Meditation: "Here I am!"

Scriptures: I Samuel 3:1-10, 11, 20; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; John 1:43-51

       I admit that I am not a big fan of football. And I am sure I am in the minority of people who would rather read a book or take a nap than watch a football game.

     Having said that, I want to talk to you today about Tim Tebow. He is the 24-year-old quarterback of the Denver Broncos, the underdog team who battled and lost 45 to 10 to the Patriots in a playoff game last night.

     And how some people just don’t get it. 

     Some Christians are embarrassed by his public display of faith. Sports writers, radio and TV talk show hosts, and comedians make fun of his repeated confessions of Christ as His Lord and Savior and constant acknowledgment of God. They have even coined a term—“Tebowing”—to describe the way he kneels, bows his head, and gives God thanks after every touchdown and victory.

      But really there’s nothing funny or embarrassing about a young man who is so pumped about his faith that he can’t stop talking about it and trying to live it out.

     That’s pretty cool, actually. During a time when there are so many famous people doing things I would rather our children and teens wouldn’t hear about, here’s a guy whose Christian faith is laid out for the world to see every time he pulls on his helmet and steps onto the football field.

     Tim has become one of the most loved and sought after men in the game. An ESPN Sports poll says Tebow was voted America's new favorite athlete.  He has been the subject of numerous TV interviews and articles, including this week’s story in Time Magazine, Tebow’s Testimony.  Even his critics predict his influence for Christianity will be greater than that of the Rev. Billy Graham’s.

         Before last night’s kickoff, Tim spent time talking with a 20-year-old who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a preseason football game in 2008. Tim met Zack McLeod through his foundation's Wish 15 program, which grants special requests for young people with serious medical issues. Minutes before the start of last Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tim chatted with 16-year-old Bailey Knaub, a girl who has had 73 surgeries. Jacob Rainey, a young football player who had lost his leg, was the recipient of Tebow's pre- and post-game attention in Buffalo on Christmas Eve.

         Tim says it isn’t distracting to talk with these young people he calls “courageous.” Giving hugs and offering encouraging words to someone in need, he says, “puts everything into perspective” before an important game.

       He doesn’t hesitate to share his faith story, which begins with his birth. Doctors advised his mother to seek an abortion when she was pregnant with Tim and tests revealed something was wrong. She refused. Tim’s parents, former Baptist missionaries to the Philippines, are pro-life. Tim was safely delivered, despite a barely attached placenta.  Doctors called it a miracle. 

      Tim was, of course, raised in the church.  He was homeschooled and had to memorize Scripture if he wanted to watch TV.  He gave his life to Christ when he was 6. His talent for football became evident by the time he was a teen. He was so hotly recruited in high school that he was the subject of an ESPN documentary called The Chosen One. 

      Despite his passion and commitment to football as a student at the University of Florida, Tim still found time for ministry. While he led the team to a national championship, he also led Bible studies and preached in prisons, schools and hospitals.

      Tebow’s story came to mind this week as I studied our scripture readings. Psalm 139 is a favorite of pro-life activists. The psalm reminds me of Tim’s miraculous birth and his mother’s refusal to get an abortion. The psalmist speaks of how intimately Our Creator knows us and thinks wondrous thoughts about us we cannot understand. “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made... My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret…Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.  In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”

      In John’s gospel, Philip without hesitation responds to the Lord’s call to discipleship. And he can’t wait to find Nathanael and tell him about Jesus. Philip then leads Nathanael to meet Christ. He says, “Come and see.”  Tebow, too, is an enthusiastic disciple and invites others into relationship with Christ, something we are all called to do.

      In I Samuel, though the young boy receives a much more intense religious upbringing than Tebow experienced, it is the same idea of being nurtured in an environment of faith from a very early age. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, honors her promise to God and gives Samuel, when he is still a baby, to the Lord for Eli the priest to raise in the temple.

      Samuel, like Philip, allows God to use him and spread His word to the people. Samuel receives a special gift; he is able to hear God’s voice and see His visions. As a prophet, Samuel exhibits a kind of radical honesty that people cannot ignore. He shares God’s message no matter how unpleasant or unpopular.

     And God blesses him for his faithfulness. I Samuel 4 says, “As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground… All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.”

     After our Bible lessons today, I hope you will be inspired to read more about Samuel, who served as a judge and lawmaker for God’s people and anointed Israel’s first king.  May you savor the radical honesty and faithfulness of Samuel as a young boy who heard God’s voice and obeyed.

    And may you be inspired by Philip’s enthusiastic response to Christ’s call to discipleship and his excitement to introduce someone else to Jesus.

    And although the Bible is our only reliable authority for faith and life and Christ is the only perfect model for us, I hope some of Tim Tebow’s passionate Christian witness has made an impression on you. He has made an impression on me.

      I appreciate Tim’s courage to share his beliefs, no matter what the cost to his career and despite criticism and ridicule. I am impressed with his attitude of gratefulness—giving thanks to God for every good thing in his life. And I admire his willingness, in spite of his busy schedule and the pressures he must be feeling before and after a game, to give of himself and

care for strangers like young Zack, Bailey Knaub, and Jacob Rainey.

       I am sure Tim’s faith wasn’t shaken by last night’s game—when the Patriots stomped his team.  Nor would his faith be shaken by any loss on the football field. He said as much some time ago when asked why he takes time before every game to try and help someone who is suffering or dying.          

     “The game doesn't really matter,” Tim said. “I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference.” 

       Let us take with us today, then, the message to be bolder with our witness and more faithful to God’s call. Let us be more grateful for what the Lord has done.

       Let us be more willing to give of ourselves and invest in people’s lives so we, too, can make a difference.

       Let us listen for God’s voice and be ready to respond like Samuel, “Here I am!”

Meditation for the Baptism of Our Lord

Scriptures: Matt 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34.         

      Amidst the flurry of news coverage surrounding the race for the Republican nomination for president, we find that a candidate’s Christian beliefs are as important as ever to American voters in 2012.

       But some candidates are more open about their beliefs than others.

       Romney has been a Mormon bishop, leading worship and teaching Bible and the Book of Mormon and overseeing more than a dozen congregations. But he rarely talks about his faith publicly.

      Huntsman, also a Mormon, is more open. He said, "I believe in God. I'm a good Christian. I'm very proud of my Mormon heritage."

      Santorum is passionately pro-life and openly shares personal experiences that affected his faith. He is Roman Catholic. In 1996, his wife developed a life-threatening infection while pregnant; their son Gabriel was born at 20 weeks. He lived for only two hours. And Santorum and his wife have a 3-year-old daughter, Bella, with Trisomy 18, a rare, serious genetic disorder. Only 1 in 10 children with this disorder make it to their 1^st birthday.

       Gingrich was raised Lutheran and became Baptist as an adult. He converted to Catholicism in 2009 after his marriage to a Catholic woman. He decided to convert when he saw Pope Benedict XVI on his visit to the United States in 2008. He says, "Catching a glimpse of Pope Benedict that day, I was struck by the happiness and peacefulness he exuded. The joyful and radiating presence of the Holy Father was a moment of confirmation about the many things I had been thinking and experiencing for several years." 

     Perry grew up Methodist but attends a nondenominational church in Texas. Perry openly professes belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, intelligent design, and that people who do not accept Christ as their Savior will go to hell. He has taken some flak for saying that.

     Bachmann, who pulled out of the race this week, was raised Wisconsin Synod Lutheran. She defends her beliefs. She said, "I love Catholics, I'm a Christian, and my church does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ."

     A presidential candidate’s Christianity has always been important. Take Thomas Jefferson running against John Adams in the election of 1800. Jefferson, a wealthy plantation owner from Virginia, had to defend himself against the Federalist’s accusation that he was anti-Christ. Jefferson was a deist, professing faith in God. He prided himself on his power to reason and think scientifically. He distrusted all organized religion. The primary author of the Declaration of Independence was a staunch believer in the separation of church and state.  He denied that he was anti-Christ, but refused to share more, saying one’s faith is a private matter. He claimed his right to conscience, a right that was protected by our laws. He won the election, without revealing his true feelings about Christ and Christianity. A few years later, he told his friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush, that Christianity had been corrupted by the church AND by the gospel writers themselves. They added the miraculous stuff—the virgin birth, angelic proclamations, healings, exorcisms, and so on.  Jefferson said he was a Christian “in the only sense that Jesus would want anyone to be,” that he was “sincerely attached to all his doctrines, in preference to all others.”  He ascribed to Christ “all human excellence” and believed that Christ never claimed to be anything but human.

       Years passed. Jefferson was moved to piece together a book that would prove, once and for all, that he was a REAL Christian. He took out a sharp blade, perhaps his penknife, and cut out the New Testament verses he deemed authentic and threw away the scraps with miraculous details, including references to the Resurrection.  Then he pasted the selected verses onto a clean, blank book. The public did not know about the book, but his grandchildren published it after his death. The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth is displayed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

       Jefferson’s Bible ends abruptly with Christ’s burial. Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus lay Jesus inside the tomb, roll a great stone in front of the entrance, and depart.

       As you might expect, his book treats the baptism of Jesus very differently than the gospel accounts we read today. The Jefferson Bible says of the baptism, “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee unto John, to be baptized by him.” That’s it.  Nothing more. 

     In our whole, uncut New Testaments, the baptism story with some variations is found in all four gospels. Each one tells of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove onto Christ. Three of the gospels speak of the voice from heaven. In Matthew, the voice says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” In Mark and Luke, the voice addresses Christ, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

      John is convinced that Jesus is the Son of God because he sees the Spirit in a form of a dove.  This is the same Spirit that moved over the face of the waters at Creation. Rabbis have long spoke of the Spirit of God fluttering like a dove over the ancient chaos, breathing order and beauty into it. The dove in Palestine was a sacred bird, not hunted or eaten.  The picture of the dove was one that the Jews, including John, knew and loved. 

      The Hebrew word translated Spirit is ruach.  It means literally wind or breath.  The Spirit was power.  The Spirit was life. 

      The Spirit was God.

       I shared the Matthew account of Jesus’ baptism this week when I was visiting Henry and Jeanette. Henry had just been moved to the nursing home in Olivia from the hospital a day or two before.  The couple that will celebrate their wedding anniversary this week is separated, perhaps for the first time in many years, because of Henry’s health problems. You can imagine how hard this is for them.        

      We reached out to God in prayer, clinging to our hope in Christ when life is so filled with struggle, pain, and uncertainty.  I thanked God for His Spirit that came upon Jesus at His baptism, the same Spirit that comes to us at our baptism and transforms us into new creatures in Christ.  I asked that God’s Spirit would heal Henry and bring comfort and peace to the family. I thanked God for the Spirit that stays with us, guiding, comforting and giving us strength, wherever we are.  Because the Spirit of God dwells within us, we are never alone.

     As Christians who seek to obey God’s will and glorify Him with our lives, we must be willing and able to publicly confess our personal conviction in Christ our Redeemer.  The confession must come from the heart.

     Contrary to what Jefferson claimed, a real Christian knows it isn’t enough to accept Christ as an excellent man, with admirable words and deeds. He is also the Lamb of God, as John says, who takes away the sin of the world. Like John, I am convinced that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the Holy Spirit descended on Him at baptism.  I believe there was a voice from heaven, and it was God, saying, “My Son, my beloved.”

       And because of what God has done for us through Christ, God sees all who trust in Christ as their Savior as His beloved.  We are reconciled with God.  We have peace with God, in this world and in the world to come.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for speaking to us in Your Word.  Thank you for your loving Spirit that transforms us, shows us your Will, and guides our thoughts and movements every day. Thank you for your Son Jesus Christ and the salvation you offer to the world through belief on Him. Lord, we ask that you heal Henry. Take away his pain.  Help him to walk again. Give him comfort and peace.  Please open a space for him, if it is Your will, in the nursing home in Renville. So he and Jeanette can be together again. In Christ we pray.  Amen.

“My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation”

Meditation on Luke 2:22-38

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple; 

Simeon and Anna Bear Witness to the Redeemer 
 

       I met Julian of Norwich in a seminary history class. The anchoress and writer in 14^th century England was chosen by her community to live in a room of her church and serve God in the quiet through prayer, fasting, worship, and contemplative reading. Julian offered spiritual advice and comfort to people who came to her window that opened onto an alley. Her life was a stark contrast to the violent, frightening times in which she lived… through the Hundred Years War and the devastating outbreaks of Black Plague.

       Julian was stirred to write after she received a series of visions during a grave illness.  The visions began while she gazed at a crucifix and a man, believing she was dying, performed last rites. Her revelations focus on the love of Christ who was willing to suffer even more for the salvation of human beings and the love of God who was willing to sacrifice His own Son for the sake of all who are Christ’s followers or, as she puts it, Christ’s “lovers.” 

       Julian, amazingly, writes of a God with no wrath for humanity when the Medieval Church is preaching the opposite—the wrath of God being poured out on people and nations because of sin.

     She learns through her visions—both visual and auditory—that in Christ, God does not blame us for our sin. The wrath is all on man’s part—not on God’s. She finds hope when she hears Christ speak of a marvelous mystery hidden in God that will be revealed to us in Heaven, where we will have endless joy and bliss with Him.

      Christ tenderly assures Julian that despite the sin and suffering in her world, “all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

***

      Anna in our Luke reading today reminds me of Julian, in some respects.  Anna also lives in her house of worship, the temple.  She serves God with prayer and fasting, night and day.  She is only married 7 years when her husband dies. She does not remarry, despite the certain economic struggle she will have without a husband to care for and provide for her. She is either 84 years old or has been a widow for 84 years—it isn’t clear in this passage. 

      We know less about Julian’s personal life—not even her real name. She likely took the name of her church – St. Julian’s—when she took the vows of an anchoress, symbolically shedding her former, worldly identity. Like Anna, she may well have been an elderly widow.  But not having the freedom to leave her room or church, Julian preaches the gospel through her writings, which are miraculously preserved for hundreds of years. 

      Luke calls Anna a “prophetess.” She is the only one in the New Testament to bear this title.  A prophetess, like a prophet, has spiritual eyes to see what others cannot. Anna enters just as Simeon is giving his blessing to Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  Simeon, an elderly man, very touchingly tells God that he can now die in peace, “For my eyes have seen Your salvation….”

      But God uses Anna—not Simeon—to carry His message out to the world. Anna sees the infant and knows she has come face to face with her Savior. She gives thanks to God, and then, probably for the first time in many years, she leaves the temple. The elderly widow goes out into Jerusalem to preach the Good News of God’s redemption to all who seek to be redeemed.

***

     On Friday, when I was preparing this message, I took a long walk.  It was the day we had woken up to the surprise of a dusting of snow all around. I paused a while in front of our Nativity scene on the church lawn to consider the work of Christ that began with such a humble birth. My mind drifted to how 2 men worked hard to rebuild and strengthen the wooden shelter. It can now withstand wind and blowing snow to protect the 10 hollow plastic figurines inside. Those figurines may not look like much in the light of day, with their white power cords visible and their paint looking weathered and worn from decades of use. But after the sun goes down, the scene takes on an entirely different look. Bathed in soft, golden light, our Nativity announces to all who drive by on County Road 6 that Christ has arrived!

      And God is with us, still.

      The Nativity became a familiar and peaceful sight for me during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Just as the sun rose every morning to welcome the day, the warm glow—cast by 3 sheep and a shepherd; 3 kings bearing gifts; and Mary and Joseph with the Baby Jesus—greeted the night.

       Then yesterday afternoon, I looked out my window, and the Nativity was gone! Those who had labored so hard to set it up at the beginning of the season had taken it down.

        After all, it was New Year’s Eve. It was time to put away our Christmas decorations.  Our trees.  Our lights. Our stars. Our Nativity scenes. 

        But I felt sad.

        And then a song came to mind that dispelled my gloom. It was “Joy to the World.”

     “Joy to the world!  The Lord is come.  Let earth receive her king.  Let every heart prepare Him room.  And heaven and nature sing.  And heaven and nature sing.  And heaven and heaven and nature sing.”

      The Spirit was reminding me that although Dec. 25 has passed, Christmas is not really over. It doesn’t end when we put away the decorations.

       The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King.

      Christmas isn’t stored in boxes and bags in basements with strings of lights, angel ornaments, and figurines that glow. These are only reminders, symbols, of God’s sacrificial gift to us—forgiveness and new life through His Son.

      Let every heart prepare Him room!

      Christmas is forever inside of us, where we have made a place for Christ to dwell. He is as close to us as our beating hearts. His loving Spirit fills and renews us with every breath we take.

      Wherever we go, we carry the vision of God’s salvation.  The vision gives us the boldness to speak the Good News to those who don’t know Christ. And the vision comforts us as we eagerly await our Redeemer’s return.  When we, like Simeon and Anna, will see our Lord face to face. And we will say, “My eyes have seen Your salvation.”

      And heaven and nature sing.  And heaven and nature sing.  And heaven and heaven and nature sing. 

Meditation for Christmas Eve: Matthew 1:18-25

SERMON    “Remembering Joseph”            Pastor Karen

      Those of you who have ever stopped in at the manse have met our 2 dogs, Molly and Mabel.  Molly is 9 and a half and the bigger one – a sheltie with a bright white mane.  Mabel is 4 and a half and about one third her size. She is strawberry blonde, and has a frizzy tail that flops over her back. And she is a Pomeranian. 

     Now most people who like dogs like Molly.  She’ll bark a little when she first meets you, especially if you are carrying a box or wearing a dark hood. But then, if you hold out your hand and speak softly, she will lick your fingers and let you pet her. She is sweet and companionable, sitting at my feet when I am working on the computer or lying beside my bed when I sleep.  She likes to play with a rubber cupcake squeak toy and go on long walks, no matter what the weather.   

    People sometimes have a different reaction to Mabel. They can’t wait to get away from her. Especially if they are the UPS or Fed Ex man and they have to put up with her deafening, high-pitched barking when they knock or ring the bell and try to deliver a package. She doesn’t stop making noise until she is sure the intruder is gone for good.

    But Mabel loves my husband, Jim. She follows him around the house, up the stairs to his office and down again to sit nearby when he plays guitar. If he goes outside, she stares at the door until he returns.  She sleeps under the bed on his side and greets him every morning by scratching at the bed and yapping.  She plays tug of war with his sweatpants when he tries to get dressed to take her outside.

      Mabel has no fear and doesn’t seem to know how small she is.  She has jumped, bitten, and chased off much larger dogs that venture too close to her home and family.

     Mabel, though she is just a dog and not a human being called by God, seems to have a calling in life, nevertheless—to care for Jim and, most of all, to protect him from harm. 

     ***

    Today we read of Joseph, a “just man,” a “son” or ancestor of David, who is engaged to Mary. But Mary is found to be with child by the Holy Spirit before they are wed. Joseph is worried about what will happen when folks see she is pregnant, so he’s thinking about sending her off to have the baby in secret.  We know he is afraid to marry her because when the angel appears to him in a dream, the angel says do not be afraid to take her as your wife.

        But Matthew doesn’t tell us why Joseph is afraid. Scholars disagree about what being a “just man” means, as well.  Does that mean he is worried about his own reputation being ruined by marrying her?  Or is he just trying to spare Mary the shame and public humiliation of being found pregnant out of wedlock?

        We don’t know for sure. It is very likely, though, that Joseph, a simple carpenter, is afraid of what it might require of him to be husband to Mary and, as such, the earthly father of this baby who is the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, the one who shall be called Jesus for He will “save His people from their sins.” What a huge responsibility to be guardian and protector of the Savior for the world!

      Still, Joseph does as the angel of the Lord commands him. He finds that his true calling is to be husband and loving protector of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.

     Unfortunately, we often don’t think of Joseph in light of his true calling. We picture him in his occupation as a carpenter but rarely consider him in his roles as father and husband. Here at Ebenezer, we have a beautiful stained glass window devoted to Jesus learning carpentry with Joseph. I think we feel we can connect with a man who was skilled with his hands and whose work produced objects that were encountered and needed in everyday life.  We don’t have to look beyond our sanctuary to see the beauty of a carpenter’s work and how it blesses our worship.

         And yet the writers of the gospels don’t see Joseph’s occupation as that significant to the life of Christ.  The detail about Joseph’s occupation is completely omitted from Matthew, the gospel that provides more information about Joseph than any other.  In fact, we only know what Joseph does for a living because Mark, the gospel that doesn’t even identify Joseph by name, casually mentions in the sixth chapter that Jesus was the “son of a carpenter.” 

       Friends, at Christmas, our hearts tell us what’s important – and what should be our highest priority every day—not what Joseph did for a living or our own occupational identities. What’s important is our calling to be servants of the Lord—to love, care for, and protect the people God brings into our lives, no, not like silly little Mabel the Pomeranian adores and protects Jim, but like our Heavenly Father graciously, sacrificially, and unselfishly loves, forgives, and cares for us.

      This is how the gospel writers meant for us to remember Joseph—as the man who was faithful to God’s calling on his life to love and protect Mary and the Christ child, during uncertain, and violent times, and at risk to his own life.  Joseph continues to listen to the angel of the Lord, leading him to take Mary and young Jesus and flee in the middle of the night to safety in Egypt when King Herod seeks to kill the Child whom wise men say shall be the King of the Jews.  And though Joseph quietly disappears from gospel accounts after Jesus is around 12, Joseph, the “just man,” the godly man, the husband of Mary and earthly father to Christ, plays a humble but important role in our salvation history.

        At Christmas, we put aside our daily work and chores and follow our yearnings to come home to our families, come home to Christ. It is true that some people return to church after long absences, feeling drawn to the Lord and the old, old story that never fails to inspire us and strengthen our faith. Our hearts carry us back to the miracle in Bethlehem, the Living Christ who changed the course of history… Who brought light into darkness, hope where there was despair, and life into what was perishing. 

       We remember how God emptied himself of His divinity and became one of us. We remember how a virgin, with the help of a humble man named Joseph, brought forth her firstborn Son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.

      And called His name Jesus.

      For He will save His people from their sins. 

Let us pray.  Lord, thank you for bringing us back to Bethlehem, reminding us of our hope in the Living Christ, in your blessings of peaceful, abundant life.  Thank you that through your grace and faith in Him we have eternal life. Thank you for loving us enough to send your Son to suffer and die for us. Thank you for how you use our families and friends to show your tender care for us. Thank you for using humble, ordinary people to accomplish your plan for the salvation of the world and for coming to us when we could not make our way back to you on our own. Help us to be your voice, calling out the Good News of Jesus Christ to family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors who do not yet know you as their Redeemer and Lord. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Meditation on Luke 1: 26-38; 46-55

          “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Faith”          

Message for Fourth Sunday in Advent

Christ's Birth Announced and The Song of Mary 

     It all started with one empty banana box. John set it out in the lobby of his small church near the small town of Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania.  Oh, and he put up a sign requesting donations of clothing.

     You know the boxes I mean. The ones with holes that are used to ship bananas to grocery stores and Super Walmarts.  John noticed that banana boxes are relatively clean and strong enough for shipping clothing. He asked his local grocer what he was going to do with the banana boxes after the bananas were placed on display.

     Nothing, the grocer said.  So John got as many as he wanted for free.

     That was the easy part—finding the boxes to ship the donations of clothing, shoes, school supplies and personal care items. They would be shipped overseas to missionaries who distributed them to needy people, many of them refugees.

     The hard part was starting over—seeking his ministry and God’s Will for his life after he had already been the pastor of the church and principal of its Christian school.  Politics split the school and led to its closure. Afterward, John found himself in a mental crisis.  He sought help, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and began taking medications.  Slowly, with the support of God, his wife and his congregation, he began to crawl out of the deep well of depression he fell into when the situation at the school turned ugly.

     John couldn’t imagine life if he were not a pastor.  But he stepped away from his pulpit when anxiety wouldn’t allow him to speak publicly, let alone lead worship, preach, and do pastoral care.

     He wondered sadly if God would ever use him again.  If God could use him again, despite his struggle with mental illness. 

     He still had a heart for mission and the gift of compassion. And he was willing to serve however God led him to serve. He had lived in poverty and conflict as a child. He had experienced foster care, being moved from place to place.  He knew what it felt like to be hungry, needy, and the lonely outsider.

     Then, in 1991, his denomination’s district missions council asked him if he would be willing to serve as the compassionate ministries coordinator for the Washington District of the Church of the Nazarene, an area that covered 90 churches.   It didn’t matter to John that the position was new, not yet fully developed and completely volunteer.  He said yes.

    John read about a small African country called Mozambique that had undergone 15 years of civil war that left a million Mozambicans dead and 3 million refugees.  Half the country was unemployed. Drought had devastated the crops.  The people were in desperate need of food and clothing. 

    So John put out the banana box.  And he wrote about Mozambique in a newsletter that he sent to the 90 churches in his district.  He paid for the postage himself.

    The donations of clothing and shoes began pouring in.  They filled up the box in the lobby, then the entire lobby, the hallways, church basement, and garage. More clothes began to arrive, so John rented a trailer to store them in, again paying for it himself.  More than 1,200 boxes arrived.  And some church members helped John sort and repack the boxes, but he labeled and taped all 1,200 boxes himself.  Then he learned that he needed $8,000 to ship them to Mozambique. He felt faint. 

     He didn’t have $8,000.

     He sent a letter to churches that had donated clothing asking that they send money for shipping. They did.    

     On November 20, 1992, 15 volunteers from his church helped John load a container that was sent to Mozambique.  It was the first of many shipments of clothing and later school and medical supplies that originated from the tiny country church near the small town of Fawn Grove.

    God, who in His Word promises to mold and use us for good works He has already planned, blessed thousands of needy people around the globe through the ideas and efforts of one humble man and some gracious volunteers.

    Ordinary people.  Extraordinary faith.

***

   Why Mary is chosen for such a task—to be the one to bear the Savior of the World—only God knows. Luke does not explain why the Lord favors this young virgin, practically a child herself by our standards.  The bloodline is important, of course.  She is one of the children of Israel. And she is engaged to Joseph, who is a descendant of David.

     But we do not know what makes Mary so special that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ. 

     This puzzled me until I realized again this week that this is how God operates.  He doesn’t choose extraordinary people to do amazing things for Him; he chooses ordinary people who believe in Him and allow Him to do amazing things through them.

      Before the angel appears to Mary, she is just an ordinary Jewish girl living in Galilee. She says it herself—“My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior for He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me.”

      Although Luke tells us very little about Mary in this passage, he tells us what we need to know to understand who Jesus is. 

      He’s not just the Son of God.  He is also the son of an ordinary human being.

      In Jesus Christ, God takes on the form of a man with all his frailty. Christ had to suffer and be tempted in all the ways human beings experience, yet remain blameless—without sin—to be the perfect sacrifice for sinful humanity. 

     We couldn’t remove our own guilt, so our merciful God, because He loves us, removed our guilt through His Son, Emmanuel. So that in God’s eyes, because of Christ, we may also be seen as blameless, without sin.  We look ahead to the future with the hope of what we will be when God has finished making us into new creatures, transforming us into the likeness of His Son.

     It is as the angel Gabriel proclaims in our reading today, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

 ***

       Mary is a wonderful example of how God accomplishes His purposes through those who are willing to serve Him. As is John, the one whom people in his denomination affectionately call The Banana Box Man.

       And we have been chosen, Ebenezer, to do good works for God that He has already planned. We have been chosen not because we are so special but because God is gracious and works through ordinary people whom He blesses with extraordinary faith.

       We have that blessing, brothers and sisters.

       And God will equip us in the coming weeks, months, and years to do His good works.

       He will reveal His Will for us if we faithfully seek Him.

       If our hearts are open to serving Him however He leads us. 

       And if we sincerely believe the words of the angel Gabriel, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

     Let us pray… Lord, we are so thankful that you sent your Son to live among us, to be one of us, to save us from our sins.  Give us more of your extraordinary faith so that we may believe in your amazing love for us and so we may allow you to use us as you desire. Show us how to bring the love and peace of Christ to all we meet during this joyful season, when we remember and celebrate how you came to us so humbly, to an ordinary young woman named Mary.  In Christ’s name we pray.  Amen.

Pastoral Prayer for Third Sunday in Advent

     Merciful God, it is beyond our knowledge and understanding to put into words the wonders of your coming to be among us, and all that it revealed to us and continues to reveal to us.  We praise you for the light that came into the world at the birth of your Son, a light that is still shining and showing your glory to us.  Accept our worship that comes from hearts filled with awe and wonder.

     Lord Jesus Christ, as we prepare to celebrate your birth, we confess that we are often too busy with out festivities to take the time to think about all that your coming means.  We pretend that our arrangements of statues and trees and parties are how we can acknowledge your birth; but deep in our hearts we know that it is the way we live, the way we treat one another, the way we talk and love one another that are the sacrifices and proper celebrations you desire. 

     We thank you, Lord God, for creating the world and for sending your Son to redeem it.  We thank you that for our sakes he became human, died on a cross and was raised by your power.  We thank you that he is exalted in glory yet remains always with us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

     We thank you for your messenger and witness, John the Baptist.  We thank you for all who helped to prepare the way for the birth of your Son; for all who in love, service and suffering have walked in His way ever since; and for all who helped us know for ourselves the assurance of your saving grace.  In gratefulness we dedicate ourselves to following in His way, however hard it may be.

     Lord, as John came proclaiming your message of justice, may we, your church, be your voice for our own time in this wilderness here on earth.  We ask that by our words, prayers and actions, we may be messengers and witnesses for your kingdom of love, justice and peace.  As John came to prepare the way for your coming, may we, your church, seek to prepare the way for you to come into the lives of others.  Help us to follow Christ so that in all our relationships something of His love may be seen through us, something of His nature understood.  Strengthen us especially that we become your witnesses to the children; that we may teach and lead them to the knowledge of your grace.

     Lord, John came to challenge the religious people of his day.  May we, your church, always be ready to challenge our own attitudes and traditions in the name of your love.  Help us to make this congregation a place of healing where the anxious and depressed, the sick and the bereaved, and those who don’t recognize their own worth, may find acceptance and love so that through us they will see your glory and know that they are your beloved.  May our words, prayers and actions make us the forerunners of the joy that is life in Christ.

     You are here among us, Lord.  Comfort and heal your people, O Lord, so that all may know the wholeness of spirit that you desire for us. There are those among us suffering in body or mind.  Especially we ask that you be with those whom we name to you now: *Alice Beekman (surgery) *Ken Aalderks (persistent migraines) *Ione Wordes (recovering from cancer surgery) *George Fischer (recovering from shoulder surgery) *Laura Feldman (cancer) *Henry Freiborg (cancer treatments)  *Margie Hebrink (recovering from back surgery) *Barb Habben (Alzheimers and multiple health issues)  *Karen Polfliet (cancer)  *Sawyer Amundson (recovering from cancer surgery). 

    Be with us in our celebrations, O God:  birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, baptisms, and graduations.

   Be with our college children as they finish their last days of the semester and make the journey home.  Father, keep them safe.

    Be with those serving in the military who cannot be home for Christmas.  Father, keep them safe.

    We lift up to you individuals and families here among us.  Especially we pray this week for *Janice Geske and Brandon  *Barb Habben  *Anita Hagen  *Shawn & Sabrina Hagen and Aerial and Zandra.    

     Lord, hear our prayers and empower us to carry out your will on earth as we continue our prayer with the words our Lord left for us:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

forever. Amen.

Meditation for the Second Sunday in Advent

Wilderness Gospel

Isaiah 40: 1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8

     The first time I heard the expression, “You’re going through a wilderness,” a friend was explaining what she thought I was feeling as a young mother years ago. I remember reaching out to God in prayer, reading my Bible, and staying active with my church, and yet the situation I was struggling with wasn’t getting any better. I felt very little joy.  It was a kind of spiritual desert. A time when I felt separated from God, even though I knew, in reality, that it wasn’t true.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

      My friend Krissy compared my spiritual struggle to the journey of the Israelites.  They had escaped captivity in Egypt, only to find themselves wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. They were lost.  Tired. Afraid. Some wondered if Moses had led them into the desert to die.

***

     On this Second Sunday in Advent, a season when we both hope for the coming of Christ and celebrate God with us, we read about John the Baptizer. He is the voice crying out from the wilderness, calling us to repent.  All 4 gospels tell us that John’s wilderness ministry fulfills Old Testament prophecy about the messenger preparing the way for the Lord.

     John had shunned the comforts of the urban middle class and the distraction of things to live a life solely for God in the desert. He wore camel’s hair—a rough, harsh garment—as a sign of his penitence.  His food was locusts and honey—nourishment that the wilderness provided. 

     Here is a man whose life is intimately connected with Jesus, right from the start. Luke tells us that John leaped for joy when he was in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth, when Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, came to visit the older woman. Elizabeth, a relative of Mary’s, lived in the city of Judah in the hill country with her husband Zacharias, a priest. At Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  She called Mary “the mother of my Lord.”

      Elizabeth had been childless until an angel visited Zacharias to announce his wife would bear a son. The angel said this baby, John, would grow to be “great in the sight of the Lord.”  He would not consume any wine or strong drink, and he would be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The angel said John “would turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.  He would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

       John boldly spoke the truth, though it meant risking his life. He proclaimed a message of social justice during a time of corruption and greed in the ruling classes and great unrest amongst the masses. He called religious leaders “hypocrites” and “vipers.”  He blasted materialism and selfishness. He challenged those who pretended to be pious, but whose lifestyles did not demonstrate love of God and neighbor.

     His message sounds a lot like Christ’s, doesn’t it?  But Christ had not yet begun his public ministry.  And He would not until He heard that King Herod had John arrested and shut up in prison. John had rebuked Herod for all the evils he had done, including unlawfully marrying his brother Phillip’s wife.

     People listened to John. The Spirit moved the multitudes to come and be baptized by him. In our Mark reading, all the land of Judea, and all who lived in the city of Jerusalem, went out to the wilderness to confess their sins and be baptized in the Jordan River.  

     And Jerusalem was a city of about 50,000 people at that time. 

     Even Jesus came out to the wilderness to be baptized by John.    Jesus would later say in Luke, “This is he of whom it is written: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You…    

     “There is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist…”

***

       I never thought of a wilderness as anything but a bad place before our reading this week.  I remembered what Krissy told me years ago when I was struggling.  About the Israelites wandering around, feeling miserable and abandoned. 

       But I am sure now that I got it wrong. The miracle of the wilderness is that God is there with us. We aren’t abandoned, though we may feel that way. It is a place where we cannot take care of ourselves, but we can rely on God to supply all our needs. The wilderness is here, where we dwell at this moment as Christians, living in the time in between the Resurrection and the Second Coming. The wilderness is a place where we work hard in faith daily—where we worship, pray, and confess our sins—so that Christ can cleanse our hearts, over and over again.

      The wilderness is a place of both joy and suffering. Like we talked about last week with the story of the rat, we are surrounded by evil and temptation in this world. There is sickness. Sadness.  Loss. But this is where God wants us right now.  This is where He is using us for His loving work.

       Second Peter chapter 3 verses 8 and 9 remind us that God is not like us. He sees all eternity at once. He is patient and merciful. “Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise…. But is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

       For those of you who may be struggling to keep hope, are grieving a loved one or battling a serious illness, remember that our Lord is always our Good Shepherd, and we are His sheep, forever secure in His care.

     My fellow lambs, hear Isaiah’s words of comfort, “The Lord will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm.  And carry them in His bosom. And gently lead those who are with young.”

      On this Second Sunday in Advent, John the Baptist cries out from the wilderness.   

      Repent and confess your sins.     

      Be made whole. Be filled with joy. 

      Remember, there is no place, no wilderness, real or imagined, where Christ will not already be…..  waiting for you. 

Let us pray.

    Heavenly Father, we can’t understand your love for us and why you sent your Son to die for us.  We can’t understand what you see in us.  Why you would make such a sacrifice. We are sinful creatures, helpless sheep, unable to care for ourselves, unable to love each other like we should.  We thank you for your forgiveness and your Holy Spirit that dwells within us. We thank you for your loving plans for salvation and that you have no desire for people to perish. We ask that you would give us opportunities and the courage to share this wilderness gospel with our family, friends, and community. We pray, Lord, that you would help us see hope and light during this in-between time when we await your return and only see and understand things in part.  We look forward to when we see you face to face and understand fully.  And you will reign on your throne forever and ever. In Christ we pray.  Amen.