| "Finding Joy In Our Routines" Sermon Preached By Rev. Richard E. Stetler - December 8, 2002 Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-8
Perhaps
the most absurd story-line in such a commercial appeared last year
where the setting was breakfast on Christmas morning. A
college-aged daughter was home over the seasonal break and the Dad
and Mom were already sitting at the table. As the daughter joins
them, her father says, "Your mother and I have decided to give you a
new CD player for Christmas, but it's outside." They pulled the
kitchen curtains aside and there in the driveway is her CD player
which happens to be inside her new Lexus. . . . Right! Most of us
can identify with giving the keys to such a vehicle to our daughter
as a little "stocking stuffer"! We tend
to associate joy with a pleasant surprise, a jolting experience that
makes us overwhelmed with happiness. A woman gets an engagement
ring and she dances around the room. A young man receives a letter
of acceptance from the university of his choice and he can hardly
wait to share the news with his folks. Yet we have lived long
enough to understand that such joy is momentary and may not last
very long. The
experience of joy also depends on what else is happening in our
lives. For example, Christmas may be a challenge this year because
this is our first one without our mate. Parents lament when their
children are no longer communicating to them. There are people
getting pink slips at the office. Joy can be missing when a
threatening diagnosis distracts us from the celebration of Jesus'
birth. Sometimes people have allowed their faith to slide into a
place where it lacks relevancy. Faith no longer works for them and
there is no use pretending otherwise. When we are sad, joy appears
not to lighten our load. Is there
a joy that will help us rise above life's routine melodramas? In
the opening chapter of Mark's Gospel, we read about John the Baptist
preaching and baptizing in the desert. John was well aware that
people needed to be drawn closer to God. They were scattered like
sheep without a shepherd. Everyone had their excuses as to why God
was no longer sitting in the closest row to the stage where their
life drama was unfolding. John
must have been a persuasive preacher because people came from Judea
and Jerusalem to hear him. People who are contented with their
routines would feel little motivation to venture into the desert to
hear someone preach to them. Our lesson tells us that they came in
droves, confessing their sins and being baptized. They wanted to
hear about the God who had been missing from their lives. Historically,
we know that John was living in a time where there was not much
happening to bring joy to anyone. He had little clothing to wear. He
ate grasshoppers and wild honey for nourishment. He was extremely upset
about King Herod's arrogant life-style. He was having an open affair
with his brother's wife and had brought her into the palace to live. The
Jews found this intolerable and John never missed an opportunity to
condemn him publicly. According to
the Jewish historian, Josephus, "The word of God had not been heard in
Israel for over 400 years prior to the arrival of John the Baptizer."
Clearly, little was happening in that part of the world that would
produce joy in people's lives. What would
motivate John to begin preaching during such a time? The answer is that
John had a vision of what was to come. His excitement was fueled by
anticipating and announcing the arrival very soon of one who would make
God visible. He told his listeners, "The man who will come after me is
much greater than I am. I am able to baptize you with water, but he
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." John was steadfast in his
conviction that God's Spirit had entered the world in a form that
humanity had never before seen. If we review
various chapters of our lives, we will see that sustained joy occurred
when we were looking beyond the present to what was to come. Without a
vision of something wonderful coming, we can easily remain trapped by
our interpretation of what is happening to us now. Such an understanding
of life can be deadly. What we fear may be an end to our road may
only be a bend. Without eager anticipation of what is to come, we
often seal our fate in the present by our own judgments. If we are
eagerly anticipating something wonderful, we are sustained. When we read
the traditional Christmas story, we might imagine that such an
understanding supported Mary and Joseph during their experience. We can
see them making their way to Bethlehem near her due date. We can
imagine their resignation when told that the inn was full. We can
envision them delivering their infant in an extremely inhospitable
environment. They seemingly accepted what was happening without making
any judgments. Imagine having such power over our lives.
The joy
that supported them was not found in their immediate circumstances but
in the knowledge that through them God was bringing something into the
world. Think of how each of us would respond to all events if we
understood our lives in this perspective. So often we do not see
ourselves in this role or context. Many of us
believe that our lives are too routine to be significant. We think,
"Who are we to bring something of God into the world?". But think
again! Often we are very limited in our understanding. Love has many
forms. Think about what Jesus asked us to be, e.g., the leaven for the
loaf, the Good Samaritan, etc. Each time we engage in such an activity,
we are bringing God into our world. One day a
woman called me about a lot of towels and washcloths she wanted to give
away. It just so happened that I knew a social worker who was involved
in settling a family into a new residence, a family who had virtually
nothing. Debbie took these articles to this family and I received a
beautiful thank you note from the mother which I forwarded to the
donor. The woman
who made the gift called me. She said, "I am so glad you sent me that
note. When something so simple as old towels and washcloths mean so
much to a family with very little, it makes me want to empty my whole
house and give it to them." That woman brought God into the world for a
family of strangers, a family who believed that no one cared. Even had
I not sent the note to the donor, love would have become visible in the
family who had received.
Recently
many of us went shopping for kids that we will never meet. We either
bought a number of useful items for children whose parents are in jail
or we purchased a sweatshirt for children who live in families operating
in or around poverty levels. We know that the new member's class has
been collecting children's clothing for Martha's Closet. What we do not
know is what will happen as a result. We do not realize that we are
bringing something of God into their world. Before Jim
and Marge Gribble moved to the Eastern Shore, they were members of St.
Matthew's. Marge worked at the Prince George's County Detention
Center. She was on the inside when our Christmas stockings were
distributed to the families. She told me that when the children saw
their names printed on the individual stockings, the experience of
receiving them became very personal. It became extremely important to
them that someone knew their names. When we
take our teddy bears around to the various senior centers, the staff
frequently tells us stories about how our bears appear to energize the
residence. They do not feel as alone when they have their bear. Some of
our bears accompany patients as they enter the operating room for
surgery. They become the first thing they hold on to as they lie in the
recovery room. Yet suppose we knew none of these stories. Love would
have still entered the lives of strangers because we made those bears
possible. John the
Baptist was motivated to preach because of his vision. He was murdered
before he knew what his role had been. We have the joy of taking into
the world what John could only announce was coming.
No deed done in
love is ever wasted because God is the one using each of them to heal
lives as tomorrow is fashioned. Timeless joy comes in knowing that we
are the vehicles of God's creativity. Life can be
boring and routine. A stay-at-home Mom can talk herself into being
starved for intellectual stimulation. A middle management executive can
feel undervalued and not appreciated. A retiree may agonize over what
he accomplished during his career. What transforms every life without
exception is when we realize that we are a valuable part of an expansion
of God's creativity that is well beyond our comprehension to grasp.
When we
hold this vision, stay-at-home mothers can realize that they are
preparing their children to be tomorrow's saviors. Middle management
executives can sense that they are making decisions that were
influencing the development of something like the Hubble Telescope.
Retirees can become aware that they were on the ground floor of
something like stem cell research that could lead to cures that may save
thousands of lives from premature deaths. With all of
this being said, the results we cherish and savor today are nothing
compared to the future God creates with what each of us brings into the
world. This understanding can and will produce timeless joy in us.
Those of us who think that our lives do not count for much remain
unaware of the power we possess each time we bring something of God into
the world, something every bit as vital as John the Baptist's words or
Mary and Joseph's infant son. After all, would the life and
teachings of Jesus exist today had no one brought a written record of
them into our world? Our faithful discipleship allows God's essence to mutate into millions of different forms as we bring love into the world. When we understand our role, absolutely nothing can remain routine. When we know this, everything we do for another person has purpose. Knowing this helps us find timeless joy in what we typically call routine. THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Eternal yet
always present God, as we live in a world that constantly keeps tensions
swirling around us, we are grateful for these moments. Worship stills
our minds. Our experience together helps us focus on the essentials for
living. When Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me," he knew how
easily we can wander from his Kingdom. Give us the grace to share the
experience of our church family with others. As our spirits are
nourished, help us reveal more of your kingdom. Amen. THE PASTORAL PRAYER As we enter our
worship experience this morning, we come from a variety of experiences.
Some of us have just had surgery. Some of us have had the joy of no
school for two days. Some of us have experienced the loss of a loved
one. Even though this is Advent, the odd and unexpected experiences of
life never stop happening to us. This season comes
around every year and we are seldom prepared for all that occasionally
comes with it -- pulling us, distracting us, making us doubt, or
surprising us, healing us and helping us to feel loved. None of us
share these experiences alone, even though we often feel that way.
Touch us this morning with the sense of community. We can sit alone in
our pews while never knowing what is happening in the lives of those
sitting next to us. Bless them, Lord. Help each of us to understand
that we are not alone. Help us realize that we are loved and that you
created us to love. As we continue our walk into
Advent, may each of us remain sensitized by the specific role Jesus
asked us to play in your world. As we make his message visible, we
bring a part of you into the lives of others. May each of us find
enormous comfort and peace in realizing that by bringing your spirit
into the lives of others, we are as important as Mary and Joseph who
brought Jesus into the world. We pray these thoughts through the
spirit of Jesus, who taught us to say when we pray . . .
[Prayer] |