Sermon Advent 2 2013

Sermon:

Text:

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who comes to us in darkness and brings forth life.

What does it mean for something to be dead?

That’s a rather strange question to be asking at this time of year as we gear up for Christmas. But, in many ways when we look around us, while we gear up for life and light, everything else is gearing down for death, well, dormancy, and darkness. Trees have lost their leaves, and look like skeletons of their summer vibrancy, the grass was browning, and is now lost beneath a small layer of snow. Even evergreens seem to not have that same green fullness as in spring and summer. Many birds are gone, and the ones left are few and far between. Animals tend to hunker down and live off reserves or only come out when necessary. In the season of light, everything is darkness.

And when you look at the times when the bible talks of the coming messiah, it’s not in moments of growth and warmth, it’s in those periods where death and darkness loom.

            In our reading from Isaiah today we get the heart of the first of its three sections.  They are not in exile, but they see the Babylonian empire expanding closer and closer, knowing that soon the inevitable will occur. And in this call they look for a messiah not because things are glowing around them, but because they see only darkness ahead. Isaiah speaks not to a people experiencing life, but fearing death.

            John the Baptist words that he speaks from the wilderness are not at a resurgence of Jewish power, but as they are becoming more and more controlled by Rome. John’s words are not to a people seeing life, but seeing death.

            Jesus comes to earth not to people experiencing life, but to people in the midst of death.

            Our Isaiah passage for today captures that perfectly.

            A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

            A stump is dead, from outward appearances at least, and yet, here this shoot arises. From the midst of death, God brings forth life.

            During this season of advent, we can often look around and we see smiles and cheer, singing and laughter, but beneath that I think most of us are a little dead, emotionally speaking, the run of the year has caught up to us, those good cheer resolutions from January are long gone. Bills are starting to pile up as heating and other expenses rise. And while we put on a good face, we often wonder, what will Christmas be like this year?

            It’s that question that shows us why we need Advent and can’t just jump to Christmas. We need this time to see why we need Christmas. Christmas is not because we are all cheerful and happy, and everything is going well, but because we are dead and Christ brings life.

And so we wait in Advent for Christ to grow new life in us. For God to sprout in our hearts, for a shoot to come up in us as well.

We seek God to work in our lives.

And we see in Isaiah what God is possible of.

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.

            I look at this text but then I think about scenes from Black Friday. I think about seeing packs of people pouncing on one another in the search of deals. I look at stories from around the world of fighting and war. Of people deliberately killing each other in supposed acceptable circumstances. And I see stories of murders, theft, lies, and adultery, of people breaking every commandment there is.

            I don’t think I need to go beyond saying, that’s not what Christmas is about. What Christmas is about is this text from Isaiah, those wolfs and lamps, lions and ox, children and snakes. And God bringing them together. As I told the kids, it’s about community.

A community that sees the hardship their neighbors faces and holds each other up. Who knows that for some a Christmas greeting is difficult, and offers a hug as well. Who knows that this time of togetherness is empty for some and gives a call or visit to cheer.

            That’s what Advent prepares us for, for God to work in our lives, the shoot of God’s love to sprout in us, changing us to be able to walk in that light. To help us show forth that love to our neighbors and all in need. To help us see that this is not our work, but God at work.

Advent prepares us by showing us that even though we are dead Christ is coming to bring life.