Musings on faith and life from an Alaska Lutheran pastor.

Sunday, December 09, 2012

The word of the Lord came (Sermon 12.09.12)

This sermon was originally preached on Sunday, December 9, 2012, Advent 2, at Central Lutheran Church. The text for the day is Luke 3:1-6. Some details of the opening story are changed for privacy.


I ran into an old friend recently, just after Thanksgiving, who asked if I had my Christmas tree up yet. No, I said, I like to celebrate Advent for a week or two and then put up the tree. She asked, “What's Advent?” I took some time to explain the four weeks of waiting, the time of preparation and quiet reflection. I talked about my family and personal traditions of the Advent wreath, candles, prayer and devotions. I talked about how Advent is a time to focus on what matters instead of getting caught up in the busy-ness and consumerism. When I finished, she said, “Wow! That sounds great! Maybe I should start celebrating Advent, too.” I asked if she had her tree up yet. “Of course,” she replied. “I have five.”  Then she told me about her Thanksgiving eve-Black Friday shopping marathon.” Sigh.


There are so many competing voices this time of year. The quiet song of Advent gets drowned out, unless some retailer decides there's money to be made on Advent wreaths, devotional booklets and blue candles. Advent doesn't speak very loudly; it's hard to hear and to perhaps harder to heed. Who speaks the loudest in our world? Who or what distracts us and fights for our attention? Who has the power to speak and command a captive audience?


In Luke's gospel, in the beginning of chapter 3, Luke tells us about power. He lists an emperor, governor, other political leaders and two high priests for good measure. These are powerful men. When they speak, people listen. People respond. People obey. It seems like the word of the Lord should come to one of those seven powerful men. The word of the Lord should come to the Emperor, it seems, or at least one of the high priests. But it doesn't. Read through the entire list of leaders and see where the word of the Lord comes. It comes to John, a wild-eyed prophet who eats locusts and lives in the desert. The word of the Lord comes to John.


What would Luke write today? In 2012, Barack Obama was president of the United States, David Cameron was the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Sean Parnell was the governor of Alaska and Dan Sullivan was the mayor of Anchorage; during the papacy of Benedict the 16th and the leadership of ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson and Alaska Bishop Shelley Wickstrom, the word of the Lord came to... Where? Where does the word of the Lord come today? Is it coming? How? Would we notice it?

Let's think about this together. What happens when the word of the Lord comes to John the Baptist in the wilderness? When the word comes to him, he shares it broadly, all over the region around the Jordan. So when the word comes, we are to pass it on. What is the content of this word of the Lord? What kind of message does it bring? It calls for two things: repentance and preparation. Repent and be forgiven. Prepare the way of the Lord. How does one prepare the way of the Lord? Fill in the valleys, bring down the mountains, make the crooked places straight and the rough places smooth. This is not  a description for a civil engineering project. Do not hire a bulldozer. This is about justice. This is about righteousness. This is about taking care of those who do not have enough. This is about the wealthy sharing more than a few easy tax write-offs that they'll never miss. This is about broken relationships being restored. This is about letting go of whatever is keeping us from right relationship with God.

I think Luke starts out his gospel with powerful people to show that while they might seem loud and powerful, in the end, they don't rule the world. In fact, all those leaders were long dead by the time Luke wrote his gospel, 90 AD. But the followers of Jesus remained, and their numbers were growing. Perhaps Luke also starts with all those leaders to remind us that the word of the Lord comes to us not in some ethereal sphere or make-believe place, but comes right into our real world, into our political, social and economic world, just as it is.

Where has the word of God come for you? Has it come from political leaders or those with great power and influence? It's possible, but let me tell you, that is not where the word of the Lord has come to me. The word of the Lord came to me from my Polish grandmother, who kept her faith and trust in God even after she spent many years in a Siberian work camp during World War II, where she watched her beloved sister die of starvation. The word of the Lord came to me from a member of this congregation who recently lost a loved one and said, “I feel God's presence through the support I've received.” The word of the Lord came to me from a member of this congregation who is undergoing chemotherapy and said, “We need to appreciate every day. Those people out there walking around on the sidewalk have no idea how lucky they are.” The word of the Lord.

The good news for us this Advent season is that despite the powers and principalities of the world, and despite the noise and busy-ness, the word of the Lord comes. It's comes. God comes. That is the promise for you and for me. That is the promise for all. The word of the Lord comes.


And when the word of the Lord comes, it comes through people and places we might not expect. The word of God often comes through grandparents, parents and friends. The word may come from a child, a stranger, or someone you don't particularly like. Stay awake! The word of the Lord may come during coffee with a friend, at the dinner table, at work, at school, even at the shopping mall. Don't expect the word of God to come from people in power or noisy news-makers. Don't expect in on CNN, MSNBC or FOX. It might not even always come to you at church. God has this bothersome trend of speaking through those on the margins. Are we only listening to the voices of the powerful? Are we seeking relationships with those with no socio-economic standing or privilege? The word of the Lord comes.

When the word of the Lord comes, it doesn't just leave us as we are. The word of the Lord changes us. Otherwise it wouldn't be good news. It cannot come to us and leave us unchanged. If it did, we'd already be perfect and we wouldn't need a savior. So when the word comes, it changes us. That's not always easy. It calls us to repent, to turn and go in a different direction, toward God. The word of the Lord calls us to prepare the way of the Lord, which means making the world a more fair and just place. The word of the Lord calls us to fill in our valleys, knock down our mountains, smooth out our rough places and straighten our crooked ways. I don't just mean we ought to do this in our community and nation. We are to do it in our own hearts as well.


The word of the Lord comes and we are not left unchanged. The word of the Lord comes, and even God is not left unchanged, coming in flesh, coming into our world. Amen.

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