As we come together on this night, we gather to celebrate what the heart of God is all about. We come to celebrate God’s heart of love for the entire world.  It is all about God’s desire to reach deep into this world, deep into humanity, into our very flesh, touch our hearts, and change them. Christmas is all about God’s love for us. And, quite frankly, love is messy.  Sometimes I think the choice to love others and the work of love could be described and labelled as “Outreach in a state of mess,” because love can be difficult, hard, messy work.  Christmas is about God reaching into the messiness of our lives, into our very flesh, to say, “You are loved. Have a heart of love!”

Why heart? Because God knows that logic and reason and might only go so far. If logic, reason and might were all that is necessary, there would be no hatred, no poverty, no violence, no racism, no sexism, no xenophobia, no war, no greed, no selfishness. And with our great military might, we would have everything necessary to enable this world to live in peace, to have a “silent night…” and to truly “…sleep in heavenly peace.” But we don’t, and we can’t because logic, reason and might have definite limits. So, tonight we celebrate the amazing, overwhelming risk God has taken on this world and on us, the great risk God has taken just to know us, just to know you. God knows that our default position, like King Herod, is to ostracize or kill the things and the people who unsettle us. So, Christmas is about God’s great risk, attempting to maybe, just maybe, reach past our often hard, well defended, heavily fortressed selves, to reach down deep and through our commitment to hostility and willful ignorance, to get through all of those securely protected walls, get through our fear, and reach right into the flesh of our lives and the depth of our hearts.

As we look at the story of this night, the good news of Christmas comes first to the vulnerable, to those ready to receive love, to people gathered in a dirty, messy barn, to the poor people living outdoors. Maybe the good news of this baby comes first to flocks of sheep and shepherds, not the corridors of power, because power corrodes hearts. Maybe this baby comes to the field first and not the temple because those people at the temple had more religion than heart. At Christmas, through Mary’s baby boy, we see God reaching out from God's heart, first to the most vulnerable, and through the most vulnerable, to the heart of all humanity. We see God keeping God's heart open to us, even as we reject God and harm one another.

On a night like this, I find the arts often enable me to better express God’s message to us.  So, I am going to reference an unexpected work of art through which we can garner some wisdom. I am going to ask you to remember the movie A Charlie Brown Christmas!  I am sure all of you have seen this movie at least once in your life and you know the story. Lucy suggests that Charlie Brown should direct a Christmas play. But Charlie Brown, with all his insecurities, wants something more than the status quo, something more than a performance of seasonal sentiments. And, as often happens, we watch him get frustrated and, yes, depressed. He’s almost ready to give in and forsake what his heart yearns for. Then, in walks Linus, Lucy’s brother. You remember Linus, right? Linus ALWAYS has his security blanket in hand. He is NEVER without that blanket. And, in this Christmas movie, you really must watch carefully as Linus speaks, or you’ll miss what happens. As Linus begins to recite the Christmas story, the music stops and the spotlight focuses on him. We hear him recite:

“And there were in that same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not…”

And, that’s when you really need to push the pause button on your remote or you just might miss what happens. Right when the angel says, “fear not,” an astonishing thing happens: Linus throws down his blanket. Now, I am sure many of you have seen that movie dozens of times, and I also am sure many of you have never noticed that gesture. In all other movies or cartoons, Linus hardly ever lets go of that blanket. After all, it’s his security. But now, in this movie when the angel says, “fear not,” Linus’s blanket has been replaced – replaced by the Christmas story. The very thing Linus relied on, that essential blanket, was cast aside for something else. Something better. Someone better. Linus goes on to finish the story. His hands are up, and his face is now smiling because of a joy that is released by the story. Linus is not just reciting words, Linus is showing something of incarnation, something of the change that happens when God enters the scene, when God enters our lives. In that moment, Linus’s insecurities and fears are gone, and he is transformed. 

Linus continues telling the story, saying:     

“Fear not, for I bring you good news of glad tidings that shall be for all people. And this shall be a sign for you, you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will to all people.”

On this night, Linus can teach us something about the Christmas message and the heart of God.  Linus experiences the contagious, even invasive, love of the heart of God, and he is transformed, so much so that he let’s go of his insecurities as he lets go of his blanket. 

When we understand the message of Christmas, we discover that we can let go of fear and hatred, of partisanship and bigotry, let go of racism, sexism, and xenophobia, let go of our need to control and our desire for power and violence, let go of all that divides us as people, and all that we do that is harmful to others. Christmas calls us to open our hearts to the love of God, the love God has for the whole world. Christmas is about God reaching into our hearts and inviting us to change, to be made new, to see one another as brother and sister, to work for justice and mercy in this broken world, to give up our weapons and guns and work for peace. The heart of God is inviting us to open our hearts and let go of all that hardens our hearts. Christmas is all about God’s heart touching our hearts, and our hearts touching one another, and that is what this world needs more than anything!

So, on this night of nights, leave your false securities and your fear behind, and open your hearts, make room in your hearts, give the God of love more square footage in the depth of your being, and welcome the Christ child.  And, do not just welcome the Christ child, but nurture the child, and give the child room to grow.  Because this God of love is going to love you into newness, love you into wholeness, and give you more heart, a bigger heart.  In fact, this God of love will not only grow, but will burst the boundaries of your hearts. 

Tonight, we celebrate a God who has laid bare God’s very heart because of love for you. So, open your heart to the love that has entered this world.  And, what is so amazing is that you will discover this God who has laid bare God’s very heart for you, has always been holding you in love, loving you just as you are, and loving you with an everlasting love, a love that will never, ever let you go.

It is good to be back with you, even though we gather online. Last week, Pastor John compared the circumstances in which we presently live to a wilderness experience. I will be honest with you, I deeply feel that wilderness experience, and so I need to hear the word God gives us on this day because I have been discouraged. I have been discouraged by living with four weeks of illness, by struggling with Covid-19, by the cavalier and careless attitude people are taking toward this deadly virus, and by the lack of respect, love, and care for neighbor exhibited by far too many. I have also been deeply distraught by the horrific killing that took place at Oxford High School less than two weeks ago. And then, when only days later, some elected leaders posted Christmas messages with pictures showing each member of their family, some children, holding a gun, we saw how deeply the idolatry of gun worship is infecting our culture. Our nation’s worship of guns is dangerous and wrong! Yes, I desperately need to hear the word God gives us on this day.

Richard Rohr writes, “The word of God confronts, converts, and consoles us – in that order.” In today’s readings, God’s word comes to us and does just that, it confronts, converts, and consoles. From the prophet Zephaniah, we hear: “Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!” However, prior to today’s passage, Zephaniah has just confronted and condemned Israelite idolatry and society’s oppression of the poor. Zephaniah told the people that God has commanded obedience to the covenant, and God will punish offenders. Then, after that confrontation and call for conversion, a call for people to change their ways, the prophet consolingly sings about God’s promised salvation. Zephaniah says that as people return to the covenant, God stands inside the city, enlivens it, and rejoices over God’s people. Oh yes, I need to hear this word from God right now on this third Sunday of Advent.

In today’s gospel reading, we hear of John the Baptist and, quite honestly, he seems to be quite crabby. I understand his mood because I have been feeling rather crabby. In his unique way, John is confronting the people and calling them to convert, to turn around and change their behavior. And, like the people in his time, we need to hear the words of John the Baptist, words of one who will speak prophetically and clearly in this wilderness in which we are presently living. We need a John the Baptist who will warn us that judgement is at hand, that God will not tolerate the violence that seems to have become normal, everyday violence in our culture. We need a John the Baptist who will tell us, “The chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” We need one who will name the sins that pervade our relationships and our communities, and name the injustices that permeate our broken world. And, we need a John the Baptist who calls us to change, one who points us to the path God has set before us.

As the crowds hear John speak, they wonder how they should respond. So, John tells them what worthy response looks like. He speaks of the fruit that comes from a changed heart. He tells them to love their neighbors! Give them your coat, your food. He calls them to live out acts of grace, mercy, and love. An encounter with the grace, mercy and love of God brings consolation and comfort into our lives. And, a changed life then lives out the grace and mercy one has received as one shares that grace and mercy with others who are in pain. It is interesting that even the despicable tax collectors want to change their ways. They come asking the question, “What should we do?” We might expect John to instruct these servants of Roman power to get new jobs helping those in need, to stop serving their imperial masters and instead love the neighbors they previously had taken advantage of. No, instead, John calls them to be good tax collectors, to collect only that which is required of them. And, then the soldiers come asking, “What should we do?” We might expect John to instruct these soldiers to lay aside their instruments of violence and embrace a way of peace. Instead, John tells them to not use their position of power to steal life or livelihood from anyone. Be good soldiers, he demands of them. He calls them to live lives of grace and mercy.

So, what might John the Baptist say to each one of us today, in the wake of the shooting at Oxford High School, in the wake of the violence and hatred that seems to permeate our daily lives? Quite honestly, I don’t think he would show any restraint. He would name what is wrong and harmful. He would name the way we are idolizing guns and violence. He would name the way we are damaging God’s good creation. He would name the racism, sexism and xenophobia that is so present in our society. He would name our lack of care and love for neighbor. He would say, “Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” He would say we are being judged by a God whose heart yearns for justice and mercy. He would call us to change, to convert, to turn around, and he would call us back to the way of God’s love, mercy, grace, and peace. He would then give us words of consolation and comfort as he would call us to live out love and care for our neighbor and live out ordinary acts of grace, mercy, and love. He would call us to give away some of what we have. And, he would call us to the radical idea that our ordinary lives can be filled and permeated with the extraordinary Spirit of God that transforms the world.

True and lasting change, the change John calls us to make, engages both interior awareness and exterior action; it harmonizes inner change of heart and outer change which creates right relationships. John challenges us to act with more compassion. You see, changing our patterns of conduct can lead us to discover our blind spots, our idolatry, our prejudices, and our self-defeating thinking. While this may make us feel vulnerable, it also enables our hearts, our state of mind, our body, and our spirit to be open to the Holy Spirit. When God’s Spirit shows up in us, we find a new openness to others, new generosity, and new life-giving energy. The Spirit of God changes our hearts so we can then be more compassionate and truly love others. These are the fruits John calls changed people to bear.

Paul also speaks to the fruits we bear when our hearts and lives become changed. He writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again: Rejoice!” In other writings he says, “Let your fairness, your kindness, your gentleness, your unselfishness, your inner peace – let these qualities be known to all human beings.” Paul, like John, is clear about who is the source and the power behind any genuine transformation. But, unlike John’s vision of fire that brings judgment and destruction, Paul sees the fire of the Holy Spirit as the spiritual energy that inspires people toward greater generosity and the passion to persevere. Paul’s words temper John’s somewhat crabby way of speaking when he says, “Rejoice and bear fruits worthy of a transformed heart because Christ is near.” This is the path to the divine peace that surpasses all human awareness; the peace that keeps watch over our hearts and minds. Paul’s guidance to not worry does not mean for us to be superficially cheerful or to pretend that nothing disturbs us. Distress and concerns and grief will continue to be part of our human experience. Paul is reminding us that God is always present to us. He calls us to connect the nearness of God, to everything that we experience – everything that frustrates, or saddens, or discourages us; everything that delights us or astonishes us; everything that puzzles or embarrasses us, lifts us up or makes us impatient. We can practice giving all our life experiences to God in prayer simply because God is so near to us. In all things, the nearness of the God of hope and peace enables us to become aware that we are always bathed in God’s loving presence. Inspired, changed, consoled, and comforted by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do what John calls us to, things like loving our neighbor, or sharing with someone who has less or none of what we have. We can use our gifts to work for justice and mercy for all people. So, on this day, hear God’s Word – be confronted, be converted, be consoled. Bear the good fruit of a changed life, live out God’s love. And, rejoice because God is truly near!

Notes for Sermon on the Second Sunday of Advent at Faith, Okemos, December 5, 2021 based on Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius…the word of God came to John. 

And in this first year of Joseph Biden’s presidency….when Gretchen Whitmer is governor, Elissa Slotkin, our district 8 congressional representative, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, our senators, Craig Satterlee, our synod bishop, and Elizabeth Eaton, our presiding bishop, the word of God still comes to us:  comes to me, to Deb, to Bruce, to Chris, to Phylis here in this worship space and to all worshiping with us online. 

To us now in this still beautiful, but lately too often also dangerous wilderness, in a country deeply divided over masks and vaccinations, in a violent world – filled with tragedies like that at Oxford High School, with unsettling threats of violence from a student at Holt Junior High, in a world infected by a wily, ever mutating virus, in a nation embroiled in heightened tensions over the fate of Roe v.Wade… to us in this violent, tension-fraught wilderness, the word of God still comes...  It is a voice crying in the wilderness:  Prepare the way of the Lord….

It is a voice I so want my children to hear.  I can see in the faces of our three children  a pervasive weariness, both physical and psychological. I see and read and hear over and over  the wide spread anxiety of a  world  more and more characterized by meanness and hardness of heart,

But to us the word of God has come, still comes, “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  The word of God calls us to an immersion, a deep and daily washing away of our sins and of the sins of the world…calls us to a baptism, acknowledging our need and earnest desire for a stirring in our hearts, for the mercy of God to save us, for God to save the people of Okemos, of Michigan, of the United States, of South Africa, of Namibia, to Syria, of Afghanistan, of Ukraine, of Germany, of Russia.

The word of God has come and is still coming to me, to Ellen, to Deb, to Bruce,  to Phylis, and to you  online.  The word of God is calling us to a deliberate, repeated turning (the meaning of repentance) toward the mercy and kindness of God who is both our judge and our savior.

It is the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins that can raise us from this deep valley of darkness.  It has the power to make tunnels through the otherwise insurmountable mountains of hatred and exploitation, of shame and disgrace.  The gift of repentance for the forgiveness of sins has the power to make the crooked straight and the rough ways smooth.

This word of God proclaiming the baptism of repentance spoken with fierce love can open the doors of our hearts to the presence of Christ like nothing else. And it is Christ Jesus who then works within us to eradicate, to burn away our hatreds and prejudices.  It is then Jesus who through his own suffering and death and resurrection transforms our rigid. hardened hearts with God’s forgiveness, God’s compassion and mercy and kindness,

Our daily immersion in the waters of baptism, of repentance and forgiveness enables us to keep our eyes on the future, on the coming dawn that will follow a dark night, a day when all will see the salvation of God.

But know this:  God’s way to this future for us and for the whole world is the way of the cross. With Jesus we will suffer misunderstandings, yes, recurring hatred and rejection and abandonment along this way toward a more peaceful, harmonious, loving world…  Yet though it is hard and painful, we will never walk this path alone.  With Jesus, the valleys of death and darkness will be filled, the mountains brought low, the crooked paths made straight, the rough roads made smooth.  With Jesus healing and wholeness will in God’s time supplant hardened hearts and shattered relationships.

To be clear, we are not Jesus, that is, we are not the Savior of the world, let alone of our own selves.  But when the word of God comes to us, we can be John the Baptist. 

John’s dad, Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit after the birth of his son, spoke these words to his son:  “…..you child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

By the grace and power of God we can be John the Baptists.  Because the word of God still comes to us, we can with bold love proclaim to our neighbors near and far God’s tender compassion and mercy for them.  In this wilderness of darkness, of division and disease, we can proclaim God’s salvation for them, God’s forgiveness for them, experienced over and over through the baptism of repentance, of turning their lives and hearts toward this most gracious and loving God.  We can proclaim to them that God will guide their feet into the way of peace.  Amen.                                                       JDS