Year C, Advent 3, Dec. 15, 2019, SMHP
Isaiah 35:1-10
The wilderness and the dry land shall
be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus 2it shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands, and
make firm the feeble knees. 4Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not
fear! Here is your God. God will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.
God will come and save you.”
5Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6then the lame shall leap like
a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break
forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7the burning sand shall become
a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall
become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8A highway shall be there, and
it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it
shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. 9No lion shall be there, nor
shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the
redeemed shall walk there. 10And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Response (You are invited to read the text in bold.) Luke 1:46-55
46And Mary
said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47and
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
45who has
looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49for the Mighty One has done great things
for me, and holy is God’s name.
50God’s mercy
is for those who fear the Lord, from
generation to generation.
51God has
shown strength of arm, and has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their
hearts.
52 God has
brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53God has filled the hungry with good
things, and sent the rich away empty.
54God has
helped the servant Israel, in remembrance of the Lord’s mercy, 55according
to the promise God made to our ancestors, to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants
forever.”
Gaudete
Sunday! The Sunday of Joy!
The
name of this Sunday—the only Sunday of Advent which has its own name—comes, as these
things often do, from the first word of the Introit, or Entrance chant, in
mostly Catholic churches.
[SLIDE] That first line comes from the Latin version
of Philippians 4: Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete.
As we have talked about
other weeks, each Sunday in Advent has a theme.
This is week three, the week of Gaudete!
Rejoice! Joy!
And there is lots to be
joyful about, right?
I bet you can all think
of at least one joyful thing in your life right now.
Slight pause
[SLIDE] But
as I went through this week thinking about what to say about Gaudete Sunday, it
occurred to me that there is also a bit of irony in this Sunday, placed where
it is, at the point of the year right before the solstice—the longest night of
the year, when the trees have gone bare.
This is the view from my front yard.
We’re not quite in the
bleak midwinter, but the landscape is not what I’d call joyful. And you can hunker down inside, but you might
want to avoid the television or the radio, or you will be treated to this [2 SLIDES]
depressing spectacle.
Or this one. [2 SLIDES]
There are some pretty
NON-joyful things happening out there in the world, am I right? Some downright depressing things.
Yeah, I chose Isaiah for
a reason.
We are spending our Advent
with Isaiah, and not just because I’m not a fan of preaching the apocalypse
when it feels like we’re living through its advent.
Isaiah is written for
us. Or for people like us. For people living in a time and place that
feels like it isn’t theirs.
Specifically, Isaiah is
written for a people who have watched their neighbors give themselves over to a
foreign entity, in this case Assyria.
Their leader just basically handed the keys to Tigleth-pileser, the
Assyrian king. Hard to imagine, isn’t
it?
The people of the
Southern Kingdom, Judah, held out for a while.
They maintained their independence until the next century, when the
kingdom of Babylon, under the evil Nebuchadnezzar, became too much for them to
handle.
Isaiah is writing to a
people who are beginning to understand the inevitability of what is before
them. That things in their country are
broken, and it may be a while before it gets back to normal.
And Isaiah does that by
reminding them of something that bears repeating: God’s got this.
It bears repeating, so
let’s repeat it: God’s got this. God’s got this.
The word we hear from
Isaiah this Advent is a word of hope for a people facing exile. God can make the desert bloom. God can make food and water appear in the
wilderness. God is faithful, even when
we are not.
And God is just. Listen to the word of justice in today’s
lesson, the word God gives to Isaiah: “Say to those who are of a
fearful heart,” God declares. “’Be
strong, do not fear! Here is your God. God will come with vengeance, with
terrible recompense. God will come and save you.’”
God will
come and save you. With vengeance, if
necessary, and if you are uncomfortable with that image, join the club. But we have spent enough time with the
Magnificat to understand that God’s justice is real, and strong. And right now, quite honestly, I take comfort
in knowing that our God has both “mercy” and “strength of arm.” God’s promise is concrete—it is a word for
people living under the constant threat of empire.
It is a
promise, that our God can make the desert bloom, and tear a dictator off of the
throne.
God’s got
this. God comes to bring peace, but know
that God’s peace comes with justice! As
Dr. King reminds us, true peace is the presence of justice.
And there
are reminders all around us that God is here, God is present.
Even in the
bleak midwinter, life abounds. The
promise comes near.
[Slide] This is also my front yard. We built a tiny raised garden from a kit
Colleen bought at Aldi’s. Got a few
plants into it. Basil, rosemary,
tomatoes, parsley.
When we had
the first freeze of the year, I took out everything but the rosemary, because
rosemary is pretty hardy.
[Slide] And you can see that the rosemary had the
last word. Dead as a doornail, as they
say.
[Slide] But last week I noticed this. Flat leaf parsley, poking up through the dead
leaves, sending up new shoots from the roots I left behind.
God’s power
is on exhibit, all around us.
God’s power
is on exhibit here inside us. God’s
power shone through Isaiah, the prophet to exiles and to their children, who returned
to Jerusalem and made it truly great.
God’s power
shone through a young woman, who heard the news that she would carry the child
of God, who knew that the news came with shame and difficulty and trouble…and
who said, “the Mighty One has done great things in me, and holy is God’s
name.”
The name of
God has knit people together since God made a promise to Abraham and
Sarah. Through bondage, exile, and
empire, people have lifted up the name of God and allowed God’s presence—God’s
holy, incarnate presence—to flow through them.
We have a new
name on the prayer list. Anita Williams
is the mother of Richard Williams, Valorie and Rick’s son-in-law. She had a heart attack on Thursday night, and
Valorie let me know on Friday.
Yesterday
morning, I sent Richard, who mostly goes by “Rick,” a text, just letting him
know I was praying for his mom and his family.
Apparently
the number I have for him is old.
Yesterday afternoon, I got this response:
Hi Donna,
Sorry this made it to the
wrong number.
Adding Rick, his Mom and family to my prayer chain now.
God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?
Peace and Love to you this holiday season ❤
[Name withheld]
Smithville, MO
Adding Rick, his Mom and family to my prayer chain now.
God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?
Peace and Love to you this holiday season ❤
[Name withheld]
Smithville, MO
God’s
got this, my friends. Because
incarnation is real, and God is working in us…even in those of us who haven’t
me yet.
And
that should bring us all joy.
Amen
HOD #251: My Soul
Proclaims Your Greatness
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