SERMONS
Angels, Faith, and Serving God -Beth Rose
-October 1, 2022
Today is a little audience participation type sermon. Raise your hand if you believe in Angels.
Don’t be shy, we aren’t going to call upon you. Now without raising your hand, how many of you have
heard stories of angels at work here on earth recently, perhaps with a friend, or what is called a
“guardian angel” or anything like that? This week, we celebrated Michael the Archangel and all the
angels on Thursday, and of course, I had to look up a little about him. I was surprised that stories about
Michael the Archangel is found in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. He usually is depicted in
artwork as wearing a battle helmet and carrying a sword. He is said to be the defender of people against
evil. According to the Bible, angels were made before people. The Bible said Satan was an angel at one
time. Artwork depicts angels as looking like our window here, or little Cupid like beings, some with
wings, big or small, fluffy or like dragon wings, or maybe like Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life.
Now the question is, “Why do we believe in angels?’ I mean, how many of you have ever seen
an angel in real life, with the bright lights, wings and so on? If any of you had said, “Yes” to that
question, would the rest of the folks in here wondered whether they should notify your family that you
might need some mental health help? And yet, we somehow have faith that angels exist, the roots of
which are in stories and ancient texts.
The definition of faith is to believe in something you don’t always fully have evidence to
support. Sometimes we have faith depending on the authority of someone we trust. We may see a lump
under our skin, but the doctor is the authority on what causes it. Our faith in God is rooted in the Bible,
the stories our Christian ancestors wrote down. And it’s built on things we’ve seen in every day life.
Our faith has roots based on past experience too. We have faith in so many things, don’t we?
Faith the sun will rise, faith that a spouse will help you when you are ill. Faith that no matter how tough
things get, we’ll persevere. Well, why do we have faith? Perhaps it’s because the sun comes up every
day and has all of our lives. Perhaps it’s because we trust our spouse to help. Perhaps we see how God
has worked in our lives.
Both new testament readings today discuss faith. Paul writes about faith in his letter to
Timothy. And he encourages Timothy to have the faith that his grandmother and mother have. That’s a
legacy of faith, isn’t it? I’m a legacy faith person. My great-grandparents left the life they knew, their
families, their homes and got into a big ship, sailed across a very deep ocean, traveled into a wild
frontier, and eventually settled in Corliss, right northwest of here. After they got their homes built, the first thing they did was gather twelve other families and built a church. They didn’t build a grocery store, or a school, or a town hall. Nope. The first thing was a church. So faith in God must have been pretty important to them.
Not everyone is a legacy Christian. I find our new Canon Rev. Blair Pogue pretty interesting.
Her parents didn’t bring her to church. I’m not sure they even believe in God. And yet at age 14, she
realized that a much older woman, a friend, totally loved her, and totally loved God. And it made her
seek out God and find her own relationship. That woman lived the kind of Christian life that inspired
Rev. Blair to turn her heart to Jesus.
I find it remarkable that Paul, sitting in a prison, writes to Timothy to keep the faith, when he
knows darned well that newly minted Christians are being put to death for their beliefs.
And Jesus, when asked by the disciples to “increase their faith,” seemed to waved their request
aside with his “faith the size of a mustard seed can move that mulberry tree from where it stands and
plant it in the ocean.” He’s not worried about how much faith they have, but by the root of their faith.
They are servants to God, and no matter how tired or hungry they are after a long day, God is the
Master whom they must serve. If they lose focus on that, then their faith is in peril. Through carefully
crafted sentences, they agreed what the role was between master and servant.
We human beings are in good company, you know. Both the angels and humans have the chance
to serve the Creator of the Universe. Since we humans are all sinners, the Good News is that Jesus is
our saving grace. We join God in heaven someday because Jesus paid our debts.
Since this week we honored Michael and all the angels, I’ll share with you this story. A few
years ago a friend of mine and I got together. We hadn’t seen each other in a while and with tears in her
eyes, she shared that her 16 year-old wonderful granddaughter had been killed in a car accident one
December night returning home from work. It was a snowstorm, the roads were slippery, and a truck
slammed into her car. But then she said that several days after the funeral, the victim’s parents received
a letter. Inside the writer explained that she and her son was riding in a car behind their daughter. After
the accident, they stopped and ran down to the car where the grand-daughter lay slumped in the seat.
The boy returned to their vehicle and got a blanket to cover her, and the mother assured the grand-
daughter that emergency vehicles were coming. The girl asked the woman to stay with her, and the
woman asked if there was anything else she could do. My friend’s grand-daughter asked the woman to
pray with her, and so they said the Lord’s prayer. When the ambulance arrived, my friend’s grand-
daughter was dead. But the writer of this letter assured the family that when she took her last breath,
she had the most beautiful look on her face toward heaven, like she was going to meet someone
wonderful. The letter was signed “Angela.” What comfort that was to the family. The funny thing was, the police recorded no names from bystanders or witnesses. The family never knew who had been with my friend’s grand-daughter that day, but the name “Angela” made them wonder. Where does your faith come from? What are its roots? Why do you believe in all that is seen and unseen? And I invite you to remember that as a servant of God, you are in good company: the company of the angels
What is blessed? -by Beth Rose
January 27, 2023
Imagine this morning you turned on your radio, or television to catch a little news or
weather and one of the commercials said, “Are you meek enough? Well, we can help! For $49.99,
we can send you all the materials to make you more meek. Others will revere you. People will be
drawn to your meekness! Start with this short book, “Be Meek and Rule the World!”
Would you do a double take? Can’t imagine that kind of commercial? Probably not here in
America or anywhere else in the world. Meekness, after all, is defined as “deficient in courage and
spirit” and “submissive.” It is synoymous with humble, demure, modest. Not many people would
pay any amount of money to be meek.
The Beatitudes is a list from Jesus highlighting traits or situations that people often don’t
value, such as meekness, someone persectuted, someone in mourning. People all around the world
want to be seen as strong. They equate blessedness with money, and lots of it. Television shows
highlight the Lives of the Rich and Famous, houses that are bigger and more beautiful. According to
CBS news poll, 86% of young people today want to grow up to be an influencer, which is
definately not someone who is meek or being persecuted for righteous sake. More, more, more,
bigger, louder, funnier. It’s like we all want the blessedness of more money, more home, more
travel, more influence.
You know, the funny thing about the Sermon on the Mount is that sometimes people want to
be on there. They look at the positive words like “peacekeeper,” or “merciful” and “pure in heart”
and they smile and say, “There I am. That’s me. See, I’ll have a reward someday.” Here’s the painful
truth: society doesn’t reward those traits, either. All of you, I’ll bet, could name a general in one of
our world wars, but few of us could name the men or women who did the holy work of negotiating
the peace without the cameras, without the fame, without the credit. And how many of us would
support a coach who sent the players out to compete with words, “Now go out there and be
merciful!” No. Instead we hear, “Beat them up! Decimate them!” Those are the battle cries of our
coaches and fans for competitive sports. Even Jesus, who was completely pure of heart, was hung
on the cross. No, our society doesn’t even reward those traits in the Beatitudes that sound positive.
People who gathered to hear Jesus’ sermon sought his words, his healing, and wisdom. They
were the meek, the mourning, the pure of heart. They were faltering, overlooked or undervalued.
They were ordinary. Unnoticed. But Jesus noticed them. He reached out with his words of
encouragement to lift them up. He acknowledged their struggle, and they were seen.
What fatastic rewards he promised to them! To inherit the earth, which is pretty wonderful.
Or the Kingdom of Heaven, the best Kingdom to inherit. To see God! What an honor. These
blessings are beyond the pockets of the rich or the service of the Pharisees.
What’s neat about the Sermon on the Mount is that it isn’t about money, nor the size of the
crowds that followed him. Accomplishments are not being measureed in the Beatitudes. It’s hard to
believe but even billionaires can be poor in spirit, mourning, or reviled if they say they serve God.
No amount of money is a balm if you have to mourn the death of a child. No church is so large that
it is immune to division. No nation lasts forever if elected leaders aren’t righteous. The fact is, all of
us at some time land right on this list, at our weakest moments and Jesus wants us to know we can
still be blessed.
We can get a really messed up view of blessedness. Our nation is so dominated by media
images making wealth synonymous with power and success. People use that wealth as a measuring
stick of how good of a leader a person would be. Even our churches get wrapped up in the illusion
that somehow bigger attendance, more denominations, or more prominent pastors are a sign of
success, and therefore blessedness. But that is not Jesus’ measuring stick.
I mention churches because I know how people treat me when I tell them I’m from St.
Helen’s, or I tell them about our small compline group. I know what they think when I tell them
how many attend our service, especially if they are from a large metropolitan church. Often they
give me an emotional pat on the head and they wander off to talk to someone else. But I know
something they don’t know. I kow that the service we do is holy, the love we have for one another is
real. In our meekness, we serve God with pure heart, with prayers He hears, and kindness we feel.
Our size is not our advantage, but it’s not our detriment. We must remember that even the smallest
candle shines brilliantly in a dark room.
Sometimes we have to see how God blesses the world using people on this list. For example,
Abraham Lincoln was pretty poor in spirit when he went to Gettysburg after the great battle. Over
50,000 men died there. The orator before him spoke for over two hours. Lincoln got up and spoke
briefly, even feeling his few words were a failure. Today his Gettysburg Address is recognized as
one of the finest speeches in American history. Pure in spirit was a key ingredient to paying homage
to the soldiers who died there, and helped a grieving nation. We need to look what the righteous and
the peacekeepers are doing in our world. They are hard to see unless we look carefully for them.
Fortunately, I’m not here today to sell you a book called “Be Meek and Save the World.” You
get that wisdom for free in the Beatitudes. Today I invite you to look back over the landscape of
your life. When were you lifted up by Jesus? When were you ridiculed for serving God or doing the
right thing? When did you feel the comfort of God when mourning? And what in life around you is
truly blessedness and what is hype?
The wiggle dance at the front steps.– by Rev. Jackie
Yesterday was going to be hot. Hot! And, because I was also going to be traveling, I decided to get my visiting friends fresh water and food early in the morning… I put out some cool water and food and was preparing to give a call out, when looking down there were two dogs wagging and smiling…well I think they were smiling anyway. So I said hi the to caramel colored “Buddy” and his little ‘buddy whom I call “Baby”. Then Buddy, suddenly dropped to the concrete and rolled on his back and started to wiggle…I assume he was targeting an itch… he kept it up for a while and then “Baby” watching her older freind…turned around looked at me…looking at Buddy and the did the same thing…there they were wiggling and this way and that. Did Baby itch too?..or was this their sense of humor? Humor or not, Itch or not….I started to laugh. “Ok guys…how about the chow and a back scratch…” They sure know the word chow…so both stopped and as usual, Buddy let
Baby eat her fill first… I scratched her back then his, Finishing the Puppy Chow…they sat for a while with me on the steps. I could feel the heat of the day mounting. They did too. They left with fun. sweet back glances as they headed up the street, and giggled as I showered and dressed to leave for my day’s travel.
The wiggle dance is still playing in my mind. Who says dogs don’t have a sense of humor?…Not me.
SERMON by Ken Toven
Today I am going to share an educated guess as to what I think my (our) personal experiences of Resurrection after death will be like.
In the good old days of the Church, the congregation, including the priest, celebrated the Eucharist facing east: the direction from which the returning Christ was biblically expect to “come again.” That is also why Christians are traditionally buried with their feet to the east: so that when they would rise up they would be facing the returning Christ. The belief was that the physical remains of the dead, however decayed and dispersed by nature, would be physically reconstituted by God at the resurrection at the end of time and the second coming of Christ. And that is part of the reason why cremation was resisted within traditional Christian tradition. It would be, sort of like, making God’s work in the resurrection more, unnecessarily difficult
Remember the story of the raising of Lazarus from a few weeks ago. The risen body of Lazarus was not like the risen body of Jesus. The risen body of Lazarus was made of the same kind of stuff as before his rising. He would, in time, have to die all over again and he was still limited by “this worldly” time and place.
The risen body of Jesus was made up of material stuff; he showed Thomas his wounded hands and side and had Thomas feel these wounds. The Risen Jesus was not some kind of weird dreamlike spectator, like the ghost of Hamlet’s father. But, at the same time, the material “stuff” of Jesus was of a different kind than ours: free from the limits of time and place. He would materialize within a locked room, from seemingly nowhere, and leave that locked room in the same unusual way. He could be at the site of his burial tomb in Jerusalem and, almost simultaneously, on the road to Emmaus, with disciples nearly 7 miles away. If you still believe in the Sunday School 7/24 hour day creation, and the historical garden of Eden and you still think that all suffering and death in the world is God’s just punishment for the violation of Eden’s dietary laws (forbidden fruit)…this would be a very good time for you to take a short nap.
You will find the rest of the sermon emotionally disquieting and (what psychologists call) cognitively dissonant. In addition to learning about Adam and Eve in Sunday school, I had to take Biology in 7th grade and geology in 8th grade. I was taught that the created universe is about 14 billion years old and began with a Big Bang. I was also taught that this Big Bang was of maximum possible energy. The scientific principle of entropy teaches that from the Big Bang on, energy and mater (physical stuff) have been expanding, dispersing and cooling: thus forming the created universe.
At some point this expansion, dispersal and cooling will slow to a stop and the universe that began with a Big Bang will end in a kind of Big Freeze. This is the way the universe is, but it is not the way God had to make it. God could have made, could even now be making, a different kind of creation. In the wake of the disappearing created universe (you and me), God could be creating a new Universe (what the New Testament calls a “new heaven and a new earth”) on the foundation, and out of God’s perfect memory of the ever passing away “old heaven and old earth.”
Out of God’s perfect memory of the best and fullest me, and you, and everything that is lovable, and everything that anyone of us has ever loved, is now being re-created in this “new heaven and new earth.” In my personal experience of my resurrection when I die, I will be the most vital (strong and health filled) that I ever was, or could have been.
Last Wednesday the deacon in St. Cloud told me that, in his resurrection he would have hair on his head and not in his ears. Upon my death and resurrection, I expect to be immediately reincorporated into the network of relationships with those I have loved and who had gone before me and those with whom I have been at enmity and must reconcile. In 7th grade, at the school bus stop, I was a nasty bully to the big fat boy who lived around the block from me. I will have to make amends to Charlie Widmark.
I also looked down on the kids on the school bus who lived in the country and tended to smell like the barnyard chores they had to do before going to school. Those with whom I (we) will have to make amends extends beyond those I personally offended against. It will include every hopeless, abused, persecuted, neglected, tormented and murdered innocent human from every war torn, or famine plagued, place that ever was: while I (we) basked in wondrous earthly privilege.
That will be a significant day of judgment: for sure. The last will be first and the first will be last. And I will move into relationship with those whom I had never known but, in whom coming to know, we will all be together blessed.
I am talking, here, about the generations who had come before me: my Native American friends call the grandmothers and grandfathers. And I will live on in hopeful expectation of the coming of those who will be following after me. I can’t prove any of this scientifically.
It is my Holy Hope based on my reading of scientific theory, sacred scripture, and my personal experience of a living God, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, in the person of Christ Jesus.
Unto ages of eternal ages. Amen
SERMON
On most Sunday mornings I will drag you a bit into the weeds of the contextual language of the Biblical text and try to assist, a little way, into some recognition of how these ancient texts can still inform our current spiritual lives.
This morning I am going to begin with a quick glance at the core images from today’s readings.
I will examine these images in terms of their common sense contemporary meaning to people like us, without any deep dive into the historical contexts of the three writers.
Today’s translation of Paul from the NRSV focuses on two words: flesh and spirit.
Today we associate, what Paul calls the “flesh,” with the appreciation and enjoyment of material stuff.
Material Wealth, Prosperity, Security, Toys, Stable relationships (family, friendships, our intimate communities with whom we associate daily & the larger social institutions within which we live)
And last but not least, Romance and (you know) s e x
So much for the flesh.
Today we associate, what Paul calls the “spirit” with the appreciation and enjoyment of non-material stuff… you know: God and Holy kinds of ideals
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness and Self-Control.
All of which Paul celebrates and lists in Galatians 5: 22-23.
Paul’s notion that there is real tension between the spirit and the flesh is of value to us as we live more and more fully forward in our journeys into the reality of the Holy One and Spiritual Realities.
But if the creative tension between the spirit and the flesh is pushed too far…it collapses into the classic Christian heresy of dualistic Docetism.
Sorry! I said I would not drag you into the historical-critical weeds.
But, it is simply wrong to see the spirit and the flesh in some kind of mortal combat, in which the flesh must die, in order for the spirit to live.
In the imagery of the parable today, what Paul calls the “flesh” is not essentially bad…but it can be either hard or soft.
Now glance, briefly, at the imagery from Isaiah 55:10 today.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
If the soil (in the parable of Jesus today) has been compacted by fear, abuse and injustice (say…trodden under foot and compressed into a hardened pathway) the seed, when sown, will sit on the surface.
And Isaiah’s rain, when it falls, cannot penetrate the hard soil and flows away as runoff: carrying the seed on the surface away with it.
Our frail human bodies (what Paul calls our “flesh”) unsettled by unexpected change and occasionally even broken by the passage of time into old age and suffering, is thus cultivated (softened) to the point when the sown seed of the spirit can penetrate and be imbedded into the fertile soil of the body…the “flesh.”
Jesus’ redemptive ministry, in and to the world, was a radical expression of spirit in the world: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, and Gentleness & Self Control.
Our flesh is not inherently bad: after all, remember we were “created in the image of God.”
“And God saw everything that he had made and, behold, it was very good.”
The flesh, our bodies, are not bad but compressed, compacted and distorted by the passage of time and painful experience: becoming hard and unreceptive to the seed of the spirit sown upon it and unaccepting of the nurturing Holy water and sunlight that pours down graciously upon it.
What are some basic tools that we have available to cultivate the compressed and compacted soil of our fleshly experience?
A…Day by Day. A brief daily reflection published as a monthly booklet by the Episcopal Church at the national level and also posted on the internet.
B…I highly recommend the published books and internet postings of Fr. Richard ROHR (spell): a Franciscan monk.
Even if you misspell his name as ROAR in your browser thingy, you will still get to him.
C…We have the core resources of daily morning and evening prayer and the daily lectionary readings, found in the red Books of Common Prayer that you will find here and there among the pews.
If, like me, you would like an easier to use resource than the BCP, I enthusiastically recommend the website of missionstclare.com. Every morning and evening the service and readings for the day are posted along with the audio files and lyrics for hymns appropriate for the day.
D…Last, but again not least, the Rev.s Joyce Rush and Jackie Bernacci host a zoom observance of “Compline,” the Prayer Book service at the end of the day, Tuesday through Thursday at 8: 30 pm. And a Zoom service of Evening Prayer 5:30 pm every Saturday.
If you feel you would like more or other resources give me a call or send me an email.
This evening I will have Joyce forward an email with the resources I just mentioned along with my personal contact information.
Unto ages of ages, amen.
(Sermon on Racial Justice Training)
How Racism Is Not Just a Big City Problem (But it’s Probably Not The Way You Think)
-Beth Rose
In today’s Gospel, Jesus chastises the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who dress nicely, try to be noticed in the marketplace, and exalt themselves as the spiritual rulers over the lay people. They burden the people with laws that they themselves don’t follow. That entitled thinking is exactly what Paul writes about in the today’s epistle when he says his disciples need to work alongside of others, so they wouldn’t burden others while they proclaimed the gospel of God. Humility: the essence of what we need when preaching, teaching, and learning. And it is with humility in mind that I extend to you the mental connections I made from the training I took at the Racial Justice and Healing retreat, since I didn’t have time to explain that last time all in one sitting.
After George Floyd’s death, riots broke out in Minneapolis. I called my nephew who lives there and asked him why he thought the people had rioted.
“Let me tell you what happened to a black friend of mine,” he said. “He was driving home one night and got pulled over. He showed the cops his license, and they had him pull over on to a side street. Then they asked him to step out, dragged him down into the alley and beat him. All for no reason. People here are just sick and tired of being treated badly.”
When I told that story at the Racial Justice and Healing retreat, I heard a collective gasp from the group around me. I then shared with them how the riots spread to rural Minnesota at that time, something which they hadn’t known. One evening I stopped at our local police department to ask a question, to find our two town cops fully suited in riot gear. The Wadena police called them out to help control a group of protesters who were threatening to burn down the businesses in Wadena. In Detroit Lakes, my nephew’s wife posted a tearful plea on Facebook for the crowd of protesters to please not burn down their downtown Bistro. In Underwood, Minnesota, a convenience store owner got drunk, and then posted his feelings about the Minneapolis riots, with rather stupid statements about who he wanted to shoot and stack up like cordwood. Within a couple of hours of posting it, thousands threated to come and burn down his store. He gave his employees two weeks vacation, boarded up the windows and locked up the pumps.
We won’t face the ugly realities of racism until it either affects our safety, our wallet or the lives of people we love. If I told any of the white people back in the 1920s that redlining, or keeping people of color from living in their neighborhoods, would eventually affect the lives of their children or grandchildren in a negative way, they might have chosen differently. But I’m telling you now that because of practices like redlining, racial profiling somehow became an acceptable law enforcement practice in the law enforcement community. Even in Otter Tail County, it’s a problem. In 2018, a UCC church in Underwood hosted a speaker, a black admissions officer from a local community college. She told them she’d been stopped sixteen times by county law enforcement in six months for no reason. I’ve lived in rural Minnesota for a total of thirty-five years and I’ve been stopped once. By the way, she left Mstate, thus depriving kids from ever getting to know a positve black role model.
Now fewer young people are looking to get into the law enforcement profession. Whether this is because they are sick over the racism they see in the profession, or the loss of respect people have had because of how prevelent racist practices are, we all lose. In our small town, our police chief has been trying to recruit a second police officer for a couple of years. Turns out that the top notch Alexandria law enforcement program, which had graduated a couple dozen young people every year was down to one graduate this year. And bigger cities with bigger budgets are paying unbelievable amounts of money for police recruits, much more than our little town can afford. Suddenly, safety in Henning and the eastern side of Otter Tail County is compromised. And the root of this cause, is racism.
According to a 2019 study out of Rutgers University, if you are a black man, you have better odds of being killed at the hands of police officers than you do winning at the scratch-off lottery. Black Americans are five times more likely to be incarcerated than their white peers. Racism stress leads to higher rates of cardiovascular and coronary dissease, psychiatric problems like depression, PTSD, and inflammation, even obesity in black Americans. That means we pay more for health insurance premiums. One of the discussion leaders told us that if we greet a black person at the end of the day, realize that trying to keep hypervigilant against racism is exhausting. If that person doesn’t respond the way you expect, don’t take it personally.
We have to be careful not to fall into the same entitlement trap that is Jesus railed against in today’s gospel. As white people, our speeding past the cop is often overlooked, but that’s not true of our black brethren. If we visit an Episcopal Church, we expect to be greeted kindly, but church goers don’t always get that right. Dr. Catherine Meeks related a story how she was invited by a friend to visit an Episcopal church in South Carolina. A few people greeted her at the door and insisted she was in the wrong church. Even when she explained she was just visiting and by invitation, they let her know she needed to leave. She said when she got back to her car, she burst into tears. What must it feel like when your own church turns you away?
We need to get out and fight against racism with the same strength the disciples were sent to preach the gospel. The first step is to humbly recognize racism is not a sickness limited to the big city. The second thing is rolling up our sleeves and working on it.
You can feel proud that St. Helen’s is leading the way in this Northwestern part of our Diocese along with White Earth and leading members of the ELCA. Reverend Del and I are scheduled for a meeting with many leading church members to do more in Native ministry and beyond. I’ve always said, we may be small but we can roar like a lion. Please pray for our area as we begin to fix some of the injustices Native Americans suffered from racism so long ago.
Dr. Meeks finished out our time together encouraging us repeatedly to persevere. Like Winston Churchill said to England during the war, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never in nothing, great or small large or petty….” We must persevere in our fight against racism here and everywhere. Because frankly, the future of our nation, the health of our people, and our towns need it.
12/9/2023
In my reading it seems that Prophets are rarely attractive, gently spoken people. They are often loud, strange, annoying, odd people. We get a glimpse of that when we hear of John the Baptist’s ranting on the banks of the Jordan.
John wore strange clothes – an animal skin, a strap of leather holding it to his body – and his diet was even stranger: locusts and honey. No doubt he smelled terrible, living as he did in the wilderness. And his proclamations were wild, and I’ll bet he was pretty wild as well.
The people of Israel were sorely oppressed. Life was hard and there was no end in sight. They were in dire need of the very thing that Isaiah talks about in this morning’s reading from the Old testament: “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”
God’s people were hungry for relief from oppression, looking for something or someone that would give them relief. So, what did God send them? This man John, who looked and spoke and smelled like the person you don’t want to sit next to on the bus.
No one would mistake him for a divine messenger. But these were unusual times, so an unusual messenger might be just what was needed to get people’s attention. And get their attention he certainly did.
People flocked from all around to hear what he had to say, to be baptized by him in the Jordan. They were hungry for what he offered them, even if they didn’t completely understand it. If they hadn’t been hurting so badly, so tired, so despairing, they might not have come out to hear him, but perhaps this strange man had something to give them hope again.
Wasn’t he just like the old prophets had foretold? Wasn’t he “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!” Perhaps it takes a smelly, odd, screaming man to get the word out: “fix things up here, get ready, prepare the way of the Lord.”
Perhaps it takes a people who are so hungry for something to relieve their pain that they will accept the message from a more than a little frightening prophet. Think about it.
Would we listen to him? Would we allow such a man to escort us into the river, to press our heads down into the brown and swirling waters, pray over us? My guess is probably not. Our needs, as real as they seem, as harsh as they are, have not made us desperate enough to take that risk.
But let’s imagine for the moment that our desire for relief from that which oppresses us gives us the ability to overcome our distaste for this odd man and his strange ways. Let’s imagine what it felt like.
We have come to the riverside to hear this man. We’ve heard of him back in town. People say he’s crazy, or they say he’s a weird follower of God, or they say that his message is powerful, and they feel changed after they hear him.
We go to check this out for ourselves. We wander out to the riverside, outside of town. There he is. He’s just as strange as our friends have told us. His eyes glow with a strange fire, and his words fill us with that glow. People are walking into the river where he stands, and he pours the water over their heads, praying over them. They are weeping, confessing all their wrongdoings. But when they come up from the water, they seem to have the same glow as he does.
So, we step forward. We think of all the times we have felt alone and broken. All the times we have wished for something, anything, more than this hard life of work and taxes and worry and hurt. All the times we asked God, “Where are you in the midst of this? Will you help me?”
And now we are standing at the edge of the water. He turns toward us, sensing our hesitation, and extends his hand. It is hard, calloused, but clean from all that time in the river water. We take it, and he sees what we are thinking.
He wants to clarify what he is doing here, so we have no confusion in our hearts: “I know what you are looking for. I am not that one. There is another one coming who is so powerful that I am not worthy to tie his sandals. I’m here to prepare you. I will wash you in these waters to wash away your sins, but he will wash your spirit with his spirit, his holy spirit, and you will be forever cleansed.”
And as we think about these words, we are suddenly pressed down into the water. We should be afraid, but we are not. The warm water swirls above our head. His hand on our heads is warm, too, and the pressure is not frightening, but…what? Comforting? Cleansing? Yes, and more. And then the pressure stops, we bob up in the water, and the breeze across the river dries the skin of our faces. We feel like we are glowing, just as he is. We walk up to the shoreline, a little shaky but happy. Happier than we have felt in a long time.
Where does this feeling come from? The man? The water? Or is it from his message, his promise that someone even greater is coming? He no longer seems strange and frightening to us. Odd, maybe, but not frightening. Suddenly we feel that warmth again, because of the promise he made. Another one is coming. A powerful one who transforms people through something more than river water. He transforms people through his holy spirit.
Will that feel as wonderful as that moment in the river did? All we know is that we can barely wait for this one whom John spoke of. We can barely wait for the way he will make us feel, for the way that he will change us and the world.
Today, in the present time, our needs and wants are not for relief from oppression, as the people in John the Baptist’s time suffered. They may be for relief from sadness, a dreadful illness, loneliness or worry over a child or parent. They may be for an end to wars and cruelty, an end to poverty or the abuse of children. They may be for release from the habits that enslave us.
Can we imagine walking into that river water and letting go of these things? Can we imagine the hope reborn in our hearts when we are washed clean of the pain that holds us back? Can we imagine what we will do when the One who “is to come” arrives?
John the Baptist came to get people ready for that One who is to come. He came to warn and to promise. He came to tell us to prepare ourselves, to make the road straight, to make our hearts straight. The One who is to come is on his way. Step into the water to prepare yourself. Let go of the pain, let go of the old ways.
Let’s make ourselves ready because things are going to be different when He comes!
Amen.
Ref: Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter: 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
12/4/2011 Church of the Epiphany, Richmond, Virginia