Advent 3C

December 17, 2000

by Joe Parrish

Refine us, O Lord, that we would be powerful instruments of your love for others. Amen.

"A local United Way office realized that it had never received a donation from the town's most successful miser. So the person in charge of contributions called on him to persuade him to contribute. He said to the miser, "Our research shows that out of a yearly income of at least half a million dollars you give nothing to charity. Wouldn't you like to give back to the community in some way? The miser mulled this over for a moment and replied, "First, did your research also show that my mother is dying after a long illness and has medical bills that are several times her annual income? Embarrassed, the United Way representative mumbled, "Um…,no." The miser continued, "Or that my brother, a disabled veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair?" The stricken United Way rep began to stammer out an apology but was interrupted. "Or that my sister's husband died in a traffic accident," the miser's voice rising in indignation, "leaving her penniless with three children?!" The humiliated United Way rep, completely beaten, said simply, "I had no idea…." On a roll, the miser cut him off again, "So if I don't give any money to them, why should I give any to you?" [Thanks to Pastor David Mosser, Graham, Texas, in "Sermon Mall".]

John the Baptist confronted people at that most tender of places-at the point of their favorite sins. Those who flocked to John the Baptist in the wilderness were beset with many sins-tax collectors, soldiers, Pharisees and others. They all wanted rules to live by, ways to "put their houses in order," so to speak. In answer to them John seems to supply each one with ways to repent of their sins and to live a godly life. It was a simple formula to win God's favor and escape the fire of damnation.

We today have our own particular sins that we will confess privately to God, seeking God's guidance for our own repentance. I don't know what your sins are, and you don't know mine, but we all as humans in an imperfect world live lives that could be more godly and upright. We also may seek formulas for getting close to God, but the overriding consideration is how to become more like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What we do to achieve that will probably vary from person to person, so I will not attempt to assign some form of penitence to "cure" you of your particular sins. When we as priests hear someone's private confession we are to provide some direction for that person to be able to live a more Christ-like life. And by the way, the laws say that we are sealed in confidence in confessions only if we are wearing our stoles while a person makes their confession-so be careful what you say to a confessor to be assured you have some semblance of confidentiality as signed by his or her stole, this thing we wear around our necks-even priests are human. But we do give some direction for overcoming weaknesses. And one general prescription that is often very effective is for a person to read Morning and Evening Prayer each day-those prayers are in the red Book of Common Prayer on Pages 37 and 61 for Rite One and Pages 75 and 115 for Rite Two. If you do not have a Prayer Book we can get one for you for about fifteen dollars, or we can give one to you for free if you can't afford to buy one. We always give a free Prayer Book to those who are received into our congregation as full members. And to keep one in tune with the Word of God, we regularly recommend that people read each of the lessons in the little booklets called, "Forward Day by Day", that you can find inside the Warden's Room just behind the organ. Each day has a reflection on one of the readings, and gives the list of Psalms, Old Testament reading, New Testament epistle, and gospel lesson for the day. This is a must for those seeking a closer walk with God, in my opinion. And you can find another booklet there in the Warden's Room that is also very uplifting and instructive called, "The Upper Room". Both of these booklets are also very popular in the Elizabeth Refugee Detention Center where we work on Thursday and Friday evenings, and we have plenty of each. We request a donation of fifty cents for each, if you are able to pay for them.

So we too have some prescriptions for seeking a more holy life, perhaps not quite as detailed as those suggestions John the Baptist made, but more broadly useful for everyone.

John the Baptist certainly did not mince words as he confronted the sinful crowds-"You brood of vipers," "you family of snakes," he called them. And John the Baptizer lashed out at them for hiding behind their pedigrees, their line of ancestors, especially those who thought they could trace their lineage back to Abraham. "God is able from these stones, 'eben' in the Hebrew, to produce sons, 'ben' in the Hebrew-a play on words. God can get "ben", sons, from "eben", stones-alluding to the way God breathed life into the dust of the earth to form humans as recorded in the first chapters of the book of Genesis.

And for the common person, John the Baptist noted one needed to heed the needs of others-those with two coats must give to those who had none, and those with food must share with those who do not have anything to eat. I am glad to say we have a generous Potluck for everyone here at the service today that will be served following Communion. We hope everyone will be able to stay and eat together with us. And also since the cold weather has set in, now is the time to think about donating your excess clothing to our clothes closet that has been set up again in the Parish Hall. We particularly need warm clothing, coats, sweaters, gloves, scarves, heavy socks, and boots. These items are real lifesavers for those who are scantily clad and who trying to survive in these cold New Jersey nights and days. Your help in bringing in a generous supply of warm clothing will be gratefully appreciated; so do remember the needy at this time of the year especially. And we need help sorting, folding, and hanging the clothing donations as well. Please remember those less fortunate than yourself.

You possibly noted that the new candle that is lit in our Advent wreath today is the pink one. Does anyone know why we light a pink one on this Sunday? It is to show the lightening of the penitential season of Advent in recognition of the numerous appearances of the word, "rejoice" in our readings for today. Historically on this Sunday there was an Introit hymn sung called "Gaudete", [gow-DAY-tay], the Latin word for "rejoice", because the first word in the Latin version of that hymn is "rejoice." The hymn was a musical setting for the Epistle lesson for today, as you can read on Page 3 of your bulletins, the Philippians reading, that says, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." Why on earth would Paul, the writer of the Epistle to the Philippians, want his congregations to "rejoice"? It was surely because he did not want his Christian followers to go around with dreary eyes and bowed heads, for indeed their Messiah had come and will come again and would save them from the wrath to come in the Last Days. They had nothing to fear but fear itself, to paraphrase the British Prime Minister during World War II, Winston Churchill. If we as followers of Christ are fearful of the future, then imagine how others who have no assurance of an eternal life with God must feel. We are the people of hope, of assurance of things to come, so we have to model for others our confidence in Jesus our Savior. Rejoice! in the knowledge that our future has been secured by the shedding of Christ's blood for us on the cross. Rejoice that our sins have been forgiven. Rejoice that our names are written permanently in heaven. Rejoice, I say!

Arturo Toscanini, the famous conductor, got his big break when the conductor of the orchestra in which he was playing was sidelined due to illness. Arturo was extremely near-sighted and unable to read the music while standing on the conductor's podium, but he had committed the entire movement to memory. And when he was called on to lead that orchestra, he was able to conduct both from his memory and from his heart, and the performance was the best ever heard. Arturo Toscanini's name was immediately made famous. He could feel the meaning of the music in his heart as well as in his mind, and he led the other musicians to be of like mind and heart [from "LectionAid"].

We too need to feel the joy of our faith in our hearts and in our minds and to show forth the joy in our hearts to others. We are to be the lights that lighten the darkness of others.

Someone has counted that there are 365 "fear not's" in the Bible, one for each day of the year. However, when a survey of American feelings was taken recently it was found that 64 percent believe there will be a terrorist attack on the United States in the next century; 63 percent believe there will be a major energy crisis; 56 percent believe there will be an epidemic worse than AIDS; 37 percent, three out of eight, believe that the United States will become involved in a nuclear war; and 31 percent believe that a huge asteroid will strike the Earth [from "LectionAid"]. So in the midst of this rampant paranoia, it behooves us Christians to show forth our confidence that the Lord will not allow heaven and earth to pass away until he comes again with power and great glory. Our troubles will only last for a time, and then the glory of the Lord will appear coming in the clouds.

Another way to be people whose hearts are filled with ultimate joy is to be forgivers of those who persistently cheat on us. We are too easily lured into holding grudges, but forgiveness is perhaps the one great cornerstone of the church. We are to forgive others as God has forgiven each of us, as we recite each time in the Lord's Prayer. We are to help carry others' burdens.

This season of planning and buying presents is fraught with difficulties. Someone noted a child who became furious because he got ordinary jeans and not designer jeans for Christmas. This scenario will surely be reenacted over and again in the coming days-that we are not joyful over what we are able to get, when we should take joy in what we are able to give! It is so much better to give than to receive.

So take the message of John the Baptist to heart. Prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts this Advent season, and then we will show forth the joy in us that we know Jesus Christ is our Lord and our God. Amen.