We Cry Out, Immanuel - A Sermon for the 4th Sunday in Advent

In this last week or so in Columbus, the weather has finally started to feel like winter – the temperatures have gotten chilly, downright cold overnight! And we’ve had real snow that’s lasted for a few days at a time. With these bits of “winter wonderland” have also come that impediments winter can put on our lives – icy and snowy roads, slow traffic, and frosted windshields.

It amazes me how, even when there has not been any specific precipitation overnight, I will come out to my car in the morning and there are the most intricate, quite delicate designs of ice frozen across all the windows of my car. Beautiful though these icy creations are, they also dangerously block my view from inside the car – and adds extra time to my morning “dash out the door!” so that I can scrape them off.

Today’s readings begin in a tumultuous time for the people of Israel, when their view of God and the world was also a bit obscured. What had once been a great kingdom, unified under renowned leaders like king David and Solomon, had split into two combatting nations –

Israel in the north

and Judah in the south

with Assyria looking to attack them from the outside.

The prophet Isaiah recounts that Ahaz, king in the south, was being threatening by a joint attack effort of the northern kingdom of Israel and the Assyrians. This was a terrifying time! In the verses just before our Old Testament reading today, it says that

         “the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook.”

The people cried out for God

And God shows up

God shows up and offers King Ahaz the opportunity to ask anything, anything of God

         as deep as Sheol

         as high as heaven

I wonder what it was like to be Ahaz – enemies attacking from all sides; his heart shaking, and suddenly the Lord shows and offers him absolutely anything. Perhaps it was like looking through a frosted over windshield. Fuzzy. Limited. Ahaz can only see him own image of his Lord, God who cannot be tested. Ahaz’s own image has blurred the view of God’s vibrant presence, God with him. Ahaz is bound by his own definition of what God might do, not seeing what God is offering to do.

During these four weeks of Advent, churches all around the world have remembered what God offers to do, has done, is doing, and will do again through the weekly practice of lighting the Advent candles as we draw nearer to Christmas. We have been waiting with excitement to remember again that Jesus came as Immanuel – God here with us – and that God continues to join us here in this world again and again and again.

Through the ritual of candle lighting, many churches, just as we did here this morning, have sung the pleading words, O come o come Immanuel.

The words of this song originate in the 6^th century. For hundreds of years, the verses have been used as a nightly prayer during the week leading up to Christmas Eve.

As they are sung,

We cry out for God

God’s presence is revealed and promises are remembered

Evening after evening another title for Christ is called, broadening the image of the longed-for Immanuel – of God with us.

O come, O Wisdom from on high,

who ordered all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show and teach us in its ways to go. 

O come, O come, great Lord of might,

who to your tribes on Sinai's height in ancient times did give the law in cloud and majesty and awe. 

O come, O Branch of Jesse's stem,

unto your own and rescue them! From depths of hell your people save, and give them victory o'er the grave. 

O come, O Key of David, come

and open wide our heavenly home. Make safe for us the heavenward road and bar the way to death's abode. 

O come, O Bright and Morning Star,

and bring us comfort from afar! Dispel the shadows of the night and turn our darkness into light. 

O come, O King of nations, bind

in one the hearts of all mankind. Bid all our sad divisions cease and be yourself our King of Peace. 

O come, O come, Immanuel,

and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

Woven in these verses are a tapestry of scriptural titles and pictures that describe the saving work in Christ. Wisdom, might, comfort, and peace are all named. They cry for God to come and act in our lives, invoking the history of God’s work through history of the Israel. God’s story continues over and over again, and we cry out for it over and over again.  We sing this song because we know the story and because we long for the truth it brings.

We cry out

And God shows up

In unexpected ways

Sharpening our vision

Broadening our expectations

We anticipate and remember Immanuel – God with us

Each year

To re-live the joy of God meeting us in our cries

This Advent I had the privilege to see up close the wildly captivating, expectation breaking ways God shows up. I joined with people across the state to sign and collect Christmas cards for all of those in prison in Ohio – 50,000 cards! This group collected cards for two prisons last year – about 6,000 cards – and this year in faith

People cried out

         O come O come God

         O come O people of God seeking a tenfold increase in cards

As a volunteer with prison ministry for nearly a decade, I’ve seen how those who are incarcerated are longing to be seen, remembered, noticed. To feel as though they are not alone. To receive a card, a holiday wish of love, says “God is with you in this place, behind these bars.” That they are seen more clearly as a person, not obscured as only a prisoner.

As the weeks rolled by, cards began to trickle in –

         by the tens

         the fifties

         the hundreds

slowly adding up.

Packages of cards began arriving from other states – Indiana, Florida.

Over 60,000 cards were counted and distributed to each of the 28 adult prisons in Ohio this past week

AND to each of the three juvenile prisons in Ohio

AND several of local jails

We cried out – O come O come!

AND cards are still coming in!

An extravagant abundance of God’s presence to be shared in places where love can be scarce

When the cards were distributed over the past several days, stories have been shared of their impact – God’s presence in paper and ink.

One young man, an avowed nonbeliever in God, received his card and by all accounts

- his heart shook.

He sought out one of the older men, a well-known Christian inmate. The young man, emotional, asked the older man –

         “Did you, did you do this on purpose? Was this you?” as he held up the card he had received.

The older man, confused and surprised, paused and replied –

“No, I had nothing to do with the cards.”

The younger man’s mother died about a month ago. And the card he was given, was signed by someone with her same name.

God calls us to see the presence of such abundant love in ways we can’t name

         we can’t understand.

God calls us to a faith that sees the wild possibilities that, like Joseph, we might see things differently.

I imagine this was a tumultuous time for Joseph, his view of Mary becoming obscured. Engaged, but now she is pregnant. God offers Joseph’s a wild alterative to see

         Mary hasn’t been unfaithful – Mary has been truly faithful

         and Joseph is called see with this same faith.

Joseph saw the presence of God –

         in his dream

         in the pregnancy of Mary

         in a new born baby he adopted as his own son

Joseph says yes to the amazing possibilities of God in the midst of turmoil and unknowns

Joseph says yes to see God with us – Immanuel – and welcomes Jesus into the world for us all.

How can we see the presence of God with us a bit more clearly, today?

What wild dreams is God providing for us to step into?

Like Joseph we can cry out for God AND see new opportunities with God’s presence all around us. Like Joseph we can see and trust God’s amazing possibilities.

God calls us to this ever-broadening vision of Joseph’s – to see Immanuel closer and clearer each day.

In these last days before Christmas, how are we clearly our vision to see the new possibilities Christ brings?

That we may yet cry out

And know that God is with us

Is coming to be with us

And will be with us forever

From East to West....A sermon on Luke 20:27-40

A Reading from the 20^th chapter of the Gospel of Luke…

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question,

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them,

“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him another question.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Yesterday, many remembered and celebrated the 30^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – a symbol of the Cold War, of the hard and fearful divide between democracy and communism that defined much of the latter half of the 20^th century. In the following days and months in 1989 and into 1990, dramatic pictures of the people of East and West Berlin, pulling down this physical barrier that had separated them since 1961 with their bare hands would flood the media. And yet, this all might not have happened if not for one spontaneous word from a government leader in East Berlin –

Immediately.

Gunter Schabowski was tasked with providing updates on loosening travel restrictions between the East and the West at checkpoints in the wall. When asked by a reporter for clarification about the timetable for the new restrictions – when would they start? – Schabowski fumbled and then replied –

Immediately?

Suddenly…the whole world changed. The news reported that the gates were opened and while this was never the intent of the East Berlin government it became true as thousands of East Berliners rushed to the check points to travel to the other side. The world was alive with possibility as the wall between East and West literally crumbled…

Walls are built on fear

Fear that divides us, fear that leads us to question one another.

Jesus knows this cat and mouse tangle well. Today’s “one bride for seven brothers” inquisition is only the latest in a line of verbal skirmishes between Jesus and the religious leadership in Jerusalem - since the crowds raucously welcomed Jesus into the city, riding on a donkey.

As Jesus continues the ministry he had be doing all over the countryside, now in Jerusalem, tensions rise with the religious leaders – the scribes, chief priest; the Pharisees, the Sadducees.

·      over money changers in the temple

·      about where Jesus’ authority comes from

·      regarding paying taxes

Each time, Jesus’ answers deftly (almost craftily) and the religious leaders become more and more frustrated. They fear Jesus and seek ways to kill him, and yet they fear the people who love Jesus. Division, pushing these groups apart, east from west, continues, as the religious leaders continue to find a way to trap Jesus, to set him up.

In our reading for today, our gospel writer Luke captures this rising drama. I can almost hear the rising music in the background as here again, the religious leaders come. Luke makes it clear this is a trap as he tells us “those who say there is no resurrection” have come to ask a question about resurrection.

I find there is a familiarity to this kind of cornering question. It pits people against each other; it puts us on the defensive before a question is even asked.

·      So, I don’t really believe in all this God stuff. Why do you believe?

·      How could you have voted for that person?

·      Why would you eat that food? Don’t you know how bad it is for you?

There is so much judgement in the question, we know we are set on opposite sides before we even have a chance to form an answer. We’re cornered and must decide how to defend ourselves, or admit we can’t. Pushed apart.

From East to West.

Or perhaps we have asked these questions, full of deep conviction in our beliefs. Desiring to share what we believe is good with those we care about. Concerned about how to address issues that seem to have gotten so far away from how we understand the world to be. Reaching out to understand but it feels so far away –

Far as East from West.

Jesus tears down the wall.

Immediately. The world is changing.

God is.            

God is here.               

God is alive.

Jesus points to God’s presence with humanity since the beginning, from Abraham and Moses, through today – the God of the living. For Jesus boldly responds to religious leaders’ question about death that,

            “Now God is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to God all of them are alive.”

God told Moses – “Here I am…I am who I am.” Jesus reminds us here that

God is.            

God is here.               

God is alive.

Jesus shows us that part of being children of the living God, of being resurrection people, is living with that awareness of God’s “present-ness,” of acknowledging and know God of the alive-ones. And that this God not only enlivens each one of us but also connects us to one another.

What the Sadducees began as a disconnecting question – whose wife will she be? – forcing separation between brothers, focusing on death, Jesus instead gathers all people together, connected as children of the living God.

For in God, there is no East or West.

As a hospital chaplain, I have seen God alive in a man grappling with the latest changes in his cancer progression. In dark midnight moments, I have seen the life-giving love of God connect this man to his wife as he shares that he does not want further treatment, but instead wants to focus on comfort and their time together. God’s life of peace and relationship.

As a volunteer with prison ministry, I have seen God alive in women incarcerated for years upon years, sometimes for the rest of their lives. In Debra and Alice, sentenced to life in prison, who through relationship with Jesus and the faith community at Marysville women’s prison, have become faith leaders and mentors to many women. Debra and Alice now mentor women through a Christian-based re-entry program, supporting women as they prepare to leave the prison and return to the outside world. These two women share their faith and help teach other children of God to be ready to re-enter society, bridging a great divide. God’s life of strength and growth.

Breathe in this new life!

We are called to live as children of the living God!

We are enlivened to spend each moment in connectedness with God and with one another.

This is God’s call to share in and uplift one another’s whole lives.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Veteran’s Day. As a country we will honor those who have seen the worst of the divides between people. Perhaps some of you sitting here have seen and experienced this violence, when East and West push so far apart that war breaks out. To you, I think God calls us to say more than thank you and to offer 30% off on a meal at TGI Fridays, though these acknowledgements are not insignificant.

My call to seminary has been a winding road. Along the way, I worked as a social worker and for a time I supported individuals struggling with employment. At one time, half of my caseload was made up of veterans of all ages – from their twenties to their sixties. Many were homeless or living with friends. They had served in a variety of branches of our military and a variety of wars over the past several decades. I’ve never forgotten these veterans – longing to work, struggling to survive. It was a great joy that through their efforts and the teamwork of our agency each of those individuals was able to be employed.

How are we called to care for the whole person, the veteran child of the living God this Veteran’s Day? To see the needs of the whole person and provide more than an obligatory “thank you” on one day and move on?

Jesus tells us we are all children of the living God, we are connected in relationship to God and to one another. How will this impact us today, tomorrow, this week? Resurrection enlivens us in the here and now – gives us new life each day to be connected to one another through the love of God. To see each other as resurrection people and not through the lens of East and West.

And we remember always that -

God is.            

God is here.

God is Alive.