Worship for Sunday, December 5, 2010
Prayers of the People
For the peace of the world, and for our unity in Christ.
Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.
For all who serve in ministry in all the expressions of the church--in Congregations, in
Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.
For the church throughout the world and the faithful in every place.
Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.
For the leaders of the nations and all in authority, especially for our President Barack, our Vice-President Joe, our Senators George and Sherrod, and our Representative Jim.
Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.
For justice, peace, and freedom among peoples of the earth.
Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.
For travelers, for the sick and the suffering, for the hungry and the oppressed, and for those in prison.
Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.
For the dying and the dead.
Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.
For our deliverance from all affliction, strife, and need.
Come, Lord Jesus, and save us.
Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of
This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Then the people of
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
Sermon: “Appearing Now in Our Wilderness; John the Baptist!”
When I was a kid, I used to pretend to go to sleep, so that my mother would think I was asleep, then she would go to sleep. Then I would sneak out to the family room and turn on the TV at
Then, he’d name all the guests and himself, and then came that wonderful sound, “Heeeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!”
And then that wonderful Paul Anka theme would play and the great man himself would appear. And the next ten minutes would be s great treat--if Johnny’s jokes didn’t wake my mother, and I’d have to go back to bed.
I was thinking about Ed McMahon this week, and how important his job was. On one level, he was just an announcer performing a perfunctory job. Say the name of the show, the names of the guests, then introduce Johnny and get out of the way.
But Ed put himself into that every night, and I came to appreciate and look forward to the sound of his voice, knowing that something good would follow.
Today, we have Andy Richter, whose voice brings Conan O’Brien into our homes every night.
The announcer--at least with Ed and Andy--can become so identified with the star that you can only think of the two of them together. When you hear the name of one, the other pops into your head.
Such is the case with Jesus of Nazareth--the star--and his announcer/cousin John, know as the Baptist. You can’t think of John without Jesus’ face popping up in your memory. And when Advent rolls around each year, John makes an appearance and you know that it’s almost time for Jesus to arrive.
And so, John goes to the theatre in
At least that’s what I’d like to have happen.
But, instead, we get John, dressed like a goofball, eating a weirdo diet and quoting from some Old Testament prophet.
And then he addresses the people in the crowd by saying, “You brood of vipers!”
I’ve got to tell you, nobody ever wins over an audience or a congregation by calling them reptiles. I know of some churches that are reptilian, but you would call them that. Out loud. To their faces.
But John does.
And then he yells at them, “who warned you of the wrath to come?”
Uh, you did, John.
And they kept coming and coming to hear more and more of this kind of abuse.
I’ve got to tell you, I can do without this--this--John the Baptist.
There’s actually an ever-lengthening list of things I can do with out at this time of year.
I can do without the stores blasting “Frosty the Snowman’ and “The First Noёl” back-to-back as if there’s no difference between the two.
I can do without Santa kneeling before the manger in a nativity scene.
I can do without the imaginary “War on Christmas” stirring up problems that don’t exist. (Though there is a war on Advent!)
And I can do without judgment.
And, I bet you can, too.
Let’s face it--if given our druthers, we’d skip John the Baptist and move on to the babe in the manger. We’d dispense with the minor key hymns and plow right on into the Christmas Carols. And we’d be done with this “you brood of vipers” stuff and read about the light of love coming into the world.
But, there’s a reason why we move slowly into Christmas--unlike the surrounding culture, where Frosty and Noёl start playing before the Halloween candy is gone from the shelves.
We still have a few more verses of “O Come. O Come Emmanuel” to sing in a minor key before we can get to “Joy to the World.”
Advent is about preparation. Not just the preparation of the sanctuary and our homes with greenery and lights. Advent is about preparing for the coming of Christ by greening our hearts and putting our lives in the light of God for scrutiny.
Advent is about serious self-examination. We talked about the whys and whats of the decorations last Sunday, but here’s the reason that the color of Advent is purple--the same as in Lent. Purple is the color of royalty, but in traditions of the church it is associated with penitence. It is asking, “Is the manger of my heart fit for the arrival of the Christ child?”
I said I can do without the judgment, but I won’t. And neither will you, you brood of vi-tal and wonderful folks. Today, we ask, “Who are we as followers of Jesus Christ?”
One of my heroes was a wonderful man who died this past summer. He was an Elder at First Christian Church in
But, he was also a man of great faith whose life in and out of the church and on and off the court was lived with the purpose of letting Christ shine in all he did.
He was known for his pithy aphorisms and his words reflected the devotion he lived. He once said, “If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.”
That’s what Advent is about. It’s looking for evidence by the light of a purple candle. It’s holding that light to our hearts and asking if the evidence for conviction is there.
And yet, it’s also a realization that nothing we can do on our own can make us any better than anyone else. Christ comes as a helpless babe to remind us of our own helplessness, and reinforces our dependence on the grace of God. Christ comes, not of our doing, but as a true gift.
Gifts in our culture are not gifts at all. Jacques Derrida, the late French philosopher said that there are no such things as gifts, because in our human societies, something--even if it is only a spoken, “thank you,” is expected in return. There are no gifts he says--only transactions. When someone gives us a gift, we scramble to reciprocate if we haven’t already gotten one for them. We pore over stacks of Christmas cards to make sure that we haven’t left any one off our Christmas card list!
But, the gift of Christ asks only that we receive him, and let him live in us. Can we ever really be ready for that? I doubt it, but we we’re here to try. And we’re going to have to listen to the announcer for awhile until it is time for the star to emerge.
Offering Sentence & Prayer
In this busy season, our most important preparations will happen here in our hearts when we make a way for God to come into our lives, when we "prepare the way of the Lord." In the midst of our preparations, we bring gifts to share so that God's love will shine brightly through the ministry of this church and in our own lives as well. Let us now present our tithes and offerings.
Righteous and just God, we give thanks for the sun and moon, and the rain and grass. May the gifts we offer help justice and peace to abound, reflecting your glory throughout the whole earth. Amen and Amen.
Benediction
Take your encouragement from Christ,
that your joy may be complete.
We will share in the Spirit;
We will find consolation in love.
Practice a ministry of humility and compassion
For God is at work in you, empowering you
We will welcome Christ into our hearts.
We will lives worthy of the Gospel.
We will go forth in hope and in peace.
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