Hope is the bridge...

In the first chapter of Genesis, on the fourth day of creation, we are reminded that we know where we are in time: most primordially in the seasons and days and years marked by the stars and the planets and the rotation and revolution of the Earth. (Genesis 1:14-19)   

The Christian calendar, like the Hebrew calendar, follows the sun and the moon. The traditional calendars of the indigenous peoples of southern Arizona show us the seasons of growth and of waiting. (As I recall from a visit to the Arizona Historical Museum, in some traditions we hereabouts have six, based on not only heat and cold, rain and drought, but the fruition times of various local food plants.) And later the arrival of Spanish and Mexican cultivators meant these two calendars were integrated into such festivals as the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, which is the time of harvest for wheat and also marks the beginning of the monsoon.

We know where we are in time also and that we are in the in-between time of hope.

Psalm 126

6  Those who sowed with tears * 

will reap with songs of joy.

7  Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, * 

will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

Between the sowing and the reaping, 

In between now and then, between what was and what is to come, between the seed time and the harvest, the apparently infertile soil is the place of hope.

Of faith in things not seen, as yet, but believed.

This is about much more than simply the turn of the agricultural calendar, between the sowing and the reaping. In our lives we may experience times of nascency, of no apparent growth, indeed some times of sorrow and bereavement, when things are yet happening below the surface.

One time I encountered the then- archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, and as a conversation opener remarked to him that he had had great success as bishop of Bath and Wells, a time of great revival in the churches there. And he replied, that another had sown, and another tended, and he had merely been in at the harvest. He might have been quoting Saint Paul, “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:7)

We may, as Canon Anita reminded the congregation during the diocesan convention, see about us a desolate apparently barren place, as the Israelites returning from the Babylonian Captivity perceived when they arrived back in the land of their ancestors. Return from exile did not mean easy street. They were confronted with choices that tested their faith. 

She gave the example of a householder holding a handful of grain. This could be the seed corn for the harvest to come, or she could use it to feed her family. Consuming the seed grain is a short-sighted move, but understandable in a time of desperation. The farmer would have to hold onto faith that the family would be sustained through the growing season, but as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, one plants, another waters, but God gives the growth. (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:6)

A time of waiting. Sleeping seeds: when shall they wake? When will the harvest come?

Hope is the bridge between faith that is theory and belief, and love that is practice and action.

At a time like that faced by the farmer, faith in theory is challenged to become love in action. And in between is the time of hope.

I do everything I can as if it all depends on me, said Mother Teresa; then I leave the rest to God. (to Malcolm Muggeridge, in ‘Something Beautiful for God,’ documentary film)

[And yet even she said, "I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness." Mother Teresa (https://www.catholic.org/clife/teresa/quotes.php)]

The story of Bartimaeus helps us to begin to make real this distinction between ideal and action, between potential and fulfillment. As he waits by the side of the road blind beggar Bartimaeus can only imagine a healing to physical sight. This in itself is a powerful sign of the hand of God at work through the one that Bartimaeus cries out to as ‘son of David’, which is pretty much equivalent to hailing him as Messiah. (Mark 10:46-52) 

(The Greek is helpful here: he cries out, ‘anaboaō’ – that he might see again, ‘anablepsō’.)

Calling Jesus Teacher, ‘Rabbouni’, (as Mary Magdalene will address him at the Empty Tomb, in John 20:16) begins to reveal that the blind man’s insight goes beyond physical appearances.

A more-than-physical health is for us to enjoy, too, as we perceive the full extent of the gift of vision that Jesus gives us and Bartimaeus. The gift is beyond his expectation, and ours, for this is the gift not simply of seeing things that are visible but the gift of Jesus himself : and of the arrival in his person of the coming reign of God. 

When Bartimaeus casts aside his begging-cloak he begins this journey, a journey that will take him from supplicant to disciple and will take him and Jesus to their next stop: Jerusalem. Jerusalem, where the fulfillment of Jesus’ purpose as the Son of David, the anointed one of God, will be revealed.

The days and years and seasons illuminated for us by sun and moon and stars tell us where we are in time - chronometer time. The life that is the light of humankind, that is Jesus, lights our way as we follow him into a greater sense of time - holy time - and a greater truth than simple sight. There is more than the marking of time passing at work here: in the kingdom of God, from Genesis through Revelation, God is at work in Christ, healing and reconciling us to himself. And we, thus enlightened, are called to live out our new insight in receiving, embodying, and carrying forth the gifts of faith, hope, and love, that make the kingdom of heaven real in our lives.

Things we begin to make real, to realize, by acting into them: we begin living into the kingdom, the reign of God. 

The reality of the kingdom in our lives does not depend on or equate to anything less than the reign of God.

Present, social order or economic situation may change, but what continues is the story of the people of God, the story from creation through the life of Christ to resurrection, the story which is enacted sacramentally in water and oil in wine and bread, and in our fellowship with each other, and, in the spirit, becomes active in our care for each other, for all people, and for the created world.   

Faith we have and we work toward love as we hold onto what we know that is true: God’s love and the work to make it actively present in our lives in society and world.   

In a sense more evident for us than for many people of the past, we are aware of the world society that is both a mission field, encompassing the globe, and also our common home.  

Hope is the bridge between faith that is theory and belief, and love that is practice and action.

May the kingdom come on earth, as we act in love, as it is, as we know in faith, in heaven.

Genesis 1: 

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Jeremiah 31:7-9. Psalm 126. Hebrews 7:23-28. Mark 10:46-52.

Sermon for October 27, 2024 [Proper 25. Year B]

JRL+ 

Bartimaeus

 The first passage we translated from Greek in seminary was this one. And the imperative, urgent nature of the request of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, was apparent, once you saw it in the Greek.

“Lord, that I might see again!” is an accurate translation. He wasn’t deferential, he was in a hurry.

And he discarded everything to follow Jesus. Without being asked.

Jesus is turning toward Jerusalem. His disciples have trudged in his path all the way from north of the Sea of Galilee. Down the Jordan River they have trod, until they have arrived at the foot of the long climb, from the ancient well-town of Jericho on up to Jerusalem. 

And here at this turning point, sitting by the side of the road, is a would-be sighted man. All around him people pegged him as a beggar, blind, consigned to the rubbish heap of life. 

But he did not accept that. That was not his fate. That is not what God called him to be. That is not what God made him. God made him his own child, beloved, and a miracle.

A miracle, we know, of restored sight, but also a miracle of forgiveness, grace, and healing.

He did not hesitate. He did not quit. He did what he was not supposed to do. He cried out. And revealed the truth about the one passing by, whom he, son of Timaeus, was first to address as son of David.

What does the son of Timaeus have to do with the son of David? What do they share?

Life - the gift of life - and the redemption of body and soul in the light of the kingdom’s dawning.

For the dawn is upon them, just beyond night; just beyond the darkness of Calvary, Easter comes.

And they are ready, first for the one, and then for the other. The unimaginable other.

Perhaps it is easier to see if you have once been blind. But now, you see.

***

It's a simple story, there's a lot left out. We don't know why he was blind. There have been speculations that his father was blind so that he'd always been a beggar.

But what he asked Jesus, is simple and direct. Rabbi - master, teacher, Lord - that I might see, again, that my sight might be restored. Probably, then, not born blind. Now, in this story there's no speculation, either that he deserved it, that God was punishing him, that he was a bad person, or that he got what he deserved. There is none of that. 

In fact, the other morning, I heard the second chapter of the Book of Tobit, where a good man, doing a good thing, is made blind. And God is the one who heals him: who releases him from the captivity of his blindness. Who saves him.

Save: that's the word that is used in Greek, for how Jesus explains what happens to the man he heals is, literally, saved: Your faith has saved you. It’s a word Mark uses a lot. It means salvation, health, liberation. Your faith has healed you, released you, saved you, from the bondage, not of sin, but of this blindness, this affliction. 

And so this story is part of the story of God's glory revealed, not because someone is bad or wrong, or being punished. None of those assumptions are made here. 

In other stories, Jesus asked the crowd, Why do you think this man has this condition? Why do you think he's lying there? They're trying to guess, they're trying to say it's because he did something bad. And God is punishing him. 

And no, Jesus says, no. 

This is an occasion when God is going to show His glory. That leaves a lot of questions unanswered, but it does tell you what is going on here is not punitive. It's not the end of a penal sentence. 

This is compassion. This is faith. Jesus is there to proclaim what God is doing. What is God doing through faith for Bartimaeus. 

Bartimaeus, the blind man, gets it. He knows what is really going on. He may not be able to see, but he knows who Jesus is. Son of David, Have mercy on me, Son of David, that is, Messiah - and savior, redeemer, liberator.

He knows who he's talking to, he knows what he's asking, and he will not be stopped. At first people are telling him to just keep quiet, but he will not. Once Jesus calls him, once he is recognized, then they say, Take heart, take heart. He is calling you. 

And so then Bartimaeus casts aside his cloak, just throws it to the winds. Maybe, maybe it's true, maybe somebody picked it up for him and brought it along because the journey from Jericho to Jerusalem is long, and the night is cold, and it may not be a friendly place, when he arrives, maybe somebody did that for him, we don't know; we don't know a lot of things. 

We do know that he called out to Jesus, that he called out to have his sight restored and we know that Jesus called out to him. And then he followed Jesus. All the way. 

The words for crying out - as Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus - and to have one’s sight restored, then I might see again - in ancient Greek those two words, anaboaó, anablepsō, are right next to each other in the dictionary. And those two words are right next to each other in this story. He cried out, and his sight was restored. And then he followed.

ἀναβοάω (anaboaó)

ἀναβλέψω (anablepsō)

Something else to note about Bartimaeus. He didn’t have any social status. Because he was blind, because he was a beggar, he was on the outside of society. Now, having his sight restored, as it would be for any one healed by Jesus, could restore him to his place in society. But that is not what he wanted, as it turns out. He wanted more and better: he wanted to follow Jesus. And that is what he did.

You know sometimes I wonder if someone has come to church out of social aspirations. Sometimes I wonder if I had. Rather than to follow Jesus or to hear the good news or to learn how to act upon it. Sometimes I wonder. And I know that sometimes it is the only place I can be.

You have the words of life, Lord; where else can we go?

Bartimaeus seems to feel that way. Where else is there to go, when you can follow Jesus?

***

https://youtu.be/IN05jVNBs64

President Obama sings Amazing Grace (C-SPAN)

October 24th 2021

Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 25 Year B

Lectionary 30

Jeremiah 31:7-9

Psalm 126

Hebrews 7:23-28

Mark 10:46-52

http://edgeofenclosure.org/proper25b.html

https://enterthebible.org/passage/mark-1046-52-blind-bartimaeus-is-given-sight

https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54181

JRL+

Patrick

Ellen Sasahara sent me a copy of a book she had designed: St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography by Philip Freeman (Simon and Schuster, 2005). Together with the sermon by Herbert O'Driscoll given at Saint Alban's Church, Edmonds, Washington, January 31, 2010, it was the primary resource for this day's preaching. I did not stick to my notes. These are the notes I walked away from:
 

When the world came to an end, it was the summer of the year 410. Rome fell – civilization was erased. A century and more before, Roman officials had executed a Christian martyr in Britannia, one Alban. Then Constantine took legions to the continent and won the imperial throne. But now a century after these events Rome crumbled before the onslaught of a Visigoth horde.

Arthur held together some promise of hope in Britannia. He called it Logres – kingdom of the Grail. And Ninian set sail for the north, Galloway in Caledonia. On the shores looking west and north to Hibernia, however, Irish pirates came across the water and they brought chains. They came for slaves.

One son of a patrician house, now we call him Patrick, was too near the shore, and he was taken. He found himself far across on the other side of a strange island and it was not until he was a teenager (and more) that he left the sheep he’d been set to herd – and walked away, across the island and back across the sea – but to a new future.

He fetched up in a monastery started by Martin of Tours, and he learned a new depth of Christian hope and practice. He was going to be a priest.

Strangely enough it was, then, that this trafficked human, enslaved by the Irish, saw in a dream his calling: to serve those who’d enslaved him, to free his captors. “Come here and walk among us!”

So to Ireland Patrick sailed. He even sought reconciliation with his old master. And he became a champion, confronting the evil of the slave trade, human trafficking.  When in turn Irish Christians, ones he himself had baptized, were captured by British Christian slavers, he wrote an excoriating letter, naming and rebuking one Corocticus, making a plea (a strongly worded one) that the slave-master set his fellow Christians free.

Patrick and other mission bishops brought the gospel to fertile soil in Ireland. They were a people ready to receive the word, and it quickly grew, in part because of the form, or lack of it, he used to carry it.

The world had come to an end, the Roman world, and there was little left to hold onto, few elements of the sacred, clad lightly in poverty – not wealth.

But he embraces that poverty, poverty of worldly means, as he taught people to embrace the only things that mattered, that remained (and as long as we have these, Herbert O’Driscoll taught us, we’ll be all right).

These are just a few things – look at the postcard – six words to define the church – and here are six: story, water, oil, bread, wine, people.

We are the water oil bread wine story people.

We have the gospel – the story of God’s love for humankind, the Spirit’s restless seeking for our souls.

We have the baptismal waters and the oil of Chrism (“you are sealed as Christ’s own for ever”).

We have bread, the bread we need, and wine – sustenance and reminder of the Godly provision of Christ our Savior.

And we are the people imbued by the Spirit, called and gifted to tell the story, immerse and bless, share the Table’s abundance, and – gather others in. For these gifts are not ours to keep to ourselves – they take us, break us, transform us, and make us ambassadors for Christ.

And we love to tell the story, and spread the news. He whom Mary wept over and anointed and served is the One who shed more than tears for us, who died indeed and rose to new life, that he might take us with him, and with us others, that all may be reconciled to God, all be freed.

Working for the simple physical liberation from slavery of trafficking victims, we work also for the liberation of souls – even of those who enslave.

May we live into this costly freedom, heed God’s call, and follow the dream of our own calling, that we may come over and bring Jesus even to those once separated from us by far more than a sea. May we be one in Christ, reconciled to one another God through the power of the Spirit, and the work of our Savior, in whose name we pray, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8
Fifth Sunday in Lent

Herbert O’Driscoll – 10:30 Service January 31, 2010

JRL+

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Warning: I am going to talk about Jesus today, about Jesus, the gospel, and the Bible. I am going to talk about turning to Jesus and what it means for our lives. I am going to start with the Gospel – the Scripture reading for today, and the question Jesus asks:

“What do you want me to do for you?”

What is it? (Bartimaeus is next to the road, on the pilgrimage route outside Jericho.) This is a pretty good place for a beggar, for being poor and needy, a good place to ask people, to demand that people, give you stuff – so that you won’t have to change a bit… In fact, if you do you will probably mess it up. You might as well throw away your beggar sign – your cloak – and go on the road.

Why would you change a thing? This is a pretty good gig. All we have to do is wait for other people to come along and rescue us and give us our due – and do the work and make the friends and give – so that we can stay right here by the side of the road, waiting for rescue.

But will Jesus rescue us? Did he rescue Bartimaeus? Waiting for the reward doesn’t work out so well either – remember the Zebedee boys last week? Put us next to you when you come into your kingdom. So wouldn’t you expect Bartimaeus – and the people of Israel – knew he was onto a good thing? Knew he was ready to stay put – and collect? But no.

There is a turning here: a turning to Jesus. And that meant – and means – turning away from a whole way of life.

When Bartimaeus cast his cloak aside he was not only discarding an outer garment (as if to get ready for action) he was leaving behind him the source of his livelihood – for beggars spread their cloaks to receive alms (handouts) from passers-by.

(Cf. Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man, Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, ca. 1987)

All this before he can even see. All this before we can even see – which we won’t do until we trust Jesus – and throw our dependence on him. But – be warned: Once you really see there is one thing you have to do.

When we see things the way they really are we get up and follow him. —Paul Mitchell

What does that mean for you? What are you clinging onto, holding onto, that you need to cast aside, let go of?

Are you willing to venture away from what you know, blindly seeking Jesus, willing to ask him, that you might see, that your eyes might be opened?

What will you see when your eyes are opened?

Are you willing blindly to follow his voice – before you even know where he’ll lead you, what he looks like, or what you will encounter on the way?

Do you know what you will do?

Do you know what you are asking for?

Do you know the way ahead?

Are you willing to follow Jesus, knowing that putting your faith in him, you need no other?

“Repent means stop doing it” (as Massey Tice said to me, in 1975) … and it means to start doing something else.

This is the turning point, the conversion, the healing – of Bartimaeus.

What follow from it is the way, the way of truth, the way of Jesus, the way of the Cross.

Bartimaeus did not ask Jesus to bless his cloak; he let it go.

And followed him.

What will it mean for you to follow Jesus on the way?

Mostly dead or all dead?

When somebody tells you that your church is already dead, remember Miracle Max.

Here is a scene from "The Princess Bride" a film written by William Goldman:

Inigo:  ... He’s already dead.

Max:  Look who knows so much. Well, it just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. ....

Now, mostly dead is slightly alive.  Now, all dead...well, with all dead, there's usually only one thing that you can do....

Hey! Hello in there. Hey! What's so important? What you got here that's worth living for?

Westley: ... tr ... oooo .... luv ...

Max:  Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world.... But that's not what he said. He distinctly said "to blave." And, as we all know, "to blave" means "to bluff."

Valerie:  Liar! ...

And Valerie and Max go to work. Wesley is revived...

So if somebody tells your church that they are already dead, they have a question to answer. Do you want to live for true love – or are you bluffing?

If you are only talking about your own survival then you are already dead.

What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asks. The encounter has been routine up to that point. A man sitting by the side of the road, set up to be a beggar, calling out –

But what is he calling out? And is he serious? He calls for mercy from the Son of David. That means Messiah. That means King. That means he is calling for the king’s touch.

That means Herod isn’t king – and Caesar does not rule. Treason! Sedition!

If you call on the Son of David to have mercy you had better be sure you have the right man – and even then…

The crowd tries to hush it up. But he cries even louder. And Jesus responds, bring him here...

The game plan is out in the open now. 

If all you are about is your own survival then you are not yet fully alive.

That is why Jesus is called “fully human” – he fully embraces the human condition, including death – and resurrection.

The Messiah is on the way to Jerusalem, to the Passover festival.

[Jesus is the One who was promised. Will he be a king the way we expect him to be?]

And he is inviting us to come along. But, fair warning! 

Things will not be as they were.  If you set out on this journey, you will not be the same.

Everything will be different. That is why he came: to bring us out of old life into new.

That means leaving the old behind, giving up old habits, behaviors, and attitudes, even discarding the covering that protects us and gave us livelihood. It means leaving a way of life behind.

And that means being ready to be free. Getting ready to begin an adventure – to follow Jesus, as Bartimaeus and the other disciples followed Jesus, uphill on the way to Jerusalem – to the Cross – and then, only then, on to glory.

October 28, 2012
Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 25, Jeremiah 31:7-9, Psalm 126 , Hebrews 7:23-28, Mark 10:46-52

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9tAKLTktY0 accessed October 27, 2012.
http://sfy.ru/?script=princess_bride  accessed October 27, 2012. 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/ accessed October 27, 2012.

the hope of ages

Yesterday morning in Yakima it looked like Narnia – when it was always winter but never Christmas, in C. S. Lewis’ children’s story, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Frost hung in all the trees, gathered there overnight from the frosty breath of the sky, as the cold ground fog crystallized into wintry shapes along all the twigs and branches. Among them were some frost-gilt leaves left from last summer, hanging like Christmas ornaments among the snowy branches.

As I walked along under mighty oaks I found a handful of acorns. Squirrel munchies – or a future forest? And on the branches of some of the trees you could see the buds already in place, sheltering within them the start of fresh new leaves awaiting next Spring’s word: Arise! Shine! For your light has come.

Winter looks like the end - and it is the end of the old year – but it is also, underneath, the beginning of new life. The buds of next year’s green growth, already forming, are a promise of something new growing even as the old passes away.

This is what John proclaims – as the harvest came into abundance so he reaped a ‘crop’ of souls as he baptized them in the Jordan, proclaiming repentance for forgiveness of sin.

He was the greatest and the last of the prophets of the Old Covenant, the old way of God and humankind in relation to each other. He was the culmination and fulfillment of a long line. At the Jordan – in camels’ hair – he called to mind all the old prophets of Israel. And yet he did not hold himself highly: he humbly pointed beyond himself and ahead.

You have been asking the wrong question, he said, for the question to ask me is not “Who are you?” Ask rather “Who is coming?”

There is one standing among you whose sandal-string I am not worthy to untie.

Something new and wonderful is coming into being – borne into life by Mary, nurtured by Joseph, anointed by the Holy Spirit – the fulfillment of hope of ages is upon us.

The day of the Lord is coming – the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

What is old is passing away; something new is come.

And so it is with the church year. We are in the top of a season, the end of a cycle. One year is passing away. Our season of Advent looks back, and it looks forward too. Advent began with psalms of abject penitence then awakening hope and gradually moving toward the realization that a new source of joy is just about to spring into being.

And so it is with the life of the church. Every year, every season of the life of a church, includes an ending and a beginning. And in between we often find a muddle! This is how our own lives can be as well. As we progress through phases of life and growth in Christ we confront new issues and leave old ones behind, leaving them to God to integrate into a new season’s paradigm of meaning and purpose.

A church begins and grows, reaches maturity, and takes a characteristic shape of its own, and then, begins – quite often, not inevitably – a gradual decline or slump. There may be reforms or redevelopment efforts that take the church back to a state of new growth.

Unarrested decline can continue and the congregation may find its old form disappearing altogether. At that stage what happens is – the nurturing of new growth, the beginning of hope in a new form. The old way of being, the old way of doing things, no longer lives; but the word of God abides forever. It finds fresh expression. What was once the main growth may begin to function like a nurse log in the rain forest; providing the foundation, the host, and the nutrition for the beginning of new life. Or the old can become a ‘nesting congregation’ – home to some new entity getting ready to strike out on its own. Or what was is transformed in the mysterious work of the Spirit into a new way of being itself.

And so we find ourselves in a state of transition. Gradually what we have known is transformed – and we find ourselves in a renewed and hopeful new phase of life.

For God is steadfast; his loyalty is a rock; his faithfulness is forever. He knows the plans he has for us, plans for our welfare and not for harm, to provide for us a future with hope.

This is his Church. It is the house of God. We live in it; we care for it; we celebrate in it. We welcome others into it – and bring them with us deeper in and further on in the life of faith. From it we go forth to love and serve the Lord. And at the last we pass along what we have received, that others may take up the tasks and receive the joys of his Kingdom.


Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24, 28)

+

For the Episcopal Church of Saint Alban, Edmonds, Washington.

JL

Christmas Present

John is a voice calling in the desert wasteland, make ready the highway: the people of God are returning from darkness, into the light of a new day, led by the one who himself is the way and the light and the home-safe harbor they seek.

John, holy human - in the line of the prophets the last and greatest - was sent by God to bear witness to the Word, and to point to the Light.

In our gospel reading today, we see clearly that he is a witness - Greek: a martyr - who testifies to the Word made flesh and come among us. He calls us to testify to the promise of God made real in human form.

"I saw the Light" - as Hank Williams sang - no more darkness, no more night. No more sorrow, no more strife - because, praise the Lord, the Lord is come, to set his people free.

John is a sign, pointing - this is the Way, the Truth, the Life - follow him and believe.

Jesus had a surprise for the people in the synagogue at Capernaum. As he read the words of Isaiah they were fulfilled. The savior, the Messiah, the king - was present - is present, among us here and now.

Salvation is a quality of life here and now: the kingdom of God is all ready here in the hope we have in the Advent of Christ the King. It is Jesus who is coming. All hopes and fears are met in him - and the long vigil of waiting and watching for his arrival is almost over.

Salvation is a quality of life here and now: good news, healing, liberty, release, comfort; this is the jubilee year of restoration and abundance. God's deliverance is real here and now.

The world as it should be, what we have come to call God's kingdom, the reign of God, is already among us.

Our mission to the oppressed, the heart-broken, captives and prisoners, those in mourning, those faint of heart, is to be a sign of God's blessing. We witness to his presence among us with our lives: living as a people of Good News, of freedom proclaimed and lived, of justice and mercy made real. We are the people who sing of God's grace poured forth in overflowing measure, of comfort and joy.

Rejoice - rejoice with real joy, bought indeed with tears of sorrow for what is lost, hard-won Advent joy, not the quick prosperity flash of consumer culture. Sow in sorrow, but reap in joy. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing: always give thanks: the one who calls you is faithful. The one who calls you is faithful.

Christ in you, the hope of glory; faith in the love of God shown in Jesus' word and deed.

He makes all things new.

Let us pray that he gives us grace to see the present through his eyes.

May we rejoice in the Lord always, confident in our hope in Christ.

May we pray without ceasing, steadfast in our faith in Christ.

May we give thanks in all things, celebrating the love shown in Christ.

May we answer the call of God to be his faithful people, knowing that the One who calls us is faithful.

It is time for rejoicing - for ashes to be traded for garlands, for mourning to give way to gladness, for faint spirits to turn to songs of praise.

His people are oaks of righteousness.
However small the acorn, the seedling, the sapling tree, it is tenacious, durable & hearty.

When my father and I and a neighbor pulled down an old blue spruce that was keeling over, we thought we had a bare patch there where it grew; but no, there was a sapling growing, an oak, before you knew it. You could still see the acorn, but it was already tenacious, durable, and hearty. That is how faith grows. It surprises us; it holds fast.

The apostle Paul makes clear to us what we can do, knowing we have a loving God, who loves justice and peace and mercy: rejoice, pray, and give thanks.

It's like this:

A fisherman went down to the Sea of Galilee carrying his net. When he got to the beach, he cast it in. As he drew it back to shore, he found he'd caught a lot of little fish - no use to him - and one good big one. He kept the one good big fish and let the small fry go.

(Gospel of Thomas, 8, para.)

That is what the kingdom of heaven is like; that's what Paul's instructions mean, when he says, do not quench the Spirit or despise the words of Prophets, but still, test everything, and then keep what is good and let go what is evil.

Keep an eye on what the Lord is doing, and may the God of peace sanctify us, keep us sound and blameless.

Think of it: John says, no, I am not the Messiah; no, I am not the Prophet; I am a voice, crying out to you, prepare the way of the Lord - for among you stands, already, the Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And so, today, we let the celebration peek in - we get a foretaste of the great feast to come -
knowing full well that it is already but not yet the time of the coming of the Lord: and we celebrate his imminent arrival, and his ongoing presence among us.

This can be a bit disturbing, as our friend Ebenezer finds out. He has been warned, by Marley's Ghost, to anticipate the visits of three Spirits: the Ghost of Christmas Past has already come, and horrified Scrooge with his visions...

"Spirit! Remove me from this place."

"I told you these were shadows of the things that have been," said the Ghost. "That they are what they are, do not blame me!"

"Remove me!" Scrooge exclaimed. "I cannot bear it! Leave me! Take me back. Haunt me no longer!"

As he struggled with the Spirit he was conscious of being exhausted, and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness; and, further, of being in his own bedroom. He had barely time to reel to bed before he sank into a heavy sleep.

****

Scrooge awoke in his bedroom. There was no doubt about that. But it and his own adjoining sitting room, into which he shuffled in his slippers, attracted by a great light there, had undergone a surprising transformation.

The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove. The leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that petrifaction of a hearth had never known in Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or for many and many a winter season gone.

Heaped upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and great bowls of punch. In easy state upon this couch there sat a Giant glorious to see; who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and who raised it high to shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door.

"Come in, -- come in! And know me better, man! I am the Ghost of Christmas Present. Look upon me! You have never seen the like of me before!"

"Never."

"Have never walked forth with the younger members of my family; meaning (for I am very young) my elder brothers born in these late years?" pursued the Phantom.

"I don't think I have, I am afraid I have not. Have you had many brothers, Spirit?"

"More than eighteen hundred."

"A tremendous family to provide for! Spirit, conduct me where you will. I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is working now. To-night, if you have ought to teach me, let me profit by it."

"Touch my robe!"

Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast.

****

The Cractchit Home

In came little Bob, the father, with at least three feet of comforter, exclusive of the fringe, hanging down before him; and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed, to look seasonable; and Tiny Tim upon his shoulder. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame!

..."And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit.

"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember, upon Christmas day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see."

****

At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted, and considered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table, and a shovelful of chestnuts on the fire.

Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family display of glass, -- two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle.

These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and crackled noisily. Then Bob proposed: --

"A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!"

Which all the family re-echoed.

"God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all.

****

OFFERTORY SENTENCE

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

BLESSING

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

The blessing of God be upon you today and forever. AMEN.



Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, text for public reading http://charlesdickenspage.com/carol-dickens_reading_text.html

December 14th, 2008:
The Third Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

+

the far side of the world

Ordinarily for tonight's healing & eucharist service, we would look for a saint's day to remember, or just use the readings from the back of the book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts (Church Publishing, 2006) in the two-year cycle for daily eucharist. However, recently I found that two on the calendar - Nathan Soderblom and Albert Schweitzer - were also Nobel Peace Prize recipients. So I went to the Nobel Prize website and searched on "September 24" ... which turns out to be the anniversary of the forming of the National League for Democracy, in Burma - the political party of Aung San Suu Kyi.



A Buddhist, she sees her quest as basically spiritual. “To live the full life,” she wrote, “one must have the courage to bear the responsibility of the needs of others… one must want to bear the responsibility.” And, she added, the quest for democracy in Burma is the struggle of a people to live whole, meaningful lives as free and equal members of the world community. It is part of the unceasing human endeavor to prove that the human spirit can transcend the flaws of its nature.

Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1991, yet even today lives under house arrest in the capital city of her country.

Very much in the news today are the protests of the current military regime of Myanmar - the country better known as Burma - which began Saturday with hundreds of monks gathering outside the home of Aung San Suu Kyi to pay their respects. How these events will end, in the short term, we do not know. We have hope of the eventual outcome, a restoration of peace and justice, for Burma and the world.

It was on September 24th in 1988 that the National League for Democracy was formed in Burma, with Aun San Suu Kyi as general-secretary, and a policy of non-violence and civil disobedience. There was hope in that year of many nascent democracies that Burma, too, would shake itself free of the grip of its ruling military junta.

The struggle continues today: earlier today nuns and monks of the Buddhist tradition, predominant in central Burma, took to the streets of Rangoon and Mandalay in mass protest.

We do not know what turn these events will take. If the regime acts with restraint… I’d breath a sigh of relief. If in coming days some glimmer of recognition of the need for change were to emerge inside the junta’s palace… it would be an early sign of hope.



The readings for the evening of September 24th were not selected for their appositeness to current events; it turns out, however, that they fit very well.

Ezra 1:1-6 (End of the Babylonian Captivity)

Psalm 126 ("When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion...Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy.")

Luke 8:16-18

'No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light. Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.’



From the history of ancient Israel, we know that powerful kings and military rulers do not give up power easily. But we also see in that history a continuing witness of hope, of fidelity to the promises of God.

That hope has begun to be fulfilled in Christ Jesus. In Jesus, the kingdom of heaven was proclaimed – and the day of the Lord began to dawn, the day of peace, righteousness and justice. We are called to live as children of that day – to align ourselves with the coming reign of God, knowing that, try as the rulers of this world might try to hide it, the light is dawning.

How are we to live? As children of the light, letting our light shine before all people – in our personal dealings, in our relations with one another, in our actions as a people of God, to follow the Lord of Light, Jesus Christ: to be the light of the world.



Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Sources for 2007 September 24th:

The Nobel Foundation - The Nobel Peace Prize 1991 - Aung San Suu Kyi
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1991/index.html
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1991/kyi-acceptance.html

BBC News - Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia-pacific/1950505.stm

The Telegraph - Burma protest swells as 100,000 join march
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/24/wburma124.xml

Jim Carrey - Call to Action on Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NySuaJ2B20E

The Age - Tens of thousands add their voice to Burma protests
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/burma-protest-numbers-grow-by-thousands/2007/09/24/1190486223208.html

The Guardian - Burmese junta threatens protest crackdown
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2176125,00.html

Church of Ireland
http://ireland.anglican.org/worship/weekdays/2007/23-09-2007.pdf