If you missed the Christmas Eve service at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos Michigan you can listen in to the amazing music and celebrate in the service celebrating Christmas! 

American journalist and writer, P. J. O’Rourke, once said, “Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.”  I agree with him - family love is very messy, and the messiness too often becomes systemic, passed down through generations.  Quite honestly, life is very messy.  And, the Bible is brutally honest about this messiness as it contains stories of all kinds of people in the depth of messiness and dysfunction.  One of the beautiful aspects of scripture is that it speaks the truth about our very lives, the truth about the messiness that creates all sorts of systemic problems within families and communities, the messiness that prevents us from living in relationship with others, the messiness everyone experiences in some form.  And, it is so fascinating that, when looking at the messiness in our own lives, our reaction to it, or our inability to thoughtfully respond in a healthy manner, is usually rooted in some aspect of fear.

In today’s gospel reading, we meet up with Joseph as we hear Matthew’s version of Jesus’ birth.  While the gospel of Luke focuses on Mary, Matthew focuses on Joseph.  And guess what?  Joseph faces a very messy situation!  Matthew does not give us the sweet, saccharine, syrupy, heart-warming stories of angels and shepherds and a baby born in a cattle stall.  No.  Matthew focuses on Joseph and the heart-wrenching struggle he was facing.  The woman to whom he is engaged, the woman to whom he is contractually espoused, is pregnant.  Mary and Joseph have not yet moved in with each other, they have not yet had sex, and Joseph experiences extreme heartache as he faces a very messy problem.  Mary is pregnant and this could only mean one thing, she has been unfaithful.  Can you imagine the emotions Joseph must have had when he heard this news?   Anger, shock, hurt, disappointment, betrayal, fear and a need to distance himself from the mess.

Yet, as Matthew describes Joseph and the situation in which he finds himself, Matthew calls Joseph “righteous.”   Now, to be righteous, according to Torah, one must strictly follow the law.  Therefore, as a good law-abiding Jew, Joseph could have had Mary stoned to death.  After all, stoning was the punishment commanded in the twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy for engaged women who slept with other men.  But, Matthew also tells us Joseph was a man of compassion.  So, instead of stoning, Joseph decided he would quietly dismiss Mary as his wife.  A quiet dismissal would hopefully minimize the public disgrace she would have to face.  It is fascinating that, in the depth of his fear and the messiness, what never occurred to Joseph was that there is yet another way to be righteous - the way of acceptance and forgiveness and grace. Joseph, all on his own, couldn't possibly imagine how God could be present in so difficult, so utterly messy, so heartbreaking, so embarrassing and so dangerous a situation as Mary's pregnancy.  Therefore, God had to help him.  

Joseph was afraid.  He was afraid to take Mary as his wife.  The gospel writer tells us that, in the deep darkness of sleep, God came to Joseph in a dream.  An angel of the Lord spoke to him saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  God brought truth, grace, forgiveness and love into the irrational depths and quandary of Joseph's mind, heart and being.  In ways deeper and more magnificent than the mind can imagine, God changed Joseph.  And because God changed Joseph, Joseph became a channel of God's grace in the world.

In the depth of the messiness of life, in the mire and sludge of the unexpected and unexplainable, in that which Joseph perceived as betrayal, in the overwhelming darkness of an experience that created fear – yes, in that place, Joseph finds God present to him.  God penetrated the darkness and fear within Joseph, and that experience of God led Joseph to take Mary as his wife and name the child “Jesus” which means “God saves.”

Now, Matthew was writing to a Jewish Christian audience, people who intimately knew Jewish scripture.  So, the gospel writer connects Joseph’s experience to the words of the prophet Isaiah saying,

“Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and they shall name him Immanuel.”   (Immanuel is the Hebrew word for “God with us”). 

The truth about the Isaiah passage we read earlier today is that when Isaiah spoke these words to King Ahaz, the king was not very hopeful.  When invited by the prophet Isaiah to “ask a sign” of God, Ahaz was not interested.  In fact, Ahaz said, “I will not ask.”  You see, Ahaz was living in fear and he was sure he would be defeated at the hand of the conquering Assyrians.  However, Isaiah – good prophet that he was – was persistent.  He pointed to the perennial sign of hope and new life for all people in any time saying, “a young woman will conceive and bear a son.”  The truth about Isaiah’s words to Ahaz is that the baby of which he was speaking was already in utero.  We are not told who the mother of that baby was.  But, because a newborn child is always the promise of hope, even in hard times, Isaiah names the child as a sign of God’s presence:  Immanuel God with us. 

Immanuel, God with us!  These are powerful words packed full of meaning and, centuries after Isaiah, Matthew connects these words to Jesus’ birth. These words gave Jesus identity and, as theologian Daniel Patte suggests, they do not simply describe Jesus.  No, these words “Immanuel, God with us” were part of Jesus’ very vocation.  Jesus’ calling was and is to manifest and make known God’s presence in people’s lives and save people from their sins. Jesus’ calling then and now, is to manifest and make know God’s presence to us in the depth of our fear and the messiness of our lives.

Joseph discovered that the presence of God in the depth of the messiness of life drives out fear.  God’s presence moved him beyond fear.  Joseph also discovered that the experience of God’s presence brings forgiveness.  And, he discovered God’s presence brings change – change within self, change within the mess, and change to the world as he perceived it to be.

We live in a world that is notorious for crushing hope.  We live in a world that is notorious for turning love into a stingy commodity as if there is not enough to go around.  We live in a world where we participate in creating systemic messes - messes in our lives, messes in our families, messes in our communities, monumental messes in our country and colossal messes in the world.  So, I ask you, what are the messes in which you live?  Listen to the voice of God’s presence in your life, the voice that will penetrate the darkness of any situation, the voice that always says, “Do not be afraid.”   Listen to the voice that says, “You are loved, and your sins are forgiven.”

Christmas is all about God’s presence to us, Immanuel God with us. Christmas is all about incarnation.  Christmas is about the love and grace of God that is on the way, the love that is in fact already here!!  Christmas is all about God putting skin on God’s dream for the world – about God’s dream becoming flesh in this very broken, messy world.  Christmas is God’s invitation to each one of us to experience within ourselves the love that forgives sin and the love that comes to bring healing to the world.  And, it is only the presence of Immanuel, God with us, that transforms the systemic, predictable, messy patterns of living and enables us to live into the dream of God where all things are made new.  Yes, love is on the way and the Child will be born again in us, in the depth of our neediness, in the depth of our messiness, in our hurting and pain, and in our deep longing for God.  Do not be afraid because the hopes and fears of all the years are met in this One, Immanuel, God with us – this One who is on the way!

This is a special musical product of People, Look East by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of He is Born by the Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of The Friendly Beasts with soloists Ryan Thompson, Diane Hill, Bob Nelson and Emily Brown at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Christmas Melody by the Flutes of Faith at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan. 

This is a special musical presentation of We Will Know Him with the Chancel Choir with flutist Gwynne Kadrofske at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Mary Had a Baby with soloist Tammy Heilman at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

I have a sign above my desk and I look at it each week as I write my sermon.  It contains a quote from theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, about preaching and the proclamation of the Word.  He wrote, “People have an idea that the preacher is an actor on a stage, and they are the critics, blaming or praising him (or her).   What they don’t know is that they are the actors on the stage; he [or she] (the preacher) is merely the prompter standing in the wings, reminding them of their lost lines.”  I really appreciate Kierkegaard’s words when he says the gathered people are the actors and the preacher is the prompter standing in the wings reminding the people of their lost lines, the lines they are called to remember as they experience the liturgy of worship and then go out and live that liturgy in their daily lives. 

Today, we hear of this preacher, John the Baptist, standing in the wings of the wilderness on the banks of the Jordan river, crying out lost lines to the actors saying, “This is it!  Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.  Turn around, turn back to God.”  And, I have to say that for someone who might be considered a “prompter standing in the wings,” John the Baptist is really stealing the show. 

You just gotta love John the Baptist!  He is such a colorful figure.  I love it when he appears on the scene each Advent.  This intriguing, weird, bizarre, eccentric, oddball, prophetic guy who eats bugs, wears clothing made of camel’s hair and lives in the wilderness, is the one who introduces us to the stories of Jesus’ ministry in all four of the gospels.  Now, quite honestly, if such a person appeared in our neighborhood, we would probably call the police.  Yet, John is the one who introduces us to the narratives of Jesus’ ministry.  And, in Matthew, he bursts on the scene with this fiery, colorful language as he bombastically calls people to repent.

So, what is repentance?  I think far too many of us think repentance means simply saying you are sorry, and you will never do it – whatever “it” is – again.  However, when we look at scripture, the Greek word for repentance is metanoia, a word that refers to far more than simply being or saying one is sorry for past sins.  It is far more than mere regret or remorse for such sins.  While that is in part what repentance means, the heart of the word refers to a turning away from the past way of life, a turning around, and turning to the inauguration of a new one.  It literally means, “If you’re on the wrong road, turn around and go the other way!” 

         An even better understanding of repentance comes from theologian, Richard Jensen.  His is truly a very Lutheran understanding when he describes repentance as it relates to baptism.  And, by the way, baptism is something that John the Baptist is doing as he calls people to repent.  Jensen writes:

The daily baptismal experience has many names. It may be called repentance. Unfortunately, repentance is often understood as an "I can" experience. "I am sorry for my sins. I can do better. I can please you, God." So often we interpret repentance as our way of turning to God. That cannot be. Christianity is not about an individual turning to God. Christianity is about God turning to us.

In repenting, therefore, we ask the God who has [already] turned towards us, buried us in baptism and raised us to new life, to continue his work of putting us to death. Repentance is an "I can't" experience. To repent is to volunteer for death. Repentance asks that the "death of self" which God began to work in us in baptism continue to this day. The repentant person comes before God saying, "I can't do it myself, God. Kill me and give me new life. You buried me in baptism. Bury me again today. Raise me to a new life." That is the language of repentance. Repentance is a daily experience that renews our baptism. [Touched by the Sprit, p. 49]

I would add that we should note the command to, “Repent,” as we find it in today’s reading, is in present tense.  This denotes continual or repeated actions: "Keep on repenting!" "Continually be repentant!" It isn't like a door we pass through once that gets us into the kingdom.  Repentance is meant to be the ongoing lifestyle of God’s children.  And, repentance and its seal in baptism signal another theme to be sounded repeatedly in Matthew: God's power is present, but it is not unrelated to what we do and how we live.  One thing is clear for Matthew, God's power calls for and enables a transformed new life of discipleship. Repentance then directs our vision not so much to sorrow for the past, but to the promise of a new beginning. The promise is that, because God's reign, God’s kingdom, is so near, it has the power to bring about this new orientation of life.

And what is this new orientation?  Well, it is Gods’ vision for this world, God’s deep desire for peace and equity for all.  It is that dream of God we talked about last week.  It is what we find in Isaiah’s vision in our first reading today, Isaiah’s hope-filled vision for all of creation.  In Isaiah, we are given images of God’s dream for this world – images of righteousness, of equity, of peace, of the cessation of harm, the end of war, and the unity of all nations under the rule of God.  As people who live into the reign of God, that is people who live into the presence and power of God, we live into a world where God’s reign, God’s kingdom, is so near it has the power to bring about this new orientation of life.   

I find it interesting that dreams, especially hope-filled dreams, have a way of shaping what it is we are enabled to see.  Theologian, James Boyce, suggests, “Hope-filled dreams are like lenses that train us to interpret and to act in the present. Each generation learns to dream the visions that are taught by those who have dreamed before and by those who are able to keep dreaming in the present. To borrow a metaphor, every Christian needs to have a ‘hope chest.’”  For Christians, our hope chest holds this vision of God’s dream for the world.  And, so we dream not just about what is, but about what it might be if God's reign is indeed drawing near.  God invites us to dream something beyond what we can presently see.  We are invited to dream God’s dream about a different world where there is no predator or prey, no fear or hatred.  And, this is the dream that sets our course as we live into the reign of God, as we live into the presence and power of what God is already doing in this world. 

So, on this second Sunday of Advent as we prepare our hearts to make room for Christ’s arrival, I encourage you to turn around, turn toward God who has already turned toward you, and live into God’s dream for the world.  I think we will again be surprised at what God is up to.  We will again be surprised that the God of the universe was willing to enter our very lives and our history and take on our vulnerability in order to give us hope.  The God we know in Jesus comes down to us, to take on our lot and our life and give us hope by being with us and for us.  And, this God who comes down to pitch a tent among us in the person of Jesus, is inviting us to live God’s dream, helping us to see in the face of our neighbor, not a competitor for scarce resources, not an enemy, not a person to fear, but a brother or sister in Christ. (David Lose)  

Yes, today, John the Baptist is the preacher standing in the wings, prompting us and giving us our lost lines.  He is there pointing beyond himself to God, telling us the advent of a new age is upon us.  He is telling us that, in the person of Jesus, God is guiding us as we move through the wilderness of life and live into God’s kingdom of hope and love.

This is a special musical performance of Creation Will Be at Peace by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir of Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Yes, today marks the first Sunday of a new church year and the first Sunday in Advent.  Today, we begin a time of waiting.  Waiting is something all of us experience.  In many ways, one could say our whole life is spent waiting. We wait for all kinds of things.  Information puts us on hold as we wait on the phone while our ears are pumped with thin, irritating music. Our order hasn't come yet and we are hungry.  Certain circumstances cause us to ask questions like:  Will the rain or snow ever stop?  When will the paint finally dry? Will anyone ever understand? Will I ever change? Our kids ask, “How long is it until we get there?” or “How many days until Christmas?”  Life is simply a series of hopes, waiting, and only partial fulfillments.  Quite honestly, the human condition does seem to be a state of living with constantly unsatisfied desire as we wait for something that is truly fulfilling.  Advent invites us to understand with a new patience that condition, that very difficult state of being.  Advent means coming, and so we wait for God’s coming.  We wait as we prepare for God’s greatest event.  And, as we begin this time of waiting, the first words given to us are from the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah’s world was a chaotic, unjust, broken, hurting, warring world.  Israel was a storm-tossed nation that was threatened by the powerful Assyrians to the north and east and menaced by the Egyptians to the south and west.  The king and his advisors were occupied with what they needed to do to protect themselves.  Events were out of control and fear was running rampant.  The people were waiting for God to reveal a word concerning their situation.  And, into that turmoil and storm-tossed world a voice stood out, the voice of Isaiah.  Through the prophet Isaiah, God did speak and does speak.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of seeing a reality that is deeper than the reality the people were living.  He proclaims God’s vision for the world, holding up a vision of God’s future, the One to whom the future belongs.  He proclaims:

“Look!  Focus your eyes upon the mountain of the house of the Lord…For it shall rise up and be established as the highest of the mountains…And people of all races will come and say:  ‘Come, let’s climb God’s Mountain, go to the House of the God of Jacob.  He’ll show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made.’  God’s message comes from Jerusalem.  God will settle things fairly between nations.  God will make things right between many peoples so that they will turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes.  No more will nation fight nations; they won’t play war anymore. Come, let’s live in the light of God.” (The Message)

Into that chaotic, warring world, Isaiah speaks a word of hope and a word of peace.  Centered on God’s dream for the world, Isaiah’s vision involves more than a geographical location:  it is a place of light and truth, of justice and judgment, where God’s supreme power and authority are honored and enacted.  It is a vision place, a place of no more war.  Biblical scholar, Walter Brueggemann, has compared these words from Isaiah to the “I have a dream” speech from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Like Dr. King, Isaiah provided words of hope and peace as the people waited for that future God promised, a future that was very different from what was visible to them at the present moment. 

We are living in a chaotic, unjust, broken, hurting, warring world.  World leaders and their advisors are occupied with what they need to do to protect themselves.  Events sometimes seem out of control and fear is running rampant in many places within our culture.  And, into this turmoil and storm-tossed world a voice stands out, the voice of Isaiah.  On this first Sunday of Advent as we begin a new church year and this time of waiting, Isaiah speaks and promises us a time when God’s ways will fully shape how all of us live.  Every single person – “all nations….all peoples” will be streaming toward the bright light of peace, and there is enough, for all.  It may not look like that right now, but Advent is about taking the long view of things and seeing where the arc of justice bends as we look to the future.  And, as we wait for that time of God’s fulfillment, God invites us not just to imagine and dream but to make God’s dream a priority in our everyday lives, living into that dream.  As people of faith, we live holding up a vision of God’s future for this world.  We have been instructed in the Lord’s ways; now is the time to walk in them and take the Word of the Lord forth into the world – caring for the poor, working for peace, unity and enduring justice for all people, especially those most in need of restitution and hope.  That is the work of the church. 

Many of you probably remember Ruby Bridges, the little six-year old who was one of the first African American children to integrate the New Orleans public schools. If you remember her story, every morning the federal marshals would escort Ruby through the lines of angry parents hurling insults, racial slurs, and violent words.  And then the same thing happened every afternoon when school got out.  This went on for weeks and then months, until finally virtually every white family had withdrawn their children from the school.  So, Ruby went to school all by herself for the better part of the semester. The situation caught the attention of Harvard child psychologist, Robert Coles.  Coles decided to go to New Orleans where he interviewed and spent time with Ruby and her parents. He interviewed her teacher, asked how she thought Ruby could tolerate such continual adversity and abuse.   Just listen to the verbatim from that teacher.  She said:

I was standing in the classroom looking out the window. I saw Ruby coming down the street with the federal marshals on both sides of her. The crowd was there shouting as usual. A woman spat at Ruby, but missed. Ruby smiled at her. A man shook his fist at her. Ruby smiled. And then she walked up the steps, and she stopped and turned around and smiled one more time. You know what she told one of those marshals? She told him she prays for those people, the ones in that mob. She prays for them every night before going to sleep.

The interview prompted Coles to speak directly to Ruby about her prayers. "Yes," Ruby said, "I do pray for them." Coles asked, "Why? Why would you pray for people who are so mean to you and say such bad things about you?"  Ruby answered, "Because Mama said I should." Coles pressed on with questions. Ruby said, "I go to church. I go to church every Sunday, and we're told to pray for people, even bad people. Mama says it's true. My minister says the same thing. 'We don't have to worry,' he says. He came to our house, and he say, 'God is watching over us.'  He say, 'If I forgive the people and smile at them and pray for them, God will keep a good eye on everything and he'll protect us.'" Coles asked if she thought the minister was on the right track. "Oh, yes," Ruby said. And then in a way of explanation, "I'm sure God knows what is happening. God's got a lot to worry about, but there's bad trouble here. God can't help but notice. He may not do anything right now, but there will come a day, like they say in church, there will come a day. You can count on it. That's what they say in church."

Yes, there will come a day.  You can count on it.  That’s what the church says.  Ruby Bridges lived that as a child.  And, if Isaiah and Dr. King and Ruby Bridges could dream of peace and lift up that vision for us, we too can dream the dream of peace and re-arrange our individual lives and the life of our communities, large and small, to be peace-making communities of generosity, justice and joy.  We can work to develop communities where people listen to each other, communities of self-examination, of acceptance, of welcome and hospitality, of change – even if that change is not easy or fast.  Now, I know we can’t do this on our own, but God does make it possible and God’s grace enables us to accomplish so much more than we can even imagine. 

Advent is about dreams and visions, the dream of God for this world, and how God’s dream comes true in flesh and blood, in a child born to us, Jesus, and in and through the Church, Christ’s body present to this broken, warring world.  As we continue to wait for God’s coming in fullness, the promise of Advent is that what is coming is an unimaginable invasion, an invasion of holiness, an invasion of God in this world.  So, stay awake, be alert and be ready.  God is on the way.  That is what Advent is all about.  And, as we wait, we do so by living God’s dream for this world in this present moment.  Come!  It is time to live in the light of God!

This is a special musical presentation of Where Is the Savior? by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.