Third Sunday in Advent: The time to come?

12/12

at Good Shepherd Faith

trio

Ta'u Papua

On the third Sunday of Advent, I actually got to preach to a live congregation in person at Good Shepherd Faith church near Lincoln Center. It was a joint service of their English speaking and Korean congregations combined.  And we were blessed by special music, both by a trio and a wonderful solo by NFL player turned rising opera star Ta'u Papua.  Here are my reflections on the day...

It’ s so good to be here. Since the pandemic began I have preached only in four in person services…three  in Pittsburgh…and one here. Covid is not going away any time soon, and no, neither horse medicine or mouthwash is going to protect you. The best we can do is get vaccinated and continue to wear masks.  And be smart but not crazy.

Wow…there is so much going on in the gospel this morning. We’ve got John the Baptist with his unapologetic anger. Calling people vipers…that was considered really bad. The myth was that vipers ate their way out of their mothers. And he’s talking about  the wrath to come and winnowing forks and axes to the root and unquenchable fire….serious stuff…by the time you get to the end, you have to ask…so this is good news?

SO let me go to the heart of the matter…his words are harsh, they are urgent and they are concrete.

He’s calling people to repent, turn their lives around and celebrate newness with baptism, a riff on the Jewish practice of the spiritually cleansing waters of the  mikvah. And receive forgiveness of sins…

But here’s the thing…baptism is not enough.  And neither is being descended from Abraham. Or being white. Or American. Or belonging to the right church. None of that counts. 

What counts is living your life in a new way. Making sure people are clothed and fed. And I might add housed. Please note that John doesn’t do a Jesus “give all you have..” You still get one coat, still get sufficient food. The reality is with all those who live with food insecurity, with hunger….there are sufficient food resources in the world to sustain all…we still pay farmers not to produce food…we have a problem not of production but of distribution…there are more vacant houses than there are homeless…and we now have 110% more than we did 10 years ago according to the census..with 254 people claiming Central Park as their address…

And see how he talks to the tax collectors and soldiers. Both these are despised with the community because they are essentially collaborators with the occupying Romans. The soldiers probably refers to those who worked for Herod, the Roman installed ethnarc. In each case he doesn’t tell them to leave their jobs, only not to exploit others. 

(Ched Meyers has pointed out that the way the system worked, it almost required tax collectors and soldiers to exploit others just to get by…systems do that,..)

One of my guilty pleasures on tv is Succession , with Brian Cox. Loosely based on the Murdoch family. Last week, one of the sons who had tried and failed to bring his father to justice said to his father, “I can’t do what you do. The only way you can do what you do is to be corrupt…” The system almost requires it to win…

No receiving forgiveness is not enough…taking care of each other …and the most vulnerable…is. It’s that concrete.

As for the wrath to come…maybe it’s already here. What we face right now is more than enough to deal with. As for winnowing  forks, wheat and chaff, traditionally we like to use passages like this to make us feel better. Like someone else is going to get it. Historically, our Calvinist forebears were very clear theologically that we could never say for sure who was saved. That was entirely up to God in God’s freedom to choose. But it kind of morphed into but if you look real close you can pretty much tell..and it’s us..

It’s like sheep and goats, wheat and chaff…we all are both, have both inside of us.  And the reflective part of Advent calls us as we seek to come to the manger of baby Jesus to seek to “winnow out” that of us that is chaff. To clear away that which gets in our way, chokes out the goodness inside of us. That idea that we are all sinners is what informs our Presbyterian polity, our way of doing things, and if you think about it, democracy as well. None of us is perfect…and we need each other.

I feel like I have seen more efforts to reach out this year…more voluntary efforts…my local Venezuelan coffee shop conducted a coat drive (if you have two…) and is now doing a book drive. The restaurants in my neighborhood are conducting a new toy drive.  The opportunities are there…

So…the time to come? The time is now…if we take care of now, there’s nothing to worry about. Not hurricanes or firenados or social unrest or pandemics or…the greatest gift we can give this baby Jesus we come to celebrate is to  take care of each other…in love…

Amen

 Luke 3: 7-18

7John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin 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. 9Even 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."

10And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" 11In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." 12Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" 13He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." 14Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

18So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

The Second Sunday of Advent: Prepare the Way

12/5

season of light

On the second Sunday of Advent, I was with the Beverley Church community again.  Here si my reflection.....

This is always one of my favorite Sundays of the year.  The Second Sunday of Advent.  The Sunday John the Baptist comes back to the stage again. But before we get to him, first a few words about Advent…Advent comes from the Latin to come…we’re talking about what’s to come…and specifically, we’re talking about the coming of Jesus.  And every year when  we enter Advent, we’re entering a season, a time of preparation for the celebration of 3 comings at the same time. 

First, there’s the very existential celebration of this year’s Christmas with who you will be with …family of origin or family of choice, friends, loved ones….the unique circumstances of this particular year as they are for each of us. And as we live in together as a community.   And as the world around us is inundated with the secular Christmas season, Advent can become for us a place for us of respite, of peace and refreshment for our soul. 

Second, we look back to the historic birth of Jesus, millennia ago, and try to make sense of God’s choice to enter into our world in human form. And what significance that might have for us today. 

And finally there is that coming yet to come, that so-called second coming when Jesus comes back to wrap things up, sing the 11 PM grad finale song  and pull the curtain down on this production.  But in a recent conversation with my friend Naim Atik from Jerusalem, he suggested that another way to translate this is not second coming, but Jesus comes again. Again because in fact, Jesus never has left us. He has been here  with us all along, amen, 

So now we’re ready for John. I want you too notice something….how very specific Luke is about time:

1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 

He wants to be very specific.

Like hear this:

The first year of the Presidency of Joseph Biden, the last year of the mayorship of William De Blasio in the last month before the mayoralty of  Eric Adams in the year that Kathy Hochul succeeded Anthony Cuomo when Francis is Pope in Rome and Bob Brashear about to be installed as Moderator of New York City Presbytery (had to work that in) the word came to the people of Beverly in Brooklyn, See? Like that…

Now who was this John the Baptist? According to Luke, he was the son of Zechariah…Zechariah, a priest of the Jerusalem Temple.  That means John came from privilege, like being the son of a tell steeple preacher. From the heart of the religious establishment. This is the one who will head out to the desert, dressed like the most radical of hippies, and go way beyond vegan diet wise. 

I recently watched the new movie The Eyes of Tammy Faye.  It was the story of famous Tammy Faye Baker, wife and ministry partner of PTL Club founder televangelist Jim Baker. She of course famous for her make up and high gloss finish. Actually, she rocked a lot of boats by not simply accepting a woman’s role as “helpmate”, openly talking about what Christian couples could do to improve their sex lives to bringing an openly gay pastor on her show. The evangelical establishment was scandalized.

This was all before their empire came crashing down because of Jim's conviction for mail fraud and his hush money  sex scandal. But here’s what I’m getting to…several years ago, I had an encounter with their son Jay.  Turned off by what he had seen of religion, he walked away from it entirely. Got his hair punked out,  got some serious  tattoos and dived into the world of alternative culture.

Where I encountered him was in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he had felt called to be a pastor of his own unique style and far from the Bible Belt in the urban wilderness he created the Revolution Church at Pete’s Candy Store preaching a gospel of love, non-judgment and acceptance. And social responsibility. He had special heart for young people who were runaways or throw aways or otherwise outcasts. And there’s a special place in his heart for the LGBTQ community who had surrounded his mom with so much  love as she was dying of cancer.

When I think of a modern-day John the Baptist, he’d look a lot like Jay Baker. 

So what was John the Baptist up to?  proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…. Telling his community that it was time to turn around, go a new direction …and accept forgiveness. 

Quoting from Isaiah, he called the people to join him in the work of messianic preparation ….leveling the mountains, lifting up the valleys, making the way clear…serious accessibility…curb cuts and elevators and kneeling buses…that kind of smooth path ..like they say on the subway, this is an accessible station…the road to salvation is barrier free….

That’s what Advent is for us….a time of preparation, for getting ready,,,we should start our service with Prepare ye the word of the Lord from Godspell and finish with People Get Ready there’s a Train a Comin…

What dies that mean for us today? We live in a time of great stress and tension. The greatest income disparity since the 1920’s. A global pandemic that shows no sign of ending soon. Hurricanes on the coast, firenados in California, the greatest flowing stream of refugees and migrants the world over close to half our people don’t believe in democracy anymore. My oldest son said to me, dad, I’m not sure I believe in God, but if he was trying to gat our attention it would  look something like this…

But I also remember my friend Father Duffell who said, For most of us, reflecting  on our own death, our own mortality is apocalypse enough. If we take care of our own lives, God will take care of the rest…

Advent is a time of preparation. For the coming Kingdom (Kindom) of God. And we do that by stepping into and living in the kingdom that is already here. The community of those who  choose to gather in the name of Jesus. And practice then ministry of forgiveness of sins. There is a story about a man who asked his rabbi, Rabbi is it necessary to pray for forgiveness every day?  And his rabbi responded, No.not at all.  Only on the day before you die…

And so it’s time to get ready, to get prepared. The best Christmas gift we could give the coming baby Jesus …and each other…and ourselves..would be to truly live out a life of repentance and forgiveness of sins…beginning  with the one we have the most difficult  time forgiving, mainly ourselves.

In the very particular circumstances of this very particular year, let us prepare the way, let us prepare the way…

Let those with ears to heart, hear….

                                                                               *****

 1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

5Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

6and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Living in coronavirusworld 224: from the inside out

 12/7

pop up tests

West Park

Cold day.  On my walk. I see a pop up cover testing site in response to the spike in numbers.  Down at 86th and Amsterdam, new scaffolding is going up at West Park to replace what came down in the hurricane.  

John 1: 6-8,19-28

Tonight in Bible Study, we’re looking at the Gospel reading for the third Sunday in Advent. Usually known as “Joy” Sunday. Or Mary’s Sunday. The pink candle Sunday. And usually the Sunday when we read Mary’s militant magnificat. But the actual reading for this Sunday in Year 3 is John’s version of John the Baptist. A second visit in two weeks. Why? What’s up with that? The Magnificat is only an alternate. The John reading doesn’t; seem to have much socio-political punch and pretty much leaves me cold. I’d just as soon go to the Magnificat. But for that very reason I want to go with John. The pericope is cut to leave out all John’s cosmic Christ prologue, we’ll get to that on January 1. Some commenters believe that was originally a separate  poem anyways. All we’re left with is John.  Clearly based on Mark 1, which we studied last week, it becomes John’s own creation.  This is the most developed testimony of John about the Christ in the gospels. 

Luke is the only other Gospel to include Messianic expectations of John. The Messiah being the anointed king expected at the end of time. (His repeated denial seem to indicate that even in the time of John's writing, this was still an issue.)When John uses the word Jews, (19) he is referring to religious authorities, most likely Pharisees. But that word usage will create havoc and suffering for Jewish people for millennia. The Levites were Temple assistants, liturgical aids, administrators, musicians, guards, singers, etc. I explain that indeed the names rooted in Levi, eg Levy, Levine, etc., came from the tribe of Levi. Names like Cohen, Kahane, etc. come from the priestly class. Ultra Orthodox Jews believe that when the Temple is restored, people with these names need be ready to take on the assigned tasks. Ignoring how immigration officials at Ellis Island randomly assigned those names to Jewish immigrants for decades.  The question they bring to John is who are you, really?

Is he Elijah? Expected to return at the end?  Or a prophet like Moses?  He denied this  and quotes Isaiah 40: 3, he is the voice crying in the wilderness. The one they seek is “among you” but you don’t know him, referencing the prologue’s "..but the world knew him not..” He says the one who comes after me will be greater than me because he was before me, referencing the prologue's eternal Christ again. Amber Lee immediately gets that this is an early Trinitarian formulation.  That  if Jesus is divine, he had to be there from the beginning and if God is one, then Jesus and God are one and so eternally. This  all takes place on the east bank of the Jordan, in what today we call Jordan. And I describe how Jordan has its own set of holy places on the rive bank in parallel to Israel, most notably Jesus’ baptism place. 

So what is significant about all of this? First, in contrast to a certain contemporary President we endure, John is adamant that this is not about him. He is only the Messenger. The message matters, not him. And while the other readings today explicitly speak of liberation and deliverance (Luke 1:46b-55, Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11 and Psalm 126), John sees his job as preparing the people for restoration. The one who comes will baptize with the Holy Spirit, the people will be changed from the inside out. And that inside work is important. As much as Psalm 126 calls us to rebuild cities, we need to rebuild broken hearts, broken relationships and broken spirits. We are called to deal both with the external and internal. As much as we are to work for peace and justice, we are also to work for compassion and connection, it’s both/and.  Which I need to hear. I’m always suspicious of the internal focus as taking way form the external. A place to get lost. But the older I get, the more I recognize the importance of the internal. 

Certainly laws shape behavior and attitudes often follow behavior but the current division in our country shows the limitations of that strategy. Certainly the current President has shown how easy it is to organize unchanged hearts. 

We are called to make the path straight. We do that through living as citizens of God’s reign. When we touch people with love and through our actions, we have made straight the path and prepare the way for people to open their hearts to God’s transforming presence. 

I came to see that preparing the way is every bit a concrete justice work as the Magnificat.

(Thanks to Jon van de Laar, a Methodist pastor in South Africa for his thoughts on this passage.)

                                                     ****

Because we are living in coronavirusworld, we gather on ZOOM to remember our friend Rachel. We share out stories about this woman who, as one person put it, was old New York, when a nurse could  own a townhouse on Central Park and there were annual bloc parties.  We celebrated her attitude of grace toward life, never judging, accepting. Understanding  how complicated life could be. Anyhow important love is and passion, wherever, however they come.Welcoming any in need of a place to stay. I recalled how when she hit 90, she decided she could smoke again and how our communion was a Nat Sherman special cigarette from the tobacconist and a shot of single malt scotch on ice. And how I came to enjoy the Westminster Kennel Dog show with her, something I never would have done otherwise. And her profound sadness when her daughter died of bipolar and depression. So many stories. She was a woman in full. I said the final prayers. We had a toast, appropriately. And said farewell. 

Living in coronavirusworld 219: John the Baptist, back again

11/30

Morningside Park tree

In the cold and dark, I walk. There is a single tree lighted in Morningside Park. Happy to see it. I take in the first neighborhood Christmas decorations. 

In tonight’s Bible study, we are preparing for the Second Sunday in Advent. One of my favorite Sundays. In secular culture, we welcome Santa Claus. In the church, John the Baptist make his annual appearance. This year, we read the story in Mark 1: 1-8. 

On first hearing, Amber Lee likes the idea of being changed from the inside out. Michael likes the drama. Marsha loves the change of “infrastructure,” that broad highway. And Dion, who knows from personal experience, the call to transformation.  And as Michael points out, you cannot hear the words o          f Isaiah without hearing Handel’s Messiah. I recall how we once had a study of “the Gospel according to Handel,” his majestic creation formal tie it’s own unique witness.

I share that it is subversive from the opening words. “Gospel” was used by the Romans to announce military victories. The word “Christ” for one who was “anointed” and “Son of God” usually attributed ot the emperor. In other words, Mark takes the language of the empire and stands it on its head. This is announcing a victorious one like w ehe. Never experienced before. This is the announcement of sn alternate “empire.” It’s important to not estate for Mark, the term “Christ” is honorific, not divine. And ”son of God”means an obedient Servan, no ta biological declaration of procreation.

Mark places his story in the wilderness, where the fleeing exiled children of Israel became a people. He draws on the language of Isaiah, especially 40, to create the agenda for this anointed one. 

The act of Baptism is associate with the cleansing  waters of the mikvah. Where one goes to become ritually “clean” again and also to become “converted.” John is in essence saying that the institutional form of the religion of Israel has become so corrupted, so in collaboration with empire as to require an act of rebirth, recreation, not in the temple or its environs but in the wilderness. As for repentance of sins, we have come to think of the word as connoting individual shortcomings, but for John, like the prophets he recalls, it refers to the rebellion of a people against their covenant with the creator. As we have since found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, baptism was a rejection of the Temple, its ethos and culture.

John’s appearances, apparel and diet recall Elijah, the forerunner of redemption, and also the Nazirite tradition of ascetic commitment and accompanying strength, like Samson with his flowing hair. One can almost see the dreadlocks. 

We recall from other gospels that John was a child of a temple official, Zechariah, a tall steeple preacher as it were. And a cousin of Jesus. A sixties era counterculture icon. But not here. In Mark, he simply appears. 

Marvel comics and their related movies feature superheroes and sooner or later their “origin stories.” Here we have the Jesus ‘origin story.” Matthew and Luke have magic baby stories and John the cosmic Christ who arrives like Ka-lel from the planet Krypton. But in Mark, no Mary, Joseph, carpenter story. None of that. Jesus is just a man drawn to what he has heard of John to the wilderness. It’s helpful to approach this story as if it were the only one. Reading on a few verses we note that while John understands his forerunner role, he does not single out Jesus. And as for the spirt that calls out Jesus as he is baptized, only Jesus sees and hears  this. The stripped down spare language of Mark’s words is  powerful in its singular beauty.  We read twice the prophet Isaiah (61):

 1cThe Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]

2 

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 

    and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.

And we realize these are the very ones called out as “blessed” in the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount we read a few weeks ago. The year of the Lord’s favor being the realization of the long awaited fulfillment of the jubilee with its reboot for all families, forgiveness of debts and restoration of lost land. Like Jesus’ self avowed work was to make the jubilee a reality. 

Mark was trying to connect an occupied people with its heritage as free people. With awareness that its failure to care for the least  of these weakened the bonds that held together  a society and opened thee door to colonial  l occupation and exile. 

So what does this  mean for us in our own day? How are we occupied ? In exile? What would repentance look like for us? What new birth, what inn dwelling of God do we look forward to celebrating on December 25th? And are we willing to be changed?

This will clearlry be a different “holiday  season.” Much of the usual hustle and bustle, shopping, rounds of parties, etc. not happening or made virtual. But our community time as church can still be a refuge, a place of quiet, peace and reflection as we contemplate the coming of the holy one in our midst. 

Let’s see where the journey will lead.

Mark 1: 1-8

1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2As it is written in he prophet Isaiah,
     “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
          who will prepare your way;
3   the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
          ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
          make his paths straight,’”
4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

• 
  

Advent 2: Getting Ready

12/9

Ready for Christmas at Good Shepherd Faith

I arrived at Good Shepherd Faith on the Second Sunday of Advent to find the place all a sparkle and glowing. (In large part thanks to Elder Neil..) After lighting the candles,

Lighting the Advent candles

prayers, hymns and scripture, here was the reflection I shared with the church...

So I'd made a big mistake yesterday. I went downtown to do some Christmas shopping at Macy's. I had forgotten  it was that one day when  the very image of a Santa suit strikes terror into the hearts of even the most hardened and hardy New Yorkers. Santacon Saturday.....

One of my best New York memories was the year when a surging wave of Black Lives Matter marchers crossed paths with a wavering surge of drunk Santas. For a few blocks we had drunk guys in Santa suits chanting "Black lives matter." and a few had to be helped back to their original path. That's12/9

I arrived at Good Shepherd Faith on the Second Sunday of Advent to find the place all a sparkle and glowing. (In large part thanks t Elder Neil..) After lighting the candles, prayers, hymns and scripture, here was the reflection I shared with them....

So I'd made a big mistake yesterday. I went downtown to do some Christmas shopping at Macy's. I had forgotten  it was that one day when  the very image of a Santa suit strikes terror into the hearts of even the most hardened and hardy New Yorkers. 

One of my best New York memories was the year when a surging wave of Black Lives Matter marchers crossed paths with a wavering surge of drunk Santas. For a few blocks we had drunk guys in Santa suits chanting "Black lives matter." and a few had to be helped back to their original path.  Like they sing in the the Radio City Music Hall spectacular  sequence,  that's "Christmas in New York."

Getting  ready. I was out to get ready. That's what we're up to these days.

Like Paul Simon sings:

From early in November to the last week of December
I got money matters weighing me down
Oh the music may be merry, but it's only temporary
I know Santa Claus is coming to town
In the days I work my day job, in the nights I work my night
But it all comes down to working man's pay
Getting ready, I'm getting ready, ready for Christmas Day

And that's what our gospel is about today...I always look forward to this day because it's John the Baptist coming back again.  He's such an interesting character. Especially as a cousin to Jesus. We don't often think about the fact that his father was a priest in the temple. I mean the temple. He was, in essence, the son of what  we call a tall steeple preacher. You couldn't be more establishment. He's like one of those rich kids who turn hippy or ran away and joined Occupy Wall Street. And he's out there in the desert in animal skins and a raw nature diet preparing the way for his poor cousin Jesus. Straight from the prophet Isaiah (and you can almost here Handel:

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

5Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,


and the rough ways made smooth;

6and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

(For what it's worth, Isaiah was a court prophet as opposed to street prophets like Micah and Amos...)

One thing I want you to see is how specific Luke is about timing:  

1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 

He wants to put all this in a very specific socio- historio- political context. To tell this story about a specific time and place. Because that's how God breaks into our world...it always takes the particular to reveal the universal. Jesus comes to us in the second year of Trump's Presidency when Cuomo  was governor of New York and Di Blasio mayor of the city and Egan Cardinal of the city...you get the idea...

And by implication, God comes to us, the incarnation comes to us, Jesus comes to us, in the specific context of our lives. And let me tell you...the specific context of our lives, right now, today, is not easy...

My son last week at my birthday brunch asked me if I remembered a time in my life that was "so weird"...and I said, "Yeah, 1968...a sitting President decides not to run, Martin Luther King, Jr assassinated, leading Democrat candidate Bobby Kennedy assasinated, Democratic convention descends into chaos, mired deep in Vietnam and we wind up with Nixon as President...yeah, that was a rough year..."
(By the way, my band is doing a production of a 1968 album...of 12 people onstage, only 3 were alive i 1968. One who was 4, one who was 11...and me...)

So how do we respond, prepare in our day?  How many here remember "Amahl  and the Night Visitors"? It was an annual event for my family growing up.  I saw a production last week that profoundly moved me.  Onsite Opera staged it at Holy Apostles Soup kitchen. Right after a meal. The lead roles were all opera professionals but the chorus was made up mainly of current (and formerly) homeless people. (Once again, breaking our stereotypes..) Amahl's mother starts off wiping the tables and the opera emerges from the heart of the kitchen, which is actually the sanctuary of the church. OSO has partnered with "Breaking Ground," an organization that works to move homeless people from shelters to permanent affordable housing.(see  http://west-parkpress.blogspot.com/2018/12/amahl-and-night-visitors-from-soup.html )

That to me is a wonderful example of how an arts organization seeks to, as my Jewish friends say, "heal the world,""..preparing the way.."

A friend of mine in Ottawa, a former Occupier and tattoo artist, is working with others to fill backpacks with clothes and necessities, including hand knit scarves and mittens, for that city's homeless.

Years ago this church helped me create an annual concert for the homeless. It moved on to be on its own, but nevertheless was a creative cooperative effort.

We do what we can. In the ways that are appropriate to us. 
I'll finish with these words of Paul Simon:

If I could tell my Mom and Dad that the things we never had
Never mattered we were always okay
Getting ready, oh ready, ready for Christmas Day
Ready, getting ready
For the power and the glory and the story of the
Christmas Day

And so I ask you? How are you getting ready for Christmas Day? What are your stories?

I get various answers. One man's wife has just lost her mother. Wondering how to celebrate Christmas a time of grief. i recalled the Christmas my grandmother died. The importance of family being together. Others of the importance as a place of quiet during a time bustling with activity. A single mother  speaks one speaks of the importance of the Radio City Music Hall Spectacular to her daughter.  And a young man is continuing to do his annual project of answering the letter to Santa of children from a housing project even though he is unemployed this year. We do what we can. 

A time for coffee and cake and then back into the cold. Getting ready for Christmas....












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Advent 2: Preparing the Way

12/10

Decorated for Christmas

A cold December morning. The first snow. The second Sunday in Advent. And I'm on my way to Good Shepherd Faith Church. I enter the church to find it lit up with lights and holiday decorations. We light the Advent candles.

Lighting the second candle

Here was my "prompting," as they call the sermon, intending  and expecting ,response... for the day: 

'Comfort Ye"

This always used to be one of my favorite Advent Sundays.  Some of my favorite Bible verses and one of my favorite characters, John the Baptist. SO many memories...like when we all got together and did "Comfort Ye" at West Park? It continues to this day at SPSA but long forgotten is the role of our friend John in creating the project. I can still hear the solo tenor voice, maybe our late friend Philip,  opening the evening in the darkened sanctuary, "Comfort Ye..." Handel's Messiah. 

"Prepare Ye"

And the times at West Park when we would  open this Sunday with Godspell's "Prepare ye the Way of the Lord..." Has it ever been done  better?  That solo voice (in the wilderness?) crying out and one by one joined by others? 

Yes....lots of memories. But here interrupting, disrupting, disturbing...comes John the Baptist...crying out..'Prepare Ye the way of the Lord.."

So...who is this guy?  This man dressed in animal skins and living on 'locusts and and wild honey?" Like a dedicated  nazirite, those ascetic prophets of the Lord. 

By tradition, Jesus' cousin.His mother Elizabeth  carrying  him as Mary carried Jesus. Son of Zechariah, a  temple priest..son of a tall steeple, 5th Avenue or Brick Presbyterian (Associate) Pastor.  One way or another, a child of privilege. Turns hippie and heads to the wilderness. 

Or like Jay Baker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye, who walked out of the PTL  Club televangelist world and eventually walked into Pete's Candy Store in the wilderness of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, tattoos and all, to start the Revolution Church....

Think about that....

Jill Duffield who writes lectionary commentaries for the Presbyterian Outlook, reminds of  us of an old story about the importance of punctuation:

Let's eat,mother
Let's eat mother.
Commas save lives

In this  case it's  the placement of a colon:
In Isaiah . 
3   A voice cries out: 
     “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, 
          make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

In Mark:
          who will prepare your way; 
3   the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 
          ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, 
          make his paths straight,’” 


Are we to hear a voice crying out in the  wilderness to prepare a way?
Or hear a voice telling us to prepare a way in the wilderness?
And does it ultimately matter?

I've got two issues for  you...
First of all, what is wilderness to you?
and second, What does preparing the way mean?

Wilderness...good or bad? Positive or negative? It's where Israel became a people...where Jesus went to be tempted, to figure himself out... a pace where thngs are stripped down, simplified, clear...

or...man does it  feel like  a wilderness now...(Duffield)
 Such wilderness wanderings are fraught with wild beasts, unexpected visitors and disorienting landscapes, but they also include manna, water and angels.

You don't have to go to the wilds of northern New York, those thick forests north of  Lake Placid on the way to Canada...there can be a wilderness right here in the city..Williamsburg or Upper West Side..

What is your wilderness? What do you hear there?

How do we prepare?  The women have called us to attention here...with the "me too"....so Al Franken's down...but  what about Roy Brown? And need i say it, the president himself?

And we can't let this issue  lead us to forget that we who are white folks have a lot of work to do to start deconstructing white privilege as well as male privilege. What have you all in this congregation experienced in your efforts to be a multicultural congregation learned? What do you have to share? What stories to tell? 

I had dinner last night with the former Dutch Human Rights Ambassador to the United Nations...He said that the diplomats he knows   want to know why we aren't rising up...filling the streets...what's going on?

I couldn't really answer that. The Revolutionary Communist Party has tried, but as could be expected, no mass uprising yet.  

Start by being honest to yourself about yourself..then  we all come together ...that's how we begin to prepare the way...

This time  there was  much conversation about what preparing the way meant, especially  in this day. Some discussion  of Jesus' anger. Knowing  time and place of our responses. The general mood of tension in our subways and buses. The power of just one kind  act. Our responsibility to lighten the world with kindness.  A good conversation. 

Over coffee downstairs there is casual conversation with the arriving members of the Korean language service. The conscious desire to connect in simple ways. 

They call this the Advent Sunday of Peace. 

Getting ready to preach

First Reading Isaiah 40:1-11

1   Comfort, O comfort my people, 
          says your God. 
2   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.

3   A voice cries out: 
     “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, 
          make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 
4   Every valley shall be lifted up, 
          and every mountain and hill be made low; 
     the uneven ground shall become level, 
          and the rough places a plain. 
5   Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, 
          and all people shall see it together, 
          for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

6   A voice says, “Cry out!” 
          And I said, “What shall I cry?” 
     All people are grass, 
          their constancy is like the flower of the field. 
7   The grass withers, the flower fades, 
          when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; 
          surely the people are grass. 

8   The grass withers, the flower fades; 
          but the word of our God will stand forever. 
9   Get you up to a high mountain, 
          O Zion, herald of good tidings; 
     lift up your voice with strength, 
          O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, 
          lift it up, do not fear; 
     say to the cities of Judah, 
          “Here is your God!” 
10  See, the Lord GOD comes with might, 
          and his arm rules for him; 
     his reward is with him, 
          and his recompense before him. 
11  He will feed his flock like a shepherd; 
          he will gather the lambs in his arms, 
     and carry them in his bosom, 
          and gently lead the mother sheep.

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

1   LORD, you were favorable to your land; 
          you restored the fortunes of Jacob. 
2   You forgave the iniquity of your people; 
          you pardoned all their sin.                                              Selah

8   Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, 
          for he will speak peace to his people, 
          to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. 
9   Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, 
          that his glory may dwell in our land.

10  Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; 
          righteousness and peace will kiss each other. 
11  Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, 
          and righteousness will look down from the sky. 
12  The LORD will give what is good, 
          and our land will yield its increase. 
13  Righteousness will go before him, 
          and will make a path for his steps.



Gospel Mark 1:1-8

1The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2As it is written in he prophet Isaiah, 
     “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, 
          who will prepare your way; 
3   the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 
          ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, 
          make his paths straight,’” 
4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”