Advent Lutheran Church

"How We Are Connected to God (Advent 2)"

When last we saw John in Luke’s gospel, he was not yet born.  Mary had come to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, and when one pregnant woman greeted the other, John “leapt in his mother’s womb.”  This is the John we know best as the Baptist, and yet I like to imagine a young John, in the synagogue where his father, Zechariah was priest.  I can see him sitting there in worship, not unlike other young boys who are “encouraged” to be in worship.  He is not paying attention, until the large hand of his dad bears down on his shoulder, and he is told that today is the day he will be the lector.  He is given the scroll of Isaiah (much as Jesus was.)  He unrolls the scroll and reads this passage:  “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness.  Prepare the way of the Lord…”  He sits down, but somehow his entire life is beginning to shift.  He is seeing the Light.  He knows what he is going to do.  He knows HIS STORY…

STORY is critical part of the way human beings relate to one another.  Story is foundational for religious life, and for theological pursuit.  This last week I have been hearing and telling a lot of stories as my college roommate and her husband have been visiting.  Some of the stories have been told over and over again, and some are new, but they knit us together as BFF’s, and identify us as who we were and who we have become.  They are stories of the past and of the present.

But sometimes, we get to hear stories that point to the future, to who someone might be becoming.  Just a few days ago, I sat with a ministry candidate who was telling a story that will change her future.  She shared some of her thoughts about doing chaplain ministry with a family of another faith.  She was unsure that she had anything to share with this family as they faced the death of a loved one, and yet she was able to be present with them.  During her ministry with this family, she talked about how she knew that it was not she who was doing the ministry, but that it was the presence of God within her, reaching out and comforting this family through her.  She did not yet know for herself how this might be an indicator of her future call, but those of us on her interview team knew.  WE knew that we were watching her become who God is making her to be.  We were watching a future story unfold right before us.        

            There are countless stories contained within our Bible, and today we encounter a whole fistful of them in the third chapter of Luke.  Some of these stories we know fully, while some are not revealed along with the mention of their names.  For instance, many of you have heard me tell the legend about Mary Magdalene after Jesus’ ascension.  It tells of Mary, at table in Rome with Caesar, regaling him with criticism about Pontius Pilate’s handling of Jesus.  Although, according to Mary, Pilate bungled the entire affair which ended with Jesus’ crucifixion, God had raised Jesus from the dead, she declared.  “Woman,” says Caesar, (this would have been “Tiberius” from our reading,) “Jesus of Nazareth could no more have been raised from the dead, than that egg in your hand could turn red!”  Instantly (goes the legend) the egg turned red.  I can’t imagine that Tiberius did not tell some version of that story in his inner circle!  Or what about an idealistic teen confronting his father, Pontius Pilate?  “Dad, is it true that you were responsible for putting Jesus to death?”  Or how about, “Uncle Lysanias, please tell us a story about the time you were ruler of Abilene.  Did you ever get to meet Jesus?”  

            And that is just imaginings about those who were the powerful ones.  Add to that the Prophets:  Malachi, Isaiah, and John…Imagine the stories that were passed down through them!  Even John, thrown into prison shortly after this scene, must have told others of his life and experiences even when he was in Herod’s dungeon.

But just what WAS John’s story?  It’s set in the Wilderness – the place we meet God – where the word of God came to John (his call.)  So John began doing the work of the prophets, preparing the people for God.  In Luke, he is not the Baptizer, but merely a preacher proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  He was recommending ritual cleansing (mikvah or mikveh in Hebrew,) the Jewish purification rite.  Repentance as preparation? Preparation for God?  Make ourselves holy? Can’t do it!  And yet, Mountains will be moved! Valleys will be filled in! God will remove every obstacle that hinders the coming of the Lord!

            It is not that the people have to undertake the task of leveling the mountains and filling in the valleys. That is God’s work. Repentance is the work of the people.  To prepare, we must repent, be cleansed, be made holy…and the only thing that makes us holy is the presence of God - the place where our story connects with God’s Story.

Last week, Pastor Roger spoke of “The God of Interruptions.”  I’d like to add another definition today, “The God of New Perspectives.”  What do we hear in this story today? We see God shifting people’s perspectives of themselves and their own lives.  Jesus, however, is not even mentioned in the reading, nor are faith, hope, or love.  John preached about baptism, but did not baptize nor was there any emphasis on him or his faith.  The significance for Advent 2 is John’s place in the story.  John’s prophetic words and deeds prepare the way for Jesus, God was at work putting everybody’s stories together, getting everyone to see things a new way…

            Let me share with you an example from my family.  When I was young, my uncle Bob worked for B.F. Goodrich in the Philippines.  My cousin came to the states for high school and college, and would spend holidays at our house, not being able to return to his family regularly during the school year.  We became close, and no one was more surprised or grieved than I was when our hale and hearty uncle Bob died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 50.  Believing that his life might also be short, due to the early death of his father and our grandfather, my cousin lived the years between 50 and 54 (the age “Grampy” died) with great consternation.  A few summers ago, he was with us as he celebrated turning 59.  He was amazed that he had outlived the “curse” of the men in the family, especially Grampy’s early death.  “I never really expected to live past 50 like my dad, especially since Grampy died young as well,” he said.  My sister and I looked at each other. “No he didn’t” we said.  “Grampy was 79 when he died!”  My cousin was incredulous.  But after we produced the appropriate paperwork, he finally began to shift his internal information.  Can you imagine the chagrin he felt knowing how he had wasted so much emotional energy on a “short life” that had no basis in reality?  Talk about a new lease on Life!  My cousin had been living under a misconception for many years, until something outside himself and his story, shifted his reality, his point of view.

            Connecting our story to God’s story can bring us a whole new perspective on life.  In fact, it can offer us not just a new perspective, but a new life, one that is intimately connected to God, and to holiness.  It is sort of like the connection that our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic church symbolize when they take holy orders and attach the words “of God” to their names:  i.e. Margaret “of God,” Thomas “of God” or Joseph “of God.”  No longer are they simply their own, now they are forever connected, and a beloved part “of God.”  As are we.               So today I ask you to reflect on the questions, “When did your life recognize God’s story in yours?  When did you become, “of God?”  As we lift up the God who comes as Emmanuel “God with us” once again during this Advent season, we realize that our stories and God’s story are One.  And being holy with God’s presence can strengthen us beyond our own imaginings…knowing that God walks beside us, behind us, in front of us and within us (the prayer on St. Patrick’s breastplate.)  Therefore we can move out of ourselves, so we can comfort with our very presence (standing in for God,) so we can trust that God will get us past our fears, so that we know that we’ll arrive in our future, in our story, not alone, but with Emmanuel, the God who is always with us.  Our story is not simply ours.  It is a piece of God’s story as well.  AMEN.