King James I once became annoyed with a preacher and shouted up to the pulpit, ‘Either make sense, or come down from the pulpit !’ The preacher calmly replied, ‘I will do neither’.
Beginning in a new church in Advent is not the easiest thing to do, because in many ways, the church concept of advent very often doesn’t seem to make sense in a world where so many other things are going on which seem to conflict with it !
In the church calendar we think of a time of preparation and reflection as we prepare to celebrate Christmas and we recognise the reason for Christ’s coming into the world.
It can be in some ways a sombre time as we just try to clear away the things in our lives that are distracting us in our journey of faith – and yet amidst all of these serious considerations we have the carol services and parties, the Christmas songs and shopping.
And so it can be for the church and for us all a rather strange time – but actually this balance of reflection in the middle of life is not a bad model…. As we take time out to think about where we are now and where we are going and the many resources that we have at our side, chiefly of course, the power and love of God.
In our readings today we are challenged to pause and reflect – to look at the wonder of God as revealed by the Prophet Isaiah (35:1-10), to consider the need for trust and patience in difficult times as written about by James in his letter (5:7-10), and then to consider our own answer to the question asked by John the Baptist’s followers to Jesus (Matt.11:2-11) , ‘are you the one who is to come or should we expect another?’ In other words, are we seeing in Jesus the Saviour of the world or not…
There’s a Peanuts cartoon where Lucy was talking to her brother who was listening with his thumb in his mouth and his comfort blanket pulled up against his ear. And Lucy said, ‘I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anyone before. Do you see that hill over there ? Someday I’m going to go over that hill and I’m going to find the answer to my dreams ! Someday I’m going to go over that hill and I’m going to find happiness and fulfilment ! I think that for me, all the answers to life lie over that hill !
Different people may have different hills, but many are searching… The Old Testament reading from the prophecy of Isaiah (35:1-10)points us to a picture similar to that of Lucy’s. We are called to stand and look at the hill whilst Isaiah paints a picture of what’s on the other side.
There, the desert will rejoice and blossom, there the glory of the Lord will be revealed, there the weak hands will be strengthened, the feeble knees made firm, the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless shall sing for joy… Even waters and streams will break forth in the desert wilderness.
Many people are conditioned to be rather cynical today and such a world seems a long way off, a distant dream, perhaps even an unattainable hope. And in the gospel reading (Matthew 11:2-11) we see some of this cynicism from an unlikely source in the form of John the Baptist. He’s concerned that the work of Jesus seems to be a bit slow – there’s no radical changes appearing... John is stuck in prison, and nobody seems to be able to do anything to help.
But Jesus, when asked if he is the Messiah, refers those followers of John who were sent to ask the question, to what he’s been doing – the actions were of no ordinary person, they point towards a fulfilment of what Isaiah was talking about – the blind are receiving their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, even the dead are raised to life, and the poor have good news brought to them.
Jesus doesn’t try to convince John’s followers in words, but points them to things that have happened – to radical changes, to lives which have been turned around….
Jesus is pointing the disciples of John to the fact that he came to bring about the world promised by Isaiah. He came to teach people that we were not to seek fulfilment and happiness over the other side of the mountain, but to find fulfilment by making this world ready to receive Christ.
And that’s what advent is really about – it’s not about getting ready for Christmas, though inevitably that will take up a lot of our time. It is about helping ourselves to get closer to God, God who is constantly with us, and then helping others to see him clearly as well.
Many people believe they can save the world – there are plenty of well-meaning people who are trying and often doing great things, and there are some others who just out of their own arrogance believe they know the answer to everything.
There are Churches and Christians who sometimes feel they have to have all the answers to the difficult question of life and be able to provide a slick answer, but actually one of the things advent reminds us is that we are not called to save the world – only God can do that, but what we are called to do, like John the Baptist, is to go out and prepare the way for God to do it, and we do that by pointing people at a Saviour born for us and born for them…
Today in a consumer driven society when, even in this time of economic problems, the shops will often be busier than the Churches, it is our duty to remind people whose birthday it is that we’re about to celebrate. And as we look at the gifts we can give to people, let’s not ignore the gift that we can give to Jesus – the gift of ourselves.
I’m not actually a huge fan of bits of Christmas, so I need to be careful that I’m not about to play Scrooge, which Helen often accuses me of, and I fear it’s too late to stop her spending lots of money again this year, but out of all of the presents we can give and receive, the greatest of all is the present of giving our lives for Jesus, as we recognise he gave his for us…
The first Christmas was the beginning of an incredible journey for Jesus – a birth, a childhood, a ministry of teaching and healing, of challenging and encouraging, and a life of love and compassion…
And he invites every one of us to enter that journey with him – because the journey of course didn’t end at the cross – the child who grew to be a crucified king is alive today, offering hope for everyone…
I don’t think John the Baptist had serious doubts about Jesus – he had seen too much, and yet even he when faced with the despair of prison just wondered… he needed to be reassured about who Jesus was… he needed to just hear once more that Jesus had a plan – that things were going to work out right in the end…
And sometimes we all need encouragement, and one of the benefits of the fellowship of the church is being with one another – sharing joys and sharing sorrows… celebrating together and sometimes crying together.
Jesus’ life on earth was about displaying the love of God for every single person, and he explained to us what giving our life to him means when he told us that whatever we do even to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do for him – so we give gifts to Jesus whenever we give gifts to help the poor, the hungry, the weak, the grieving, the sick, and all those who are forgotten and neglected by the world.
In 5 or 10 or 15 years time, we may remember a gift we’ve received for Christmas, we may remember something we’ve given, but few of these gifts will be truly life changing, but the things Jesus is talking about will make a difference to someone forever.
There’s another Peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown is complaining about world conditions, and in the middle of his pessimistic outburst, Linus interrupts him and says, ‘Charlie, I think the world is better than it was 6 years ago.’ Charlie can’t believe this comment – ‘how can you say the world is better than it was 6 years ago ? Don’t you read the papers or watch the television ? How can you say it’s better ?’
And Linus very quietly and confidently replies, ‘The world is better than it was 6 years ago, because today I’m in it !’
When we are doing the work of Christ, we can honestly say the same thing – the world is a better place because we’re in it… We may think that we can do little by ourselves, but anything we do is better than doing nothing…
We can remember the story of the little boy who called at the home of an elderly man and offered some postcards for 10p each. ‘What are you going to do with the money ?’ asked the man. The boy replied very seriously, ‘I am raising £1 million for earthquake relief’ The man was surprised and had to prevent himself from laughing, ‘£1 million ! Do you really expect to raise that all by yourself ?’ ‘Oh no’ the boy replied, ‘there’s another little boy helping me !’
Our work may be big or small, but it is never insignificant – So let’s remember during this advent season and always, that it’s a great time to work at making our community and even the whole world a better place through something that we do or say or pray, because it’s a great time to give gifts to Jesus by loving our neighbours whoever they are…
Inspired by the glories revealed by the prophet Isaiah and by the courage and faith of John the Baptist and so many others, and recognising the miracles of Jesus and his love for each one of us, we can help to change lives with a smile or a small word of kindness, or a gift or a helping hand and we can remember as we prepare to celebrate the history changing moment of Jesus’ birth, that whatever we do, even to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do it to him. AMEN
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