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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