Reflection on Luke 2:22-40

 

Merry Christmas!  

I hope that you were able to experience the wonder and joy of Christmas, even if it was not quite like you expected this year.  And, I pray that you continue to experience that wonder and joy as our continued Christmas celebration draws us beyond the new year.  

Do you know what one of the greatest gifts that you can recieve may be?  It just happens to also be one of the greatest gifts that you can give.  It is a gift that anyone can give and that anyone can receive.  And, though the safe answer would be “Jesus,” we are in church after-all and Jesus definitely is the best gift anyone can receive, that is not the gift toward which the scriptures are drawing me.  

In fact, Jesus himself received this gift at a very young age.  The gift is one of the great Christian spiritual disciplines.  And, I hope that during this unusual Christmas season that you were able to receive and give the gift of encouragement.

Do not underestimate the power of holy encouragement.  I likely would not be standing here, preaching this sermon if it were not for this holy gift; but more on that later.

First, you may recall that encouragement is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that the Apostle Paul lists in Romans.  Paul says in Romans chapter 12, “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”  

I know, I know, you did not find encouragement in that list.  But, it is there.  An “exhorter” who “exhorts” is a person who is trying to press someone to do something.  But, exhorting is not a manipulative or exploitative act.  Rather, the connotation is one of encouragement.  An exhorter presses someone to do something Godly.  So, what Paul is saying is that when you encourage someone, that is a clear sign that the Holy Spirit is working through you.

Have you ever thought about that before?  When you offer someone words of hope and words that lovingly push a person to be the person that God has created them to be, God could not possibly get any closer to you or the person you hope to encourage.  God really is with you, in a very real way working through you.  If you ever feel that God is distant, just start encouraging others.

We see this very dynamic in Luke, Chapter 2, when Jesus’ parents bring the baby Jesus into the temple to present him to the Lord.  The Bible says that the Holy Spirit rested on an old man named Simeon.  The Bible also says that Simeon was “guided by the Spirit” when he took the baby Jesus into his arms and said:

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,

   according to your word;

  for my eyes have seen your salvation,

   which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

  a light for revelation to the Gentiles

   and for glory to your people Israel.”  (NRSV, Luke 2:29-32)

Wow!  What an amazing blessing for the baby Jesus!  Jesus’ life starts out with this amazing proclamation that in him, Simeon sees the salvation (the love, the grace, and the deliverance) of the Lord.  And, now he can live the final days of his life in peace.  Wow!

What if your life started out with words like that?  How could you not be a blessing to other people after hearing the story of the encouraging blessing at the very start of your life?

Too many children start off their lives knowing that they have been a burden since birth, that they were not intended, or that they were not wanted.  One woman told me on her deathbed the story of how her mother had died in childbirth.  As a child, she was given to relatives who reminded her daily that she was not their child and that she should not expect to be treated like one.  I always thought that Cinderella was a fairytale, but I was staring into her dying eyes.  She spent her young life as a household slave and could never shake that identity all the way to the point of death.  

How I desperately wished that someone filled with the Spirit’s gift of encouragement had found her early on in life.

I understand that most people do not experience something as shocking or dramatic as domestic slavery, but many young people do experience being told that they are too difficult, or too out of control to be loved.  

What if each of these children had encountered people who were led by the Spirit to give them encouragement?  

What if each of these children had a person in their lives who regularly encouraged them to love more, and be more, and encouraged them to develop their God given gifts and talents?  

What if we all had a holy ally who regularly encouraged us to be who God has created us to be?

Would we all grow to develop compassion?  Would we all care about the lowly who yearn to be saved?  

Would this encouragement lead us to love in the same way that Jesus did whenever someone in pain reached out to him?  

Would we all desire to open wide our arms as Jesus did for us on the cross?  

Would we all start to believe that we could possibly make a difference in this world because someone, through the power of the Holy Spirit, told us that we could?

I think that what this world needs is a lot less finger pointing and a lot, lot more blessing.  I think that what this world needs is to listen deeply for the movement of the Spirit which places in our hearts the desire to connect with others and to encourage them in a very holy way.

You have heard the voice of the Spirit.  It is the one that is tugging you to get involved.  Evil says, “Stay away.  Just let them be.”  But, the Spirit draws your attention back and back again to connect and to encourage.  This movement toward rather than away is the deep desire of God as revealed in Colossians 1:20: “Through [Christ] God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”  

The Spirit of encouragement once reached out to me while walking down the hall of the building on campus that held the religion department.  A voice called out to me from one of the offices, “Jira, come here a second.”  Hearing these words from a professor is usually not very good.  But, I listened to what he had to say anyway.  “This paper you turned in is really, really thoughtful,” my freshman religion professor said.  

Quite frankly, I was just glad that I got the thing done in time to be turned in without points taken away, but my professor saw something that I did not, and could not.  

“You have a gift in this.  You are going to seminary, right?”  

I was a theatre major, but after those words of encouragement another major soon popped up in my course of study.  

God works through other people to shape and mold our lives.  

Sometimes, we have no idea how powerful the words that we speak can be.  Sometimes we do not realize how the few words that come out of our mouths can completely change the trajectory of someone’s life.  

I just pray that the words that come from my mouth, and from yours also, are words of encouragement, coming as a gift to others from the Holy Spirit.  After-all, we could all use some words of encouragement, especially in these days of struggle and darkness.  Am I right?

Now, we do not want to forget the prophet Anna in this discussion.  After a short marriage, Anna devoted her life to living in the temple and encouraging those who entered.  Anna was an old, but wise woman.  

She joined in the discussion of Jesus’ blessed future and took things one step further as she began to “praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”  

I cannot stress enough that encouragement is a communal thing.  The more people who provide encouragement and reinforcement concerning your identity as a child of God, the more the Holy Spirit is able to find a home in you and develop your gifts for the glory of God.  

And, on this Sunday of Christmas, I want to take a moment to encourage you, O followers of Jesus Christ.  After-all, God has called you to be a child of God through the forgiveness of the cross that comes through Jesus Christ.  As a sibling with Christ, God has called you to follow faithfully, and to be who God has created you to be, in community with others.  You have been encouraged by others through the power of the Holy Spirit, and that same Holy Spirit is with you now, making you an encourager of others.  

Someone came to mind during this sermon.  I am certain of that.  The Holy Spirit has directed your attention to someone in your life.  Stop a moment and remember who it was.  

It is time to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and encourage that person as the child of God that they are.  

Be encouraged and encourage, it is the way of the Holy Spirit.

Reflection on Luke 2:1-20

 

Do you know what I hope for every single one of you tonight?  That you might be given the gift of joy.  That you might experience the deep joy that comes from hearing the promise that Jesus Christ, God’s light wrapped in flesh, has entered into our dark world, and entered into our dark lives.  

May 2020 be remembered as the year of joy!  Now, I know, I know, the first thing that you think of when you hear the year 2020 mentioned is “joy.”  If 2020 is a year of “joy” then I am pretty sure I am all joyed out!  

Do you remember when the pandemic first started and we were quarantined to our homes, we heard people talk about the unexpected happiness that they were encountering.  They had time to sit at the dinner table and have a family dinner.  There was plenty of time for the family to just be family.  Remember that happy...week?  

And now we are in the tenth month of this thing, and I hear myself trying to order my children, “This is Christmas, we are supposed to be happy because of Jesus’ birth.  It is time for you to start being happy.  Ok?”  

That was a golden parenting moment right there.  If you need more parenting tips you can find my email address on the website.  Needless to say, I am pretty sure that our family is done with the happy family phase.  

So, let us just lay it right out there.  There is a lot about this Christmas that just is not very happy.  Some people are getting tired of being stuck together, while at the same time others are listening to our gripes and yearning to have the chance to be stuck together with family.  Lots and lots of family celebrations will be done over Facetime, or Zoom, or phone, or not at all.  This time around, Christmas is feeling pretty dark for people, and I am not just talking about the sun going down at 4:00 in the afternoon!  What is up with that?  This year is a tough one for a lot of us.  

So let me just preach this: “It is Christmas and it is time to just be happy!  OK?”  Did it work for you?  I thought not.

And here is where the Bible is going to start preaching to us.  The Bible is going to have compassion on us and point out that there probably was not a lot of happiness going around that first Christmas either.  

I know, I know, the Christmas cards all have beautiful pictures of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus happily gazing at one another in the star bathed stable in Bethlehem.  Have you ever been in a barn?  If I had to stick a baby in a feeding trough, I guarantee that I would be using a bucket of hand sanitizer first.  

Speaking of which, I have a parishioner who literally has a bucket of hand sanitizer.  She needs to get rid of it.  If you need some, let me know.  

But, you get my point.  There likely was not a lot of happiness going on in that stable.  

And, that does not even talk about the journey that the pregnant Mary had to make to get to Bethlehem.  I know how hard the journey from the recliner to the kitchen sink was for my wife the day before she gave birth.  I assure you that Mary was singing no glorious tunes on her miles long journey.  There were probably noises alright, but they were not ones stemming from bliss, I guarantee.

And, those shepherds, sitting out in the cold fields, watching their flocks during the night shift of their minimum wage job probably were not the epitome of happiness either.  For them, it was just another night of cold, darkness.

And, unfortunately, a lot of people will identify with the shepherds tonight as they enter yet another night of darkness where they struggle with their children, or they struggle with their demons, or they struggle with the death of that one person who always called this night every year, but not this year, or they spend the night alone.  Where is the happiness of Christmas?

But, the angels do not promise happiness when they break open the heavens and come.  The Bible preaches that they promise something else all together.  The Bible says that they bring to the shepherds, and to us, “good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

God does not send the angels to bring happiness to the earth.  God sends the angels to bring news of “great joy.”  

Did you catch that?  I hope you did because there is a difference.  

Happiness is a temporary reaction to something great.  And, I do hope that you are given some happiness this Christmas.  Do not go home and say, “Pastor says it don’t matter if you’re ever happy.”  Also not a great parenting tip!  Yes, we need happiness too, but what the angels bring is so much better; it is news of “great joy.”

Christian joy is what happens to you when a promise that God has made comes true.  The shepherds are not happy about the cold night, but they are certainly joyful about God hearing the pleas of lowly minimum wage, disposable people such as them.  Joy fills them as they learn that God has sent them a savior, the promised Messiah.  This Messiah, it is said, will care for the lowly.  

Joy is what happens, as Isaiah 9 says, when “the people who walked in darkness” finally “have seen a great light.”  And, this bringer of light and life, as John says, “is the light of all people.”  That includes you.

And, though the stable was probably not a happy place, God certainly made it a holy temple of heavenly joy as the shepherds shared all that had been told them by the angels.  The Bible says that Mary “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”  That looks a lot like joy to me.  Mary took these words of great joy and held them close and safe.  

Little did she know that she would need these words of promise and joy 33 years later as she watched her child dying on a cross.  But, darkness does not defeat light, and hardship does not destroy joy.  

Happiness, yes.  Hardship crushes happiness.  But, joy is a gift from God that sustains through the dark night and the dark soul.  The joy of knowing that the savior has come sustains us through the pangs of grief when we realize that that special someone is not here to celebrate with us.  We are not happy, but you can discover a deep joy knowing that the savior reigns and that the savior has not forgotten our loved one, or us.  

Happiness has a very hard time lighting much more than a short flame when times are dark.  Happiness are those dollar store lighters that only muscle men can keep lit.  But joy, knowing that the Lord enters the dark world and shines brightly, is an eternal torch that brings hope to the world.  “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”

I sang that song during the summer once.  It was at a Bible camp and we sang it while sitting around a fire.  I was sitting on a log next to a girl with black lipstick and black fingernail polish, and long black hair hiding her face.  She hid from the light of the fire, remaining in the dark as she talked.

“My life is pretty dark,” she admitted to those of us gathered around.  These words were some of the girl’s first vulnerable words spoken all week; breaking the image of the tough girl that she had been presenting the previous days.

My parents are pretty mean, and I am too I guess.  My Dad told me I’m a nobody; worthless.  I guess I am.  Like I said, my life is pretty dark.”

A kid sitting near with dark skin spoke up, “I get it.  People look at my skin and assume I’m dark and worthless too.”  He looked down, a position he was used to.

I stared at both of them, having never experienced that depth of darkness until much later in life.  They were both so young.  I threw a twig into the fire to break up the silence.  

Looking into each of their eyes, my camp counselor said something very simple, but very profound for my young ears (or even for my adult ears still).  “Darkness isn’t all that bad.  The Bible says that it is in the darkness where the light of Jesus shines.  Don’t forget, Jesus was born in the night.  He taught Nicodemus in the middle of the night.  He died in the darkness and was raised to new life in the darkness too.  God makes great things happen in the dark.  Salvation happens in the dark.  God will make great things happen for you also.  Darkness is not all that bad.”

They were words, not of happiness, but of joy.  The tough girl in black shed a tear that streamed down in the glow of the firelight and landed on a small smile, glistening on black lips.  It was joy.  The dark skinned boy sat up straighter, like he had been given some confidence that he never knew could exist.  It was joy.

And, to you this night, who sit in the darkness areas of life, the angel says to you: “Do not be afraid; for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”  

Christ does not hesitate to enter into your dark places and shine.  It is Jesus Christ who graces you with his presence, his forgiveness, and his eternal joy, especially when you find yourself a person of darkness.  

After-all, if light shines in the dark, then I guess that the Lord can shine in us too.

Reflection on Luke 1:26-38 (from Sunday, December 20th, 2020)

The best, most faithful sermons are not those that tell you what to do, nor are they the ones that make you feel bad about who you are or what you have done in the past.  Though these things can certainly happen in a good sermon, the best sermons, and the most faithful sermons, are those that preach God’s promises to you.  

Considering that we thought 2020 could not get any worse with the pandemic, and the struggles to keep afloat monetarily, and the political strife, and the loneliness, and the depression, and our children losing so many things; we had a cherry added to top off this wondrous ice cream sundae of a year.  A massive snowstorm hit and the shoveling of feet of snow ensued.  Let us just say that for a variety of reasons, we could all use some great preaching right about now.  

Just in case you were under the mistaken assumption that the great preaching was going to come from me, I have some bad news for you; I need to hear these promises just as much as you.  I too have struggled as of late, encountering unexpected and strong bouts of grief as I drive to work, struggling with getting the kids to sit and learn in front of a screen for hours, and suffering the same over-all exhaustion that I know all of you feel in your bones and your muscles.

Instead, the great preaching that I have promised will come directly from the Bible.  After-all, the Bible is our book of promises.  It is the written word of God, and it has the power to shape us.  It contains the story of Jesus Christ, which has the power to save us.  It is the manger that bears the Christ child to us.  And, that story of salvation begins with some amazing words from a heavenly being.

“Greetings, favored one!  The Lord is with you,” the angel Gabriel says to the young woman, Mary.  And, though the words seem like standard angel speak, these words are actually quite amazing.  

You see, the angel has been sent by God to Mary, a young woman who has no reason to think that she is favored.  She is not royal.  She is not rich.  She does not have the wisdom of the years.  She is nobody.  

One of my favorite paintings of the angel’s encounter with Mary shows this young teen meekly huddled on a bench in the corner of a bare, humble room, with the light of the angel shining on her.  The power of the painting comes from that heavenly light.  It shines on her poor, unimportant soul.  We see that God has sent a messenger to the middle of nowhere, to shine on a nobody, because to God, this young woman is anything but a nobody.  Rather, she is God’s “favored one.”

Unbelievably, God makes lonely teens “favored ones.”  Yes, God steps into bare houses and bare lives and brings the message, “the Lord is with you.”  

I do not care how out of touch with the rest of the world you feel right now (whether you are quarantined away, or hiding because of an embarrassing sin, or left with the impossible emptiness that comes from this year of disappointment and death), I am here to tell you that the Lord is with you.  Even in the corner of a cold, bare room, the Lord is with you, and the Lord brings good news.

Oh, how we need some good news.  How we yearn to hear that all we have right now in this life is not the best there is.  Not even close.  Preach to us, we need to hear it!

But, here is the thing with good news such as that: though the news that God provides is indeed very, very good, that does not mean that the news is easy.  Mary’s good news involves the very real pain and blood of childbirth.  It involves the complications of being pregnant in a situation that does not look moral.  After-all, she is an engaged woman who is pregnant with a child under mysterious and apparently scandalous circumstances.  Mary’s good news involves the struggles and pain of nursing.  It involves the fears and expectations that come with raising the Son of the Most High, the future king.  

And, her good news comes at a time in life when a young woman such as she probably does not even have her own life under control.  Unknown to Mary, the story of good news involves seeing your son die in a horrible death.  Children are not supposed to die before parents!  

It involves taking a path in life that was never planned or anticipated.  It involves fear, and questioning, and pondering.  As I said, sometimes the news that God provides is very, very good, but that does not mean it will be easy.

Standing in a cold, bare room, alone with a mysterious and unexpected heavenly guest present, facing an uncertain future with an enormous amount of responsibility and an unprecedented amount of fear, Mary says what I could not say...what I cannot say.

And, this is where Mary preaches to me.  Because, when the enormity of life overtakes everything and it threatens to leave you buried under several feet of life’s snow...and   several feet of literal, very real snow, I need to hear some words of promise.  

However, the temptation is that when life’s weight becomes enormous and the future is stuffed full of mystery and fear, it is easy to retreat.  It is easy to retreat into some comfort food, or some strong drink, or the office away from others, or the woods away from the world, or the certainty that comes when you seek to be in control and allow hatred to spread, or into the arms of the wrong person, or the whatever or whoever that your place of retreat looks like.  It is easy to retreat from it all.

Mary could have retreated.  Instead, she says the words that are hard to force out of our own lips.  And, in doing so, she gives me hope that God might bring me to that point one of these days also.  She declares, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

In other words, “Here I am, your will be done.”

She says it, because no matter the fear, or uncertainty, or questioning she has clung to the sermon preached to her at the very start, “The Lord is with you.”

“The Lord is with you Mary.”  

“The Lord is with you people of God.”  

“The Lord is with you, and nothing is impossible with God.”  

Through all of the difficulty, the Lord is with you.  Through all of the uncertainty and questioning, the Lord is with you.  Through all of the struggle of the days to come, the Lord is with you.  After-all, don’t you realize that you are favored by God?

I am not quite there myself though.  So, I will let Mary preach it to me.  I will repeat Mary’s response to the angel of God, “Here I am, your will be done.”  I will repeat Mary’s sermon to us.  “Here I am, your will be done.”  I will repeat it over and over again, “Here I am, your will be done,” until I am convinced that it is true, because it is.  

We are favored, no matter our background.  This Lord of forgiveness and grace is with us, no matter our circumstances.  And, no matter how much we fear the future, we know that the Lord will bring us through it, according to the Lord’s word.  

“Here I am, your will be done.”  “Here I am, your will be done.”  “Here I am, your will be done.”  One of these days, the Lord will allow me to believe it.  After-all, it is a great sermon.

Reflection on Mark 1:1-8 (from Sunday, December 6th, 2020)

 

Have you ever considered that you are a part of God’s story?  Seriously, have you ever sat down and considered that all that Jesus Christ is up to in the world is not simply ancient history contained in a musty old book, but rather that everything Jesus is up to is a story that continues to this day through you.  The devoted preacher who wrote the gospel of Mark thought so anyway.  He titled his gospel simply: “The Beginning.” 

You did not know that, did you?  The first words of Mark’s story about Jesus’ life and ministry are not simply another form of “once upon a time,” but rather, the title of the whole book: The Beginning.  Mark is saying that you are about to hear the story about the very beginning of Jesus’ eternal ministry, but not necessarily the end.

And, that clears up the mystery of the last words in the gospel of Mark.  Countless people who have actually taken my suggestion and read the shortest gospel, Mark (because it can be read in one sitting), have asked me, “Why does the story end with the women running from the tomb of Jesus Christ in fear?”  What happens next?

The end of the gospel of Mark is like getting out the popcorn, oil, salt, and pan; popping the popcorn in the pan until the lid lifts, and simply leaving it there…no pouring into the bowl, no salting, and no eating.  Why does the book of Mark end in such an incomplete way? 

The answer is simple really: because the end of Mark’s book is not the end of the story.  The story has sequels; one of which even includes you.

That puts everything into perspective a little bit, does it not?  You see, it is one thing to go to church on Sundays, be kind to our neighbors, and to allow God to be a part of our story from time to time, but it is quite another thing for us to be a part of God’s story. 

Have you ever thought that years from now, believers could be reading about you just like we read about the disciples?  It is possible, because you are a part of Jesus’ continuing story!

That makes life infinitely more interesting.  I now want to know what God was doing when he threw me into an internship congregation that eventually closed its doors.  The closing of a church seems to most of us like a dead end.  Surely, God knew that was a part of the story.  

Yet, Jesus still led me there to serve.  Why?  I honestly do not know.  Did God use me to contribute to a story that is still playing out even today?  I have no idea, I doubt I am that important, but I am still fascinated by the idea that those people’s place in Jesus’ story is far from over, despite the church closing. 

I also want to know what God was doing when God allowed the toilet paper to run short at the beginning of the pandemic.  I have no idea how not being able to clean oneself  advances the story of the kingdom of God, but even considering the idea has just made life infinitely more interesting. 

All joking aside, here is the absolute truth.  The end of the story has not come, and Jesus is still up to something in this world through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Maybe, we are still in the beginning of the story?  Maybe, the preachers of doom and gloom are all wrong and they have no idea where or when any of this is going to end.  Maybe, there is much, much more of the story to be written?  I do not know.  I am not the writer of the story, Jesus is, but he certainly has me intrigued.

Keeping that in mind, I am very cautious about making any predictions about the chapter of the story in which we currently live.  For example, I have never claimed that the pandemic is leading to the end of the world.  Jesus clearly tells us clearly in scripture that even he does not even know when the end is coming.  So, maybe before we claim that our current mess must be the end, maybe we should consider the possibility that it is, instead, a new beginning, a new sequel currently being written by God.

After-all, the world has fallen apart before!  The world of the ancient Jews fell apart in a massive way when God allowed the Babylonians to come and destroy their cities and destroy their faith.  People were ripped from the own God-given land, and it seemed like the end. 

But not so fast, Isaiah 40 tells God’s people to look out to the horizon.  And, if they were to do that, they would see that God is on the way.  “See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”

The people were at the start of a new story. 

Of course, we have the convenient advantage of knowing that the shepherd of the people did come.  John the Baptist pointed right at the shepherd: Jesus Christ.  John called out (in what I imagine to be a crazy sounding voice, filtered through the stuck legs of grasshoppers in his teeth), “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 

Not that I would have ever really considered a guy in the wilderness with a loin cloth and grasshopper breath to be all that powerful, but I get his point.  Jesus is the one with the power to heal the destruction of the past.  Jesus will be the people’s shepherd. 

Threats of destruction, famine, plagues, and death do not always mean the end of the story.  In fact, none of them as of yet have brought about the end of the world’s story.  I am right?  We are still here, are we not? 

To the contrary, the destruction of the Jew’s homeland was just the “beginning” (there’s that word again: beginning) of a new chapter in God’s story: a story that would eventually lead to Jesus Christ.  And, like a cherry on the top of a sundae, Jesus’ story is a glimmering and luscious story of new life and resurrection on top of a story that includes hardship. 

Come to think of it, when you rise from the dead, maybe there is no end to the story? 

I think that the writer of Mark understood this.  He writes no end to Jesus story because when death is not the end…what ending could you possibly write? 

Jesus is the end.  The Bible teaches us that he is the Alpha and the Omega…the beginning and the end.  And, since life and love are a part of Jesus’ very existence, pumping through his veins, then I imagine that the end of his story is nothing like the horrors we imagine.

In fact, I am here to tell you today, O people of God, that no matter what junk is filling up your story right now; no matter what hardship is threatening to tear your life apart; no matter what confusion has been brought into your life, none of it is the end of your story.  Life and love is the end of your story.  Resurrection from hardship and death is the end of your story.  Jesus is the end of your story. 

I should not have said it that way, because your story is Jesus’ story, and his story is not coming to an end.  Rather, a new chapter is beginning.  New life is on the way.

Look out to the horizon, O people of God.  Jesus is on the way. As Isaiah says, “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed…”  In other words, clear out anything that is in the Lord’s way!  Jesus is on the way.  A new chapter in his book is about to start.

And, that brings me to the part that John the Baptist really wants to talk to you about.  So, get ready to hear some grasshopper leg laden words.  Do not get distracted John tells us.  I know, this coming from a grasshopper eating man who is very distracting.  None-the-less, John wants you to hear that that there is likely stuff in the middle of the road of life, making it hard for you to see Jesus coming on the horizon. 

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

Are there sins or vices or pleasures or addictions blocking the path and keeping you from seeing Jesus clearly?  Are there other, more important concerns like jobs or perceived family obligations or political expectations getting in the way of your vision of the savior?  Or, perhaps, you are one of those people who see Jesus clearly, but the Jesus you see is not the type of person you expected.  Do you have images of God that need to be cleared out of the way so that you can finally see the one, true God on the horizon?

In response to all that blocks you from seeing Jesus, John the Baptist dunks you under the water shouting, “Be baptized!  Repent of your sins!”  He truly hopes that all that sin, all of those things that turn you from God, might be washed away for good.

How did we get to this point anyway?  What happened to cause us to forget that we are a part of Jesus’ story? 

Did you forget that your life matters to God…and matters to those around you?  Did you forget that you have been baptized, not just with water, but with God’s very presence through the Holy Spirit.  Did you forget that today’s problems and struggles are not the end of the story? 

You are a people of the one true story.  You are a people of the resurrection story.  And, you are a people who wait for Jesus.  

You are the people of God who look to the horizon and see Jesus coming near.  You are the people of God who wait patiently to see where Jesus will lead; waiting to see how the story will play out; and waiting to take the next step in life and love with your savior. 

Jesus is your shepherd after-all; the one who will lead you into the next chapter of his story.  So, wait patiently, and excitedly, for the Lord to arrive.