Sermon Be Alert Rev. Sandy Lacey December 01, 2024
Celebrating Advent (not Christmas) in the Church is puzzling to most folks, both in and outside the church. While the culture is focusing its preparation on pretty decorations, beautiful music, gifts, Santa Claus, and the upcoming arrival of a newborn baby; the Church is doing a different kind of preparation. The lectionary texts for Advent are all about preparation, but as Gary Charles says, There is no star in the east, no angels singing hallelujahs to confused shepherds, no harried innkeeper, and no adolescent mother Mary pondering things in her heart.[1] Instead, the Advent Scripture settings are full of turmoil as we prepare for a new day when Jesus will come again and Gods kingdom will be made complete. Today, the prophet Jeremiah is talking to the Hebrew people in exile about a coming day that will be different from the despair they currently experience in exile. We also hear an apocalyptic text from the Gospel of Luke. If you look to the Biblical scholars, even they cannot decide what Lukes text is about. Is it one of the jarring passages from the Gospels in which Jesus predicts the historical destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, or perhaps the Gospel writer predicting the end of time? As a general rule, we sing Advent hymns and not Christmas hymns at this time of the year. Advent means coming and any manger scenes that we put up do not have the baby in them (because Christmas is not here yet!) Each Sunday, we light more candles as we remember where our hope, peace, joy and love come from. Advent is all about the waiting and watching as we long for something new to appear. So, yes, the Advent season is a little puzzling for us as we are surrounded by all the festivities and the number of shopping days until Christmas. A couple of things happened this week that have made todays Advent texts more unsettling than usual. One morning this week, a man was discharged from the hospital emergency room wearing a hospital gown. He was given a little food and had a wound from a fall on his leg. He wandered down here to the river and parked himself on one of our benches while he attempted to gather himself and try to figure out his next move. Susan, who was in the office with me, was very kind and spoke with him, got his name and his circumstance. He said he lives in Sparkes and was going to walk home. He seemed a little confused, but the hospital armband confirmed that he had gone in at midnight to the E.R. and was discharged a few hours later. He said the hospital lost his clothes. Susan took some water to him while I spent some time on the phone trying to find some help. What I discovered was disturbing to me. The first three phone calls gave me a picture of a pattern that happens to poor people in our area, and I am sure, in many other areas. If no resources, they are often treated in this way from local hospitals, simply put out and left to fend for themselves. And just to confirm this is a pattern, another church member indicated that she saw hospital personnel escort a man in a hospital gown to the bus stop last week. They helped him out of the wheelchair and then they placed him on the bench to await a bus. Of the agencies I called Aging Matters, Brevard Sharing Center, the Police non-emergency line, and Matthews Hope – only one offered to do something, the people from Matthews Hope came and talked with him and brought him some clothes. They offered to have him walk to their place for a Thanksgiving meal but could not offer him housing or transportation home. And the police officer came and talked with him, then offered to have me file a trespassing report that would get him moving. I said no, but thanks for seeing if there was something he could do. It is disturbing to me to be reminded that people on the margins of our culture are treated as throw-aways. I am not naïve; I have known this happens, but it was the first time in a while that I saw it directly. I was forced to lift my head as Lukes Gospel writes. The other thing that happened this week was our Wednesday Bible study readings for the week that were from the prophets. We were reminded that God calls prophets to give unpopular messages to the people when needed. The theme of warnings from the prophets are always related to the peoples disobedience to God, their reliance on things/people other than God (such as their own abilities, military alliances, wealth, etc.), and their poor treatment of the vulnerable in their midst. Today, we have a culture in which we pride ourselves on what WE are able to accomplish. We also value competition to the point of neglecting the common good, overconsumption of resources and goods, and have an insatiable consumerist tendency. With all of that, we are ripe for prophets to remind us of the same sins in our time. Prophets make us uncomfortable, and they rarely give a popular message that we want to hear. But occasionally, they also provide different words, words of comfort to the oppressed in which we are reminded that the God who loves us has not abandoned us or the promises that were given long ago. Jeremiah is one such prophet and we hear his voice today as we begin the season of Advent. The texts we hear during the season of Advent are like the ones we hear from Jeremiah and Luke today, are texts that talk about a different time when the Messiah will come again. During the Advent season we hear texts that shift our imaginations from all things cute and cuddly (like perfectly behaved barn animals in manger scenes,) to cosmic roaring of the seas and days of judgment. In addition, we are encouraged to watch for signs in the sun and moon. We hear about the end of time, fig trees, and people fainting until Jesus returns. We hear Jesus exhorting his followers to be watchful and alert, always looking for signs of redemption around them. Jesus tells his followers to stand up and raise your heads. In the Gospel of Luke, he tells his disciples these things as they march together toward Jerusalem and what will be his death on a cross. It may seem as if the world is falling apart, he says, but watch, wait, and pray there will be signs of redemption all around you. So, with todays Advent texts and knowing what I know about the prophetic tradition in our Scriptures and remembering what I saw this week; it makes me nervous. We have a systemic problem today in which we treat some people in our culture as throw-aways. Jeremiah would say that there is a day of judgment coming for us. Some of us in our culture find it easy to dismiss or ignore the poor and disenfranchised in our midst, thinking they probably deserve what happens to them. But the truth is that our economic system is geared toward favoritism toward those who are able to do for themselves. What would Jeremiah, what would Jesus say to us today? Thankfully, there are those among us who do their best to provide dignity, help, and assistance wherever they see a need and you inspire me. When we do so, we are compelled to demonstrate Gods kingdom right here and right now. Poverty is not the only challenge we see and experience. Some of us have experienced illness and scary diagnoses. We wait for surgery, wait for treatment, wait for healing, wait for hope. We know those struggles with serious illnesses can lead to blessings and the sure knowledge that Gods mercy and grace is present, regardless of the outcome of the illness. Jesus says that it may seem as if the world is falling apart, but watch, wait, and pray there are signs of redemption all around you. As we think about demonstrating Gods kingdom, let me remind you that Rockledge Presbyterian Church was founded by a woman with determination to build a school and a church for her nine children. She began in 1877 and by 1884 the church was constituted, and our first building was started not long after that. She began the building of a church with a $15 donation from her home church in GA. She did not give up and remained a persistent follower of Christ throughout her life. She and her husband are buried in a nearby cemetery. Things are slightly different these days. Today, the church has a full-time pastor and two fabulous part-time musicians. But that is not all we do missions together, we worship online and in-person together, and we continue to learn together young and old, our whole lives long. Cornelia, our founder, would be especially happy about that. We continue to add new members even while we have lost several due to death or for other reasons. In addition, our finance committee has worked hard over the past three to four years to improve our financial system and make it and our budget more transparent. It is our goal to move from years of deficit-budgeting to a balanced budget. Last year, more people chose to step out on faith to pledge their time, talent, and resources than before will the trend continue? And will more of you decide to make a leap of faith to make your giving a spiritual practice? Jesus says that it may seem as if the world is falling apart, but watch, wait, and pray there are signs of redemption all around us. I suspect you could tell your own stories of Gods grace in the midst of struggle or devastation. If this passage could tell us anything today, it would surely tell us that things are not always what they seem. Hospitals may be putting people out on the street, illnesses are still being diagnosed, the culture may continue to value competition, individualism, and consumerism over Jesus mandate to love one another. And yet . . . we come to this Table to be reminded that God is still present, still working to make all things new. Let us choose to be alert and watch for signs of Gods redeeming grace around us. Jesus says, Stand up and raise your heads, pay attention, because your redemption is drawing near. AMEN.
1 Gary Charles, Homiletical Perspective, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 1. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.) p. 3.
Celebrating Advent (not Christmas) in the Church is puzzling to most folks, both in and outside the church. While the culture is focusing its preparation on pretty decorations, beautiful music, gifts, Santa Claus, and the upcoming arrival of a newborn baby; the Church is doing a different kind of preparation. The lectionary texts for Advent are all about preparation, but as Gary Charles says, There is no star in the east, no angels singing hallelujahs to confused shepherds, no harried innkeeper, and no adolescent mother Mary pondering things in her heart.[1] Instead, the Advent Scripture settings are full of turmoil as we prepare for a new day when Jesus will come again and Gods kingdom will be made complete. Today, the prophet Jeremiah is talking to the Hebrew people in exile about a coming day that will be different from the despair they currently experience in exile. We also hear an apocalyptic text from the Gospel of Luke. If you look to the Biblical scholars, even they cannot decide what Lukes text is about. Is it one of the jarring passages from the Gospels in which Jesus predicts the historical destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, or perhaps the Gospel writer predicting the end of time? As a general rule, we sing Advent hymns and not Christmas hymns at this time of the year. Advent means coming and any manger scenes that we put up do not have the baby in them (because Christmas is not here yet!) Each Sunday, we light more candles as we remember where our hope, peace, joy and love come from. Advent is all about the waiting and watching as we long for something new to appear. So, yes, the Advent season is a little puzzling for us as we are surrounded by all the festivities and the number of shopping days until Christmas. A couple of things happened this week that have made todays Advent texts more unsettling than usual. One morning this week, a man was discharged from the hospital emergency room wearing a hospital gown. He was given a little food and had a wound from a fall on his leg. He wandered down here to the river and parked himself on one of our benches while he attempted to gather himself and try to figure out his next move. Susan, who was in the office with me, was very kind and spoke with him, got his name and his circumstance. He said he lives in Sparkes and was going to walk home. He seemed a little confused, but the hospital armband confirmed that he had gone in at midnight to the E.R. and was discharged a few hours later. He said the hospital lost his clothes. Susan took some water to him while I spent some time on the phone trying to find some help. What I discovered was disturbing to me. The first three phone calls gave me a picture of a pattern that happens to poor people in our area, and I am sure, in many other areas. If no resources, they are often treated in this way from local hospitals, simply put out and left to fend for themselves. And just to confirm this is a pattern, another church member indicated that she saw hospital personnel escort a man in a hospital gown to the bus stop last week. They helped him out of the wheelchair and then they placed him on the bench to await a bus. Of the agencies I called Aging Matters, Brevard Sharing Center, the Police non-emergency line, and Matthews Hope – only one offered to do something, the people from Matthews Hope came and talked with him and brought him some clothes. They offered to have him walk to their place for a Thanksgiving meal but could not offer him housing or transportation home. And the police officer came and talked with him, then offered to have me file a trespassing report that would get him moving. I said no, but thanks for seeing if there was something he could do. It is disturbing to me to be reminded that people on the margins of our culture are treated as throw-aways. I am not naïve; I have known this happens, but it was the first time in a while that I saw it directly. I was forced to lift my head as Lukes Gospel writes. The other thing that happened this week was our Wednesday Bible study readings for the week that were from the prophets. We were reminded that God calls prophets to give unpopular messages to the people when needed. The theme of warnings from the prophets are always related to the peoples disobedience to God, their reliance on things/people other than God (such as their own abilities, military alliances, wealth, etc.), and their poor treatment of the vulnerable in their midst. Today, we have a culture in which we pride ourselves on what WE are able to accomplish. We also value competition to the point of neglecting the common good, overconsumption of resources and goods, and have an insatiable consumerist tendency. With all of that, we are ripe for prophets to remind us of the same sins in our time. Prophets make us uncomfortable, and they rarely give a popular message that we want to hear. But occasionally, they also provide different words, words of comfort to the oppressed in which we are reminded that the God who loves us has not abandoned us or the promises that were given long ago. Jeremiah is one such prophet and we hear his voice today as we begin the season of Advent. The texts we hear during the season of Advent are like the ones we hear from Jeremiah and Luke today, are texts that talk about a different time when the Messiah will come again. During the Advent season we hear texts that shift our imaginations from all things cute and cuddly (like perfectly behaved barn animals in manger scenes,) to cosmic roaring of the seas and days of judgment. In addition, we are encouraged to watch for signs in the sun and moon. We hear about the end of time, fig trees, and people fainting until Jesus returns. We hear Jesus exhorting his followers to be watchful and alert, always looking for signs of redemption around them. Jesus tells his followers to stand up and raise your heads. In the Gospel of Luke, he tells his disciples these things as they march together toward Jerusalem and what will be his death on a cross. It may seem as if the world is falling apart, he says, but watch, wait, and pray there will be signs of redemption all around you. So, with todays Advent texts and knowing what I know about the prophetic tradition in our Scriptures and remembering what I saw this week; it makes me nervous. We have a systemic problem today in which we treat some people in our culture as throw-aways. Jeremiah would say that there is a day of judgment coming for us. Some of us in our culture find it easy to dismiss or ignore the poor and disenfranchised in our midst, thinking they probably deserve what happens to them. But the truth is that our economic system is geared toward favoritism toward those who are able to do for themselves. What would Jeremiah, what would Jesus say to us today? Thankfully, there are those among us who do their best to provide dignity, help, and assistance wherever they see a need and you inspire me. When we do so, we are compelled to demonstrate Gods kingdom right here and right now. Poverty is not the only challenge we see and experience. Some of us have experienced illness and scary diagnoses. We wait for surgery, wait for treatment, wait for healing, wait for hope. We know those struggles with serious illnesses can lead to blessings and the sure knowledge that Gods mercy and grace is present, regardless of the outcome of the illness. Jesus says that it may seem as if the world is falling apart, but watch, wait, and pray there are signs of redemption all around you. As we think about demonstrating Gods kingdom, let me remind you that Rockledge Presbyterian Church was founded by a woman with determination to build a school and a church for her nine children. She began in 1877 and by 1884 the church was constituted, and our first building was started not long after that. She began the building of a church with a $15 donation from her home church in GA. She did not give up and remained a persistent follower of Christ throughout her life. She and her husband are buried in a nearby cemetery. Things are slightly different these days. Today, the church has a full-time pastor and two fabulous part-time musicians. But that is not all we do missions together, we worship online and in-person together, and we continue to learn together young and old, our whole lives long. Cornelia, our founder, would be especially happy about that. We continue to add new members even while we have lost several due to death or for other reasons. In addition, our finance committee has worked hard over the past three to four years to improve our financial system and make it and our budget more transparent. It is our goal to move from years of deficit-budgeting to a balanced budget. Last year, more people chose to step out on faith to pledge their time, talent, and resources than before will the trend continue? And will more of you decide to make a leap of faith to make your giving a spiritual practice? Jesus says that it may seem as if the world is falling apart, but watch, wait, and pray there are signs of redemption all around us. I suspect you could tell your own stories of Gods grace in the midst of struggle or devastation. If this passage could tell us anything today, it would surely tell us that things are not always what they seem. Hospitals may be putting people out on the street, illnesses are still being diagnosed, the culture may continue to value competition, individualism, and consumerism over Jesus mandate to love one another. And yet . . . we come to this Table to be reminded that God is still present, still working to make all things new. Let us choose to be alert and watch for signs of Gods redeeming grace around us. Jesus says, Stand up and raise your heads, pay attention, because your redemption is drawing near. AMEN.
1 Gary Charles, Homiletical Perspective, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 1. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.) p. 3.
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[1] Gary Charles, Homiletical Perspective, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 1. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.) p. 3.