Sermon for Advent 2

Sermon Advent 2, 2010

Text: Isaiah 11:1-10

We spoke about the candle of hope last week, the hope that comes in the season of waiting that is Advent. Hope of a child to born to us, a child that will teach, and a child that will die. All for us. For all of us. Let us continue on the reflection we began last week by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

During Advent, Christians go back to that time of waiting as the Bible shows it to us. They read again the prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Old Testament. They read about how people were longing for an end to slavery, longing to be back home in some sense, longing to be at home with God again, longing for reconciliation. And all of that is expressed in the most powerful metaphors, especially in the prophesies of Isaiah, metaphors about the desert blossoming, metaphors about the rain falling, metaphors about day dawning after there's been a long, long night.

So during this four weeks before Christmas, that's what Christians are reflecting on. When Jesus comes into the life of the world with something unplanned, overwhelming, something that makes a colossal difference, we long for it and yet we don't quite know what it's going to involve. But this is a bit odd isn't it, you might say. Surely Jesus has come into the world and by now we ought to know what sort of difference he's made? But the truth is that we don't yet know the difference Jesus might make. We know some of the difference he's made to our lives as individuals, to the life of the Christian community, the Church, to the whole world. And yet there's more. We're still waiting to see what might happen if Jesus was allowed into our lives that bit more fully; that bit more radically.

So again for Christians, Advent is a time when they do a bit of self-examination. Have I allowed Jesus in yet? Has the good news really made the full impact it might make, or is my life still locked into old patterns, into darkness, into slavery, into being not at home with myself or God or with other people? It's a time of self-examination, of repentance indeed, facing myself honestly and saying sorry for the things that don't easily face the light. And it's a time of expectation and a time of hope. A time, therefore, also of quiet.

We will continue next week.

This week our candle is the candle of peace. In this week, at this moment, in all moments, we hope for peace. In Christ’s coming we hope for peace to come, we long for peace. We long for the quiet of peace. Or maybe the peace of quiet.

When we think peace, we think pauses of war. We think peace treaties, and armistices. We think a brief respite from the horror that is war and destruction. God’s peace is more than that though.

Peace is beyond ending war, peace is the understanding that all fear and all hurt will be banished and removed, the fear of disease, the fear of bullying, the fear of harassment and hate crimes, the hurt of hunger, hurt of inadequate housing, and any number of things. We hope for the end to these, there is crying from all corners of the world for their end.

This last Wednesday, the 1st, we recognized World AIDS Day.

Recently a program entitled “it gets better” began speaking out against bullying and hate crimes through a series of videos on YouTube, one of which was done by Bishop Mark Hanson, the presiding Bishop of the ELCA.

All over the world countless hunger programs work to end Hunger, ELCA World Hunger, The One Campaign,

There are many programs that work to establish housing and places of safety for this world.

Yet it is not enough, true peace is not here.

I saw a quote on a coffee mug while at Barnes and Noble’s this week, it said:

Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. – unknown

That is great for inner peace, but it is not true peace either. True peace is God’s peace. And God’s peace is so much beyond all ideas of worldly peace, God’s peace is more than simply that of ending war. God’s peace is not about our feeling comfortable, and finding inner peace in the midst of chaos. God’s peace is about everything that we see in Isaiah. Lambs with Wolves, Cattle with Lions, small children in the midst of venomous serpents, asps and adders. No hurt or destruction. God’s peace is miraculous change in the world, unimaginable places of grace and peace.

It asks us to consider what are the lambs and wolves of our world. This promise of peace is not a proclamation to a time passed, but a time to come. In our world, God promises that our own wolves and lambs, lions and calves will live in peace. Who are these groups? Democrats, republicans, blacks, whites, those of all creeds and confessions. There was a recent story when the Westburo Baptist church, known for protesting soldiers burials, protested on the campus of the University of South Dakota, a group of students also gathered to protest against the message that Westburo was presenting. These two will live in peace. But God’s peace is greater than simply huge widely separated groups living together, it is everything. God’s peace is for all things, all peoples, all situations. God’s peace is the peace that overcomes all. It is something that we cry for every worship service,

Go in Peace, serve the Lord,

Go in Peace, Christ is with you,

Go in Peace, remember the poor,

Go in Peace, Share the good news,

Thanks be to God.

That thanks is given to God for God’s work in bringing peace to this world, in all of our serving, sharing, and remembering, it is for the purpose of working to bring God’s peace to this world, all the while knowing that Christ is with us. The ELCA put out a social statement on the topic of peace in 1995, it concludes with the discussion of this sending. In the Sending:

We await the fulfillment of God's promise of eternal peace, not in resignation, but in grateful joy and active hope, for our time and place are also God's. God, who makes earthly peace possible, calls us to gather in worship. Baptized into Christ, we hear the Gospel and share Holy Communion, the foretaste of the peaceful feast to come. The Holy Spirit sends us into our everyday communities to be agents for peace. We are called to pray, and to live, for peace in God's world.

We do the liturgy and we disperse, trusting that the peace of God in Christ Jesus, "which surpasses all understanding" (Philippians 4:7), goes with us and prepares us to be peacemakers.

This week our candle is the candle of peace. In this week, at this moment, in all moments, we hope for peace. In Christ’s coming we hope for peace to come, we long for peace. And it is only through God that that peace can come.

We hope that peace comes, as the words of Romans say.

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.