(Bryan preached a wondrous sermon today on Advent III. See it on Emmanuel Church's web sight). But here's one I preached years ago to add to that.)
ADVENT III 2008
It is Advent—a
time of waiting and preparing and getting ready.
We are waiting
and preparing for the Babe of Bethlehem, for Emmanuel (God with us). For the
coming of the Lord.
Advent is a time
a deep darkness, long nights, strange dreams and the telling of stories around
the fire that gives us light in the midst of Darkness.
I have three
stories today, to give us Hope and Wonder and Optimism in the darkest time of
the year.
And before those
stories, we must look at today’s gospel lesson.
John Baptist was
a man sent by God to witness to the Light. Those around him wondered where his
testimony came from.
“Are you
Messiah?” they asked.
“Are you
Elijah?” they inquired.
“Are you a
prophet of God?” they quizzed him.
“No! No! and
once more No!” he responded. “I only ‘point’ to the One you seek,” he told
them. “And he is here already, just look around….”
****
So, my stories
around the fire….My stories to bring you hope and wonder and optimism in the
Darkest time of the year.
I tell these
stories because we—you and I—are not only preparing for and anticipating the
Child to be born for us…we are looking into our future as a Parish Church in
the Darkest Time of the Year.
Your Vestry has
worked and struggled to manage our future life with reduced resources. St.
John’s endowment—which provides much of our income—has been reduced by some 40%
by the recent economic crisis. The budget for 2009 is almost a 20% reduction
from this year. We are in a Wilderness Time. We must make adjustments. And…and…we
must call upon ourselves to be as Hopeful and Wondrous and Powerful as we truly
are.
Three stories
then.
One of the
members of our Chorister Academy—a young girl—has started collecting bottles
and cans and turning them in to make money for the Choristers. We got a
donation last week. It was only a few dollars, but the intent of her work is an
example of Light and Hope for us all. She realizes, in a way we all need to
embrace, that what we DO as a church—our mission and ministry—requires all our
creativity and work and generosity to support. We need to learn from her…You
and Me and all of us….
The night I
informed the Friday Night AA meeting that we are cutting back on the evening
use of the building to save money in salaries and utilities…the very night I
told them that—a man was celebrating his 50 year anniversary of sobriety. They
had a dinner and a cake and a celebration. I asked how long he had been coming
to the Meetings at St. John’s….
“Fifty years,” I
was told. “He got sober here on a Friday night 50 years ago and has come to
this Meeting ever since….”
Before we take
his Meeting away after half-a-century, before we take away the gift he received
because of St. John’s generosity and mission, we must do all we can do and
learn from him how powerful our ministry really is. We all—you and I—need to
learn from him.
My third story
goes like this: two people who were a part of our community for five or six
years moved to Tennessee because they couldn’t afford to live in New England
any more. Last week I got a letter from the wife—let me call her ‘Joan’.
Joan said in the
letter that I probably didn’t remember them because they’d been gone over two
years. Of course, I remembered them—they were faithful and kind and of good
humor—and though they ‘had’ little, they ‘gave’ much to the parish.
Joan also said
that she had always wanted to “give something back” for all she and ‘Harry’
(not his real name either!) had gotten by being part of our worship and life.
She enclosed three checks—each for $500—one for Safe Haven, one for the Soup
Kitchen and one for the Parish.
The reason she
could do that was that Harry died last November and had a “small” life
insurance policy.
Harry died so
that he and Joan could be ‘generous’ to the mission and ministry of St. John’s.
And, knowing and remembering them, I am certain Joan sent the lion’s share of
that insurance money to us.
We need to learn
from her…and from Harry, who I believe as strongly as I believe anything, would
applaud Joan’s use of his insurance money.
It’s NOT US that
inspires that Chorister and that man sober for half-a-century and Joan in her
name and Harry’s.
It’s NOT US—you
and me—that inspires such hopefulness and generosity and appreciation. WE—you
and I—are like John Baptist…we are pointing
to the one who really inspires such wondrous commitment.
We are
pointing—you and I and St. John’s—to the One they not only sought but FOUND.
The Child of
Bethlehem, God Incarnate, Emmanuel—THAT IS WHO ‘ALL THIS’ ABOUT AND FOR.
It is our job—in
this Wilderness Time, this era of ‘scarcity’ to point to the Generosity and
Love and Care and Concern and Commitment that Jesus gives to us.
All the drama
and oh-so-necessary responses to St. John’s economic crisis…let me repeat that:
ALL THE DRAMA AND OH-SO-NECESSARY RESPONSES TO ST. JOHN’S ECONOMIC CRISIS—and it is very real and very important—all
that is an opportunity for us to
Be more
loving,
Be more
creative,
Be more
committed,
Be more
Hopeful,
Be more
optimistic,
And
finally, most importantly, to ‘point’ to the One who gives us the strength and
courage and hope to live as Children of Light in the midst of Deep Darkness.
That is our call
this Advent—to await the Christchild and to ‘point’ to him as we create a
Future of Light in a time of Darkness.
