Christmas Eve/Christmas Day 2008

I thought I could get away with preaching the same sermon on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, because last year there was no overlap in the congregation. People either came to Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship, but not both. That did not turn out to be the case this year, so hopefully those in attendance at both found something of worth through their second listening!

So, without further ado, here it is for your reading pleasure...

Good News of Great Joy!
Luke 2:1-20
Christmas Eve/Day – December 24 & 25, 2008

As I listened to the radio this week, I was struck by something I heard a reporter say. “There's no reason to sing this Christmas,” he said, as he went on to list 1 alarming economic sign of the times after another. There's no reason to sing this Christmas – because times are hard and getting harder. No reason to sing – because the news from the street is bleak and not likely to improve anytime soon. No reason to sing – because we live in dark and anxious times.

We all know that Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy and peace and light, and yet this year, for many of us, that joy and peace and light may be overshadowed by worries and concerns about what the new year will bring. Underneath our smiles and our festive Christmas clothes may lurk hidden fears about how we'll pay the Christmas bills when they start to come or worries about how secure our job is, or what's happening with the retirement portfolio, or how the mortgage or the property taxes will get paid. For others, Christmas joy may mask loneliness and sorrow because this is the first Christmas without that special loved one they lost this year. And still others come with health issues weighing on their mind, or any other number of the troubles that life seems to bring, whether or not it's Christmas. As we sit here tonight/today, we may wonder along with that reporter if there is any reason to sing this Christmas.

The people in the story of that first Christmas knew the weight of the world as well as we do; they came to that first Christmas night with anxiety and worries on their minds too, uncertain of what the future might hold. Luke sets the stage for us from the very beginning of the story. “In those days, a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.” A not so subtle reminder that the people of Israel lived under the oppression of a foreign king, one who had the power to make them travel great distances to be registered. And then Luke zooms in on one couple among many - Joseph and Mary, who have come from Nazareth to Bethlehem, unwed, and yet expecting a child, arriving at the end of their journey only to find that there's no room at the inn, knowing that the baby will come any time now, wondering what will happen. Will Mary be okay? Will the baby?

And then Luke shifts the focus to look at the shepherds, rounding out this classic Christmas tale we hear each year. Shepherds, who were considered the lowest of the low in their culture – thought of as shiftless and dishonest, looked upon with suspicion, and here they are in the middle of our story - living in the fields. Living there – did they have no other place to go? Were the shepherds homeless, even though they were employed?

I doubt there was much singing as they began that night, for the world must have seemed a dark and scary place to these folks who had no place to turn, no idea what the future would hold.

But then, just as the prophet Isaiah had promised, a light shined on those who walked in darkness. Out there in the night, completely unexpected, an angel of the Lord comes and shines with God's glory, surrounding the shepherds with God's light, bathing them in it! Reminding them that even though they are in darkness, they are not forgotten, they have not been abandoned. God has seen, God has heard, God knows their struggles and their worries and their fears, and God sends to them an angel -
to shine with God's light,
to bring a message of hope,
to announce good news of great joy for all the people:

“Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid, for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

The Messiah, the one they have been waiting for, the one who will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – he is here, finally here. God's kingdom is breaking in, beginning even this night, to make all things new, to heal what has been broken, to fill their hearts with peace.

“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.” There the angelic host was in the night sky, singing to God, singing in the darkness, because even in the midst of the darkness, when Jesus comes, there is always a reason to sing!

That is why we come together to celebrate this and every Christmas. Not because we hope to push back the darkness of our world on our own with our bright lights and our beautiful music, but because we know the Light of the world, Jesus. He shines already in our darkness, bringing hope, bringing peace. We come, despite our worries and our fears, come to hear God's angel say to each of us, “Do not be afraid, for see – I bring 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.”

Jesus – God in the flesh – is born, born to reveal God's deep and boundless love for us and for everyone; born to remind us that our God is an up-close-and-personal God who has not forgotten nor abandoned us. Our God is a God who doesn't just stand by watching, letting us fumble in the dark, but is God-with-us, experiencing our pains and our burdens as if they were God's very own, helping us through, shining with light and love in the darkest parts of our lives. This is our God, who comes to the last and the least and the lost, comes to the oppressed and the confused and the scared, who sends angels to say to each of us, “Do not be afraid – for to you is born this day a Savior, the Messiah, the Lord!”

That reporter may think there is no reason for singing this Christmas, but we know different, don't we? For Jesus is with us, and when he comes, there is always a reason for singing! Thanks be to God.
Amen.

Unexpected Gifts - December 21, 2008

The Lord Is With You
Luke 1:26-38
Advent 4 – December 21, 2008

Have you ever had a Christmas where you didn't get anything on your list? When all of the presents were unexpected, because they weren't any of the things you had asked for? I remember one Christmas – I think I was a senior in college. As always, my mom had called before Christmas to ask me for my Christmas list. Of course, as a poor college student, I had no problem coming up with a long list of things I would like to have, things I couldn't afford to buy myself. I compiled a very thorough list, filled with the very specific things I wanted. I didn't quite get to the point of cutting out pictures and taping them to the page, but I made sure what I wanted was very clear. I certainly didn't expect to get everything on my list, but I did want to make sure my mom had plenty of options to choose from.

Well, with all the care & effort I put into making my list, you can imagine my surprise when I opened up my presents on Christmas morning, and the only thing I got from the list was - - SOCKS! And I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I have to admit that there was a big part of me that wondered, “What in the world did I make a list for if she wasn't gonna use it?!?”


I have to wonder if Mary felt a little bit like that during this exchange with the angel Gabriel. Because I'm fairly certain that what Mary got that first Christmas was nothing that she had put down on any list.

You see, Mary was a young girl, probably all of about 13 or 14, but considered a young woman, old enough to get married, ready to start her grown-up life soon. And as she dreamed about that life and planned for her future, I imagine that the things she wanted, the things on her “list”, so to speak, were to have a good marriage with a nice home, have some children, and raise their family right there in her hometown of Nazareth, living a quiet, happy, peaceful life, her very own happily-ever-after.

But then Gabriel comes bursting in on her life with a message from God. The Message version of the Bible puts Gabriel's message like this: “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you!” And the surprise? “You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.”
Well, I'll bet it sure was a surprise! Mary wasn't even married yet! Having a baby out of wedlock certainly wasn't on her list of things she wanted in her life, nevermind the damage to her reputation and her relationships that would come along with it. Traveling to Bethlehem for a census when she was nine months pregnant & giving birth in a stable or racing off to Egypt to escape King Herod's threat on her newborn son's life probably weren't on the list either. This is what it means to be God's favored one?! In the shock of that initial announcement, as she thought about what this would mean for her life, Mary might very well have wondered, “why did I bother making a list if God wasn't gonna use it? - Why make plans for my life if God is just going to upset them?”

We all face questions like those in our lives. We dream and we plan for the way we want our lives to be... our relationships, our families, our homes, our jobs, and on & on. Even if we don't plan out the exact specifics or cut out pictures and tape them to our paper list, most of us have our own mental wish list of the things we want in our lives. But sooner or later, we all find ourselves in situations that are nothing like what we asked for: someone we love dies; there's a crippling accident; we lose a job; the economy goes off in a tailspin. These are things no one ever asks for, and when they happen, we find ourselves wondering, “What do I do now?” We wonder why we planned our lives and dreamed our dreams if God was just gonna upset them. Why make a list if God isn't gonna use it?

Sometimes we think about God the way I was thinking of my mom that long ago Christmas morning – we think that just because we make a list, God is obligated to get us what's on it. We think that if we are truly God's favored ones, God will show us that favor by giving us everything we ask for.
But what I learned so many Christmases ago is that sometimes the unexpected gifts are even better than the things we ask for. Those socks my mom got me from my list are long gone – glad to know that, aren't ya? And I think most of the other things on that list would be long gone by now too, but I still have some of the presents my mom chose for me. She knew what she was doing, even if I couldn't appreciate it at the time.

And if that's true for moms, it's certainly even more true for God! God doesn't always give us the things we think we want, but God's unexpected gifts are even better! Although Mary may have thought she wanted safety and tranquility, what she got was beyond all of her expectations. When Gabriel came to her, he said, “ you will conceive and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.” In that little boy, her son, the Son of the Most High, Mary would come to know the truth of Gabriel's greeting: “The Lord is with you.” The Lord is with you. Even as she had to face her parents and her fiancé with the unbelievable news that she was pregnant and still a virgin – The Lord is with you. Even as she traveled on the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem – The Lord is with you. As they escaped to the foreign land of Egypt, the place where their ancestors had been enslaved – The Lord is with you. That was the promise, the reality that gave her hope, that gave her strength, that gave her the courage to say in response to God's call to bear this child and face all that came after, “Here I am, the servant of the LORD; let it be with me according to your word.”

Mary was just an ordinary girl, but she knew the truth of God's promise. And that promise is ours to hold on to too. It is the message of God's angel ringing throughout history to all of us: The Lord is with you.

The Lord is with you, no matter what situation you are facing. The Lord is with you and will never leave you. The Lord is with you, giving you hope and strength and courage. That is why we celebrate the birth of Jesus every year - for it is in him, born as a baby, sent to live with us and share our burdens and our pain - it is in Jesus that we see the face of God, God who is with us. It is something with we would never have thought to ask for, but worth more than anything else in the world.

Thanks be to God for unexpected gifts!

Amen.

December 14, 2008 - Stuart Smalley vs. John the Baptist

God Sent John to Witness to the Light
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Advent 3 – December 14, 2008

“I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”

Back when I was in high school, this was the mantra of the fictional Stuart Smalley, who was played by comedian-turned- Minnesota-politician Al Franken on Saturday Night Live. In the skit, Stuart was the insecure host of a cable access show called Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley. Every show was a comedy of errors, but in Stuart's words, that was - “okay,” and he ended each program by looking at himself in the mirror and saying this affirmation, “I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me,” as if trying to convince himself that it was really true.

Now John the baptizer doesn't appear to have any such problem with his self-confidence or self-esteem. The way the Gospel of John tells it, John the Baptist was filled with purpose; he knew what he was supposed to do with his life, and he got out there and did it. John was sent with a message for the people, “Repent & be baptized! Make straight the way of the Lord!” And we know from the last week's lesson from Mark, and indirectly from this one, that people came out in droves to hear him preach and to be baptized by him in the Jordan.

No, John was not what we would call insecure. He was so bold in following through with his mission that he caused quite a ruckus out there in the wilderness – so much so that the religious establishment of the day sent out the equivalent of investigative reporters, the priests and Levites, to find out what was going on! John was kind of stealing their sheep, you know. “Who are you?” they ask him. Are you the Messiah? Are you the famous prophet Elijah? (You remember him, he was the one who had not died, but was carried to heaven on a chariot of fire?) Are you the prophet? (That's the prophet “like Moses” who God had promised to raise up in Israel.) “Who are you?” they want to know. But they're asking about more than just his name, more than his identity. What they really want is for him to show them his credentials. “If you're not any of these famous figures, what are you doing out here causing such a stir? Why are you baptizing? Who gave you the right? Who do you think you are?”

“Who do you think you are? - Who are you?” Important questions for the followers of Jesus who dare to even think about witnessing to his Light in our dark world. And for most of us, I'd wager a guess that we hear those questions not so much from others, but in the sound of our own voices. The ones questioning our credentials to share the good news of God's love for us, revealed to us through Jesus, are not likely to be other people. Because most of us aren't out there catching their attention and causing a stir by sharing the message God has sent us with. No, we are kept silent by our inner investigative reporters, who come to us asking, “Who are you? Who do you think you are? What qualifies you for this job?”

They are the voices of our doubts and our fears,
voices that are loud and powerful -

because we know the reality of who we are,
and who we are not.

When we think about telling someone else about Jesus, we worry, because we know
that we are not good enough,
we are not smart enough;
and doggone it,
we are afraid that if we dare to open our mouths
people won't like us.

Witnessing to Jesus and who he is can be a scary thing – and most of us feel more like insecure Stuart Smalley than bold John the Baptist on any given day. “Who are we, who are so broken, so imperfect -” we wonder, “- who are we to carry this good news into the wilderness of our world?”

The question of what our credentials are can stop us in our tracks – but it did not stop John the Baptist. And we find out why right from the beginning of this passage. “There was a man sent from God...” His name was John, and he was a man sent from God. God sent John to be the voice in the wilderness. God sent John to be a witness to testify to the light. “What are your credentials?” the priests and the Levites asked him. “God sent me,” he might have answered. God sent John, and those are the only credentials he needs. John didn't need to memorize the Bible front to back; John didn't need to go to a special school to learn about religious doctrine and the “right” answers to tricky theological questions. God sent him. And John knew that this mission wasn't about him. His job was always to point beyond himself, to the one who was coming after him, to the light coming into the world, to Jesus, the true Messiah who would fulfill what the prophet Isaiah declared in our first lesson -

– the one who was coming
to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
to comfort all who mourn.

This was John's mission, to point Jesus out, for he knew what others did not. John knew that Jesus was among them, and yet he was unknown to so many. The good news of his presence was what they had all been waiting for, but they could not see it on their own! This was good news that had to be shared, so when God sent John, John went!

But John is not the only one God sent. God sends each of us too, with a message to share! After he is raised from the dead, Jesus comes to his disciples and says to them, and through them, to us,

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21).
And again: “Go therefore and make disciples...” (Mt. 28:19).
And again!: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation...”
(Mark 16:15)

We who are followers of Jesus have been called, chosen, and sent by God to witness, to testify to the light of the world. And we don't have to have the whole Bible memorized, we don't have to go to a special school and get special training or a degree in theology. Those can be good and useful things, but they are not necessary; we don't need them to prove our credentials. All we need is to know that we have been sent by God to share the ways that Christ's light has shone in the darkness of our lives, to tell the stories of how that light has healed us and transformed us.

There are people in our lives who have never met Jesus, who have never known his love, his peace, his joy. He stands among us as one whom they do not know, and they need someone to point him out. That someone is you! God is sending you!

If somehow you missed the memo, I want to remind you that Christmas is coming (duh!). It's a time when people, even in the midst of their shopping and decorating and baking, might be willing to look beyond those things to the story that inspires the celebration, might be willing to consider this man Jesus in a new way. What better time to share the Good News!? To invite a friend or co-worker or neighbor to come and see the truth that “God is with us” in Jesus? To silence our inner questioners by pulling out the credentials that God has given us?

And if you're still not sure about your qualifications - if you still question those credentials, go ahead and take a page from Stuart Smalley's book... Stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself this:

“You're good enough,
“You're smart enough,
And doggone it, God sent you!”

December 7, 2008

The Holy Spirit Comes to Clear Out Our Clutter!
Mark 1:1-8
Advent 2 – December 7, 2008

You could always tell when company was coming in my house as a kid. Because when company was coming, my mom recruited all of us, my brother & 2 sisters & I, to a frenzy of house cleaning. What passed for good enough in our everyday lives was suddenly not good enough anymore. Company was coming – so we had to clean up the clutter that tended to fill our house – the shoes left haphazardly inside the door had to be put in the closet, the toys on the floor had to be picked up and put away, the counters had to be cleaned off of whatever homework or mail had taken up residence there. And of course there was the dusting that had been neglected, or the vacuuming that hadn't been done, plus all of the other normal things you do when guests are coming to your house.

But I was always dumbfounded by my mother's actions. Because getting the house to look neat & clean on the surface wouldn't do for her. If it'd been up to me, we would've hidden our clutter away in closets, or down in the basement, or that perennial favorite catch-all, the junk drawer. But when company was coming, that was where you were likely to find her. Knowing company was coming motivated her; she took it as an opportunity to clean and organize the most cluttered places of our family's life. I could never understand it, because from my perspective, cleaning up the surface stuff was plenty – why bother with the places no one would ever see?

I got to thinking about that question when I was reading the gospel for this week. Mark starts off his story of the good news about Jesus with John the Baptist, “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'” John comes outta nowhere, telling us, “Get ready – Company's coming!” And I was wondering, how do we prepare? How do we get ready for this company? Most of us are pretty good at preparing for Christmas, but how do we get ready for Christ? How do we make a straight path in our lives for Jesus to come to us? What mountains or valleys stand in his way? What causes such uneven ground, so many rough places, to appear in our lives? How do we level them out, make a plain so that Jesus can come into our lives without having to hurdle the clutter that so easily piles up?

Because our lives are cluttered. Not just with the physical stuff that most of us have more of than we know what to do with, but spiritual clutter -the clutter of too many things to do, the clutter of distraction, the clutter of selfishness or resentment or addiction. All of that clutter is just a symptom of a deeper problem, & let's just call it what it is: SIN. Sin – all of those things that keep us from putting God first, that's what clutters up our lives. And it's hard to think in all that spiritual clutter, to remember that company is coming, and we need to prepare. And what I learn from this story is that a surface cleaning isn't enough, like I used to think when company was coming to our house. It's not enough to spot clean and hope that Jesus won't see the dirt that we've tried to sweep under the rug, or hide in a closet, or dump in the junk drawer.

The people of Jesus' time had the same struggle we do: how to prepare the way of the Lord, how to make his paths straight. That's why Mark tells this story of John the baptizer who appeared in the wilderness, calling people to prepare. He went out there with a message to the people to repent, to be baptized. This wasn't baptism the way we as Christians understand it, but it had the same idea of being made clean, of washing away sin.

Hordes of people came out to hear him, and they heard the call, “Company's coming! Time to clean house!” They heard John, and they responded, they went down in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. They didn't settle for just tidying up the counters and putting away the shoes. They got down deep in the hidey-holes of their lives, clearing out all of the clutter, so they could be really clean. Confessing their sins, they started over, getting rid of the obstacle course and making a level path in their hearts and lives for Jesus to come.

The trouble is, clutter is sneaky. No matter how many times we sort through it, and organize it, and put it away, or give it away, or throw it away, somehow we turn around, and there it is again! And I know it's not just me! Every year when we have the Harvest Festival, I marvel at how much Bric-A-Brac people bring in, and I wonder: Where does it all come from? We just cleaned out our houses last year! How much more stuff can we have? And yet there it is, enough to fill up the auditorium. Clutter has a way of coming right back into our lives, no matter how hard we try to control it.

Sin is like that too. On our best days, we heed John's call; we try to clear a path through the clutter so Jesus can come straight into our lives. We want to have our house ((our lives) ready for our most important guest. And so we follow the example of this story: we come to church, & we confess each week that we have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. Hopefully that attitude of confession & repentance, of turning back to God, is a part of our daily prayers too. But as soon as we confess & receive forgiveness, we turn around & see the clutter of our sin piling up again. Clearing out the clutter is an on-going challenge, something we can't ever take care of all on our own.

But John reminded his listeners when they came out to repent, to confess, and be made clean that the one who was coming after him was more powerful than John himself was. John could baptize with water, but the one whose coming he was announcing, Jesus, will baptize them with the Holy Spirit. And that promise is for us too! When we are baptized, it is not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a life-long gift. In a way, the Holy Spirit is like those cleaning and organizing gurus you see on shows like Clean Sweep or Oprah. People on those shows have become overwhelmed; their clutter is overtaking their lives. And in come the organizing experts, with fresh eyes for the situation, and a vision for how life could be, a life lived in freedom from the weight of all their stuff. They see the patterns that got the guests into that mess to begin with, the habits that got them into trouble. And then they set about the hard work of cleaning it up... They guide and direct their clients, working along side them as they dig in to get rid of the clutter, helping them to start over, to start fresh.

The Holy Spirit is kind of like that. She comes in to our lives and sees things we can't see. She identifies the patterns of sin that have taken over our lives, that have blocked the path for Jesus' Coming. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see our sinful ways for what they really are, and then inspires us to want to change, to start over, to start fresh. And then that same spirit gets to work right alongside us, coaching us about what we need to get rid of, what we can keep; guiding us to confess and to turn to Jesus for new life. The Holy Spirit works in us, with us, to set the house of our lives in order so that Jesus will have a straight path.

The clutter of our sin will always be more than we can conquer on our own, but the Good News is we don't have to go it alone. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to help prepare the way. Thanks be to God!
Amen.

An Advent Conspiracy

We have entered into the beginning of the church year, the season of Advent. If you heard or read last week's sermon, you know that Advent is a season of anticipation, of active waiting, of being Christ's hands & feet in the world while we wait for his triumphant return when he will make all things new.

The 2nd reading from this coming Sunday is from 2 Peter (chapter 3, verses 8-15a, specifically). The writer of this second letter of Peter (who probably wasn't really Peter, but we'll talk about that another time), says this:

"Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...?" (vs. 11-12a; italics mine)

This passage suggests to me that there is something we can do, that we ought to be doing to speed up God's coming, to be part of bringing God's kingdom (God's reign, God's ruling) here on Earth, here in our own lives. Advent is a good time for us to be thinking about our part in God's dream for the world, to wonder individually and together what we can be doing to reveal God's love to that world, the world God loves so much...

While wandering Facebook (a social networking site that connects me with friends and colleagues and loads o' interesting information), I learned about the "Advent Conspiracy", which invites us to spend Advent in this way:

Worship Fully

Spend Less

Give More

Love All

This video from their website is great & says more about what this season should be about vs. the way we tend to experience it.

What would it look like if we all bought one less gift and gave the money away? For clean water, for world hunger, for warm clothes - for some need that speaks to your heart personally?
Let me know what you think in the comments!

Give Thanks - with a Grateful Heart

Nearly a week after Thanksgiving, I finally had a chance to watch this short (about 2 min.) video that Andy sent me on Thanksgiving. It certainly puts things in perspective. You've got 2 minutes - check it out!

November 30, 2008

Jesus Is Coming
Mark 13:24-37
Advent 1 – November 30, 2008

...Waiting...

Advent is a season of waiting...

Waiting for Christ to come as a little child; waiting for Christ to come again in glory & power to renew all of creation.

Waiting is something we've got tons of experience in – It's estimated that we spend 3 years of a 70-year life span just waiting. If you've lived longer than that, you've spent even more time waiting! And there are all kinds of waiting. In Oh, The Places You'll Go, Dr. Seuss talks about the waiting place, filled with people:

Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

Yes, we wait a lot, at the grocery store, at the doctor's office, on each other -and with all of that practice waiting, you would think that we would be good at it! And yet, in our instant oatmeal, high-speed Internet, overnight delivery world, waiting is something we tend to resent. We want whatever we're waiting for to be here already, to be happening now, instead of on some future day. We have a hard time living in the present moment. We have a hard time waiting.

The early church was not so good at waiting either. That's the group that the author of Mark was writing to. The Gospel of Mark was written about 3 or 4 decades after Jesus had lived and died. Those early Christians fully believed that Christ was coming back - was coming soon, in their lifetime! But as time wore on, he didn't come, the first followers began to die, and waiting for the day of Jesus' return became harder and harder. They saw the events Jesus had talked about as signs that his coming was near start to happen around them: the temple had been destroyed, families had started turning in their Christian relatives to the authorities, persecution for their faith had begun. And still, Jesus did not come. Times were tough for them, and they longed for Jesus to come back and set everything right. They wanted Jesus to come and save them. As I imagine how they felt, I hear an echo of what we heard in Isaiah this morning: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence...” There's a sense of longing, but also, maybe, of impatience, kind of like the guy from Caddy Shack who Andy likes to quote: “Well... we're waiting!”

“Show up now God! You've been gone too long.”

This story that Mark tells us this morning is part of what's known as the “little apocalypse.” Jesus describes the day of his return as a day when “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven...” We read passages like this, and honestly, don't they sound kind of scary? But to that early group of Christians, frightened by what they saw taking place in the world around them, it was good news! The message that Jesus was gonna come back gave them hope and courage, even as the world around them seemed to be falling apart. Here in this passage, Jesus promises them, and us, that even though heaven & earth will pass away, his words will not pass away. We hear once again a parable about a man who goes away, but we also hear that the master of the house, Jesus, will return. No one knows for sure when it will happen, not even Jesus, just God the Father, but Jesus promises that he will be back! The troubles that surround them will not last forever, because Jesus is coming, and when he does, the world will be restored, and all the troubles they're facing will be over.

But knowing this isn't a license for them to sit around, twiddling their thumbs and doing nothing. Jesus says that while they wait, they have work to do! He tells them to beware, keep alert, be on watch. Keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come. The man has gone on a journey, and he has left his servants in charge – each with their work. They have been given a job to do, duties and responsibilities to fulfill. They are supposed to be doing the work of the master, even though he is gone. That is part of their waiting, their hopeful expectation that he will return someday, their joyful desire to do his work even in his absence.

As we enter Advent, this season of waiting & watching, today, it is good for us to hear this story again. It is not quite what we would expect or hope to hear, while the world around us fills up with twinkling lights and the sentimental songs of the season. But in our troubled world, where terrorists take hostages and kill innocent people, where greedy shoppers are so intent on getting a great bargain that they trample over a man caught in their way, we too long for a Savior to come and set things right, to change the world, to change us into the people we know we should be, the people we were created to be. We need to hear over and over again the promise that Jesus is coming, not just as a babe in a manger, but as the “'Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory,” who will usher in the fullness of God's kingdom, where God's will is always done, here on earth as it is in heaven.

This is good news! It is the day we look forward to, the day we cry out for, when we say “Come, Lord Jesus.” And while we wait, Jesus calls us to keep alert, to be on the lookout, because we don't know when that day or hour will be. And I don't mean that we're supposed to be like kids in school whose teacher has to leave the room & leaves them without supervision. You know how that goes, right? In my school, kids would take that as a chance to act up, to act wild, and usually one kid was set at the door to be the lookout, to warn everyone else when the teacher was coming. That not what Jesus is talking about. That's now how we are supposed to wait. While we wait, Jesus tells us to be alert, to watch with joyful anticipation, to wait for our most honored guest, to get ready to meet him when he comes. Remember the way you used to wait for Christmas Eve and for Santa to come? The hope, the excitement? Our waiting should be like that!

And while we wait, Jesus tells us we have work to do! We can't sit around twiddling our thumbs, bemoaning the state of the world, and wishing for Jesus to come back. It's not like the John Mayer song of a few years ago – we can't “keep on waiting, waiting, waiting for the world to change.” Jesus wants us to be part of the change, just as he was. Until he comes back, we are Christ's hands and feet in the world. We are to look for the signs of his coming, to see the places where God is already at work, those kingdom moments when God breaks through from eternity into the here and now, and to point those signs out to others, so that they can look forward to Christ's return with hope & longing, instead of fear & trepidation! Not only that, we are called to share in God's work, to reach out into our world to make a difference – feeding the hungry, and giving the thirsty something to drink; welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked; caring for the sick and visiting those in prison. When we look for Christ in the faces of the ones he called “the least of these,” we will find that there is more than enough to keep us alert and awake while we wait for his return.

Stir up your power in us, O God. Stir up your power and come. Amen.