Wake Us | a sermon

A sermon by Bishop Don Phillips on Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11 and Luke 1:26-38

Let us pray. Gracious and merciful God, we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us gathered here and in our various homes. Help us now to open our minds. Our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living word for us this night. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight? O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

So I went out. Early this morning for a run, taking advantage of a little bit milder weather. And dawn was just breaking. The eastern sky had a kind of pink blush to it, but it was still dark enough that the neighborhood outdoor Christmas lights shone brightly in the stillness. And it was silent.

There were no cars rushing by. No sirens in the distance, just a beautiful silence. A lovely respite in the midst of a city rushing to finish shopping, anxious of the financial challenges this year, many of us are facing and all against a backdrop of a world that was anything but peaceful.

Now I can't take you all outside right now for a contemplative run. Take for a moment. Just a brief period of silence and become aware of the space that each of you are in right now, mentally, emotionally and so on. Poised seven days before Christmas Eve.

As I began my run this morning, I thought about our worship tonight. I had started working on the sermon before then and the words that we would hear tonight, collectively in worship. And I thought to myself. So what have we got together in these words?

We've got an Old Testament lesson from the prophet Isaiah. Written about 2500 years ago. To a people trying to recover from a horrendous deportation and oppression. And the prophet speaks to them, he says. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion. To give them a Garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

Then we have a passage from Luke, the Gospel writer, writing about this Jesus of Nazareth. Now that passage would have been written slightly less than 2000 years ago. Luke tells us that an Angel visited a young woman named Mary. Here's what he writes. The Angel came to her and said greetings favored one. The Lord is with you. And he continues. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the House of Jacob Forever and of his Kingdom. There will be no end.

Then we don't hear this passage tonight, but in Luke's mind, when he would have been writing this first chapter was a passage from the 4th chapter in his gospel. When he quotes Jesus with these words. And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read and the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

And then we have this collect prayer that we prayed at the beginning of the service. It's written only about 50 years ago, we prayed God of Power and mercy. You call us once again to celebrate the coming of your son. Remove those things which hinder love of you. That when he comes, he may find us waiting and awe and wonder for him. Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit? One God, now and forever.

Four sets of words. What does it all mean?

In the midst of my life in the midst of your life right now. For some of you are probably bursting with joy and enthusiasm and looking at this coming week ahead of you. Some are dreading this time of year that carries memories of lost loved ones or broken families. A time of unmet expectations. Too many commitments. And all with a deep desire to be filled and refilled. With a joy, a peace and a love. That comes all too infrequently.

So what are these passages? These words? Three sections of Scripture and one liturgical prayer, have to offer us here tonight.

In the Isaiah Passage, the Prophet is making a great announcement. God will act. God is coming to restore you, and the promise is as perennial as the season of spring. As he concludes, he says. For as the earth brings forth, it shoots and as a garden causes what is sowing in it to spring up. So the Lord. God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Well, indeed, the restoration did come. But that was 2500 years ago.

The second passage is from that first chapter of Luke's Gospel. Mary will give birth to the son of God. We read he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the House of Jacob Forever and of his Kingdom. There will be no end. And while the initiation of Jesus Kingdom came forth. In a totally unexpected way, through his death and his rising from the dead, that too was almost 2000 years ago. And Luke reassures us a few chapters later that this Jesus really does completely fulfill the promise made by Isaiah. The spirit of the Lord is upon him. Jesus really did fulfill what was promised. 2000 years ago.

And then we have this 50 year old prayer. Essentially telling us that we're called to celebrate the coming of this son of God named Jesus. And the prayer asks for help to remove those things which hinder love of you, hinder love of God. Now it all sounds good. But aren't these just profound words that have been preserved over time?

No, these are not just words. They are a record of human lives. Lives lived by the truth of these words.

Think about it. These words were spoken and then written in a particular time and place. And by a particular generation. So what happens when time moves on and that generation? Ceases to exist. The value, depth and truth of those words is tested by the next generation. And the generation after that. And they are carefully translated to pass on the same truth and the same lived experience to new peoples and cultures. People had to discern and decide if these words revealed meaning and truth. And brought them greater life, light and love. And clearly they did. Over thousands of years or we wouldn't be hearing them here tonight.

So what about that contemporary prayer? A mere 50 years old. Remove those things that hinder love of you. We ask of God. So many things around us. Distract and numb us. Shutting off the depth of our beings, the deep places within us where true peace and joy and hope and love dwell. And instead. We're invited by what we hear and see around us to replay the same sort of superficial script of Christmas of the winter holiday that our media oriented society offers us.

These words that we've heard tonight. Should wake us up. Call to the depths of our hope starved, peace starved, joy starved and love starved hearts and minds. Just because their words? No, because of the witness of millions of faith filled people whose lives confirm the eternal truth of these words. And the eternal love of the God who spoke.

By letting ourselves be grasped by flooded with and transformed in the loving God of whom these words speak. The things which hinder our love of God will be dissolved. And we too will become witnesses to the God who came to love us in the person of Jesus Christ. Our witness to this birth is essential to the people, to the community, to the world around us in which we live.

To lift these words off the page. And let them become saving words of life through us for this world, that God still loves. And will love forever.