simply the RIGHT way for church to be!  

It’s with those sorts of passionate, firm and primal expectations that the religious leaders came out into the wilderness to meet John the Baptist.  They had locked in their minds and deep down in their hearts, the way God SHOULD work... how the Messiah WOULD come and what the Messiah MUST be like.  What they found instead... was John.  “I am not the Messiah”…oh.  “I am not Elijah”…oh.  “I am not the prophet”…oh.  How disappointing to come to the wilderness full of specific hopes and expectations that this is THE ONE who you have been waiting for; THE ONE just like you have imagined in your mind for generations and he turns out to be… just John, a loud guy wearing itchy cloths and eating bugs.

John just didn’t follow their script.  He was different…VERY different and the official’s expectations were clear and John clearly did not meet expectations.  This is the way God WILL act; not any other way but this way…our way…my way.  But as you look throughout the scriptures, and especially the ones having to do with Jesus, we see over and over and over again that God just doesn’t seem to follow ANYONE’S script!  Pharisees, Sadducees, Romans, kings and even Jesus’ own disciples had clear expectations, but God just doesn’t do what was expected... God does what is needed.  The trouble is that those expectations, that God seems to throw out over and over again throughout Scripture, are the same things that are so familiar and make us feel safe, comfortable and secure.  God seems to continually take our perfectly comfortable expectations and just throw them into the trash and then without asking for our permission, goes off and does something completely different!  

That’s what happened when the officials came to see John.  John just didn’t do it right... and later Jesus didn’t do it right either! The officials didn’t want God to break into their lives and TRANSFORM them... to CHANGE them into what God wanted them to be.  Change and transformation after all, is uncomfortable and THEY came into the wilderness looking and expecting something that would meet or exceed expectations!  So, when John and Jesus didn’t allow them to stay comfortable, they jumped up and down, pouted and stomped their feet, ran around town complaining about John and Jesus not doing things the way they expected and eventually they got rid of both of them, because in the end, it was simply easier to get rid of them and insist that they weren’t really from God, than live through the change and transformation God had in mind for them.  

With over 2000 years of hindsight working for us, we can see NOW that the Priests and Levites and all the other officials had it wrong.  It really was God who sent John the Baptist and Jesus was indeed the Messiah.  NOW we can see that God was indeed doing something VERY different and the officials were just too set in their ways, too comfortable, too focused on their own expectations to see that God was doing a new thing.  

One of the reasons we tell this story every year is so that we can remember that God OFTEN works in ways we don’t expect… that God continually works outside of the places we find comfortable and traditional and familiar.  This lesson calls us each year to open our hearts and our minds to the possibility that God is at work in places that don’t look anything like the church we had when we were 11 years old and that the Church isn’t really meant to be a place of comfort and warm fuzzy feelings.  It’s meant to be an instrument that God is using to transform the world from the way it is now, into the Kingdom that God brought into being with Christ’s life, death and resurrection.  

I’ll be the first to admit that isn’t comfortable.  I would personally LOVE to recreate Holy Trinity Lutheran Church... my age 11 church, complete with a circular sanctuary, a towering steeple in the middle and Pastor Wally Nelson.  Just the thought of it feels comfortable... it feels... right!  It may feel right, returning to what is familiar and comfortable... the trouble is, it’s just not faithful.  John is not calling us to return to the comfort of the past but is always pointing us forward into the Light, to follow the path of Christ and transform the world not into what we expect or want or feel comfortable with, but into the Kingdom that God where the lowly are lifted up and the powerful are cast down.

That’s what Advent is all about, you know… not just preparing to celebrate Jesus’ birth back then, but learning again to expect the unexpected and get ready once again to follow our Messiah who promises to make all things new!  May we, this Advent give thanks for the the past and the birth of our Savior AND may we let go of our expectations for the future and allow and welcome God to do new and incredible things in us, around us and through us in the year to come!  Amen.

Let's Eat Grandma!

Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

The Holy Gospel According to St. Mark, the First Chapter

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way;

the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’”

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

A Panda walks into a bar.  He eats, shoots and leaves.  Now, did the Panda walk into a bar and eat a meal consisting of bamboo shoots and leaves OR did the panda walk into a bar, eat his dinner and then pull out a gun and blast his way out of the place to avoid paying his bill? How about this one… is it, "A voice cries out! 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.'”  Or is it, “A voice cries out in the wilderness: ‘prepare the way of the Lord’.”  Are we being asked to go out into the wilderness and start a highway construction project OR are we supposed to listen to the voice of a guy who lives out there in the middle of the wilderness?  How about this one... Let’s eat, Grandma!  Now, is this someone telling Grandma it’s time to come to the table for dinner... OR, could it be that cousin Ralph has turned cannibal?  Let’s eat Grandma!   

The normal way we sort things like this out in our heads, is through our experiences.  It happens mostly subconsciously.  Inside our brains, we make the calculation that since cousin Ralph has not (in the past anyway) shown any cannibalistic tendencies we probably don’t need to fear for Grandma’s life.  Add to that the fact that cousin Ralph never made better than a C- in English and we can probably safely join cousin Ralph and Grandma at the dinner table.  

God created us so we could learn from our experiences.  It’s natural and normal... and for the most part, really helpful to process the world around us based on our own, past experiences.   Those experiences taught our ancestors, that even though they look cute, we shouldn’t pet the Saber Toothed Tigers.  Those experiences taught us to remember where the best fishing spots were so we could go back there again.  Those experiences taught us how ridiculous it looked when our friend had his tongue stuck to the flag pole that one winter and we learned from that... Don’t lick the flag pole!  

This way of sorting out the world around us works out really, really well... right up to the point where it doesn’t.  Sometimes our past experiences actually get in the way of understanding the world rather than making it easier.  What happens, for example, when cousin Ralph shows up to dinner with a chain saw, his eyes glaring from behind a hockey goalie’s mask and screaming, “LET’S EAT GRANDMA!” while revving up the chainsaw?  Going on your past experiences with cousin Ralph at that point would be a HUGE mistake! 

God created us in a way that we could learn from our experiences, but sometimes our past experiences stop being helpful.  Sometimes, like when cousin Ralph is revving up the chainsaw, we need to let go of what we THINK we know and instead really LISTEN.  In today’s lesson, Isaiah tells us of a voice crying out.  Isaiah’s voice was experienced as the voice of HOPE... it was the voice of promise, forgiveness and life!  It was the voice that told the people living in exile that they would soon be going home!  But, when John the Baptist from today’s Gospel lesson cried out with those same words, his voice had a VERY different message to proclaim.  John didn’t have a message of hope, but a dire warning!  The LORD is coming and the people’s rough ways needed some serious straightening out!  BOTH were voices crying in the wilderness.  BOTH had something important to tell the people from God.  BOTH used the VERY SAME words, but unless the people REALLY LISTENED they could very easily miss what they needed to hear.   

The same words with different meanings didn’t make Isaiah “right” and John the Baptist “wrong” or vice versa.  But what this teaches us is that if we hope to hear God’s prophetic message for our lives in our time and in our place, we need to do our best to really, really LISTEN and not simply dismiss a voice that seems to be crying out with a message that doesn’t match with our life's experience.  We often fall into the trap of believing that in order for me to be “right” you have to be “wrong”... If I experience life one way then THAT, and only that, is “real” life and anything else is untrue, twisted or a lie.  When we become that sure that we are “right” and equally sure that others are “wrong,” we fail to really LISTEN and when we fail to LISTEN, we deny the one crying out their humanity AND if that wasn’t bad enough on it’s own, we are in danger of missing what God is trying to say to us, through them.  In our world today, there are voices crying out of the wilderness places of their lives... voices that we are tempted to ignore because their experience of life is radically different and maybe even totally opposite to the way we have experienced life.  

My experience of life does not include living with the injustices of this country and world that are leveled at a person whose skin is black.  But when the voices of black men cry out in the wilderness with an experience that is different from mine, does that make their experience untrue or invalid?  NO!  If a black voice cries out in the wilderness, telling me of the rough places of his life, then it is my responsibility to LISTEN to my brother calling out.  It is my calling to do what I can to make those rough places a plain.   His experience is real... Black lives matter!  

I am not sure how to respond to the things that are happening in our country right now... in Missouri and New York City and in countless other places.  Racism is a difficult and touchy subject and I know that I have a very good chance as a white male of blundering in and making things worse... not on purpose and not with a hard heart, but just because I am a product of my experiences.  I have come to understand, though, that my experiences of how life works for me are not helpful in understanding how life works for men and women in the African American community.  I have come to understand, a little maybe, about the privilege I enjoy without even realizing I have it.   

I hear voices crying in the wilderness and I am not sure what to do next, but if these lessons have any advice to give the world... I think that advice would be to LISTEN.  Amen.