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The Word for the notion to confess is transliterated from the
Greek as “homologesen.” Homo refers to human plus loge is a root word for the
Word. Can’t you hear the beginning of John’s Gospel right now? In the beginning was the Word…and so on. Here
it is to mean human plus the Word. What would that mean more concretely to us
spiritually as disciples? The sense I gather from it in use not only in these
texts but in other places throughout the Gospel is what do we do in, with and
through the Word? We must not forget
that the Bible is the Living Word of God. Our Lutheran understanding of this
incorporation is scripture alone.
Wait a minute… that’s too abstract to fathom! The same could be thought of as well for the
church however… The original purpose and
function of “church” is actually both quite organic as well as was supposed to
be abstract(!) We naturally of course
being empirical creatures with a chronological understanding of everything
around us see church as the steeple and the people and the plot of land it sets
upon. For many, it’s a pretty little
building we go to only really on Sundays~
Am I hitting the cultural mindset dead on?
If we confess—incorporate, extrapolate and LIVE in, with and
through the Living Word of God; the story of Grace, advent of its cyclical “arrival”
into our lives is something quite profound and most definitely SPIRITUAL. It is
to be celebrated most definitely, declared, proclaimed most profoundly with our
lives turning over the soil of those barren places in our hearts to receive the
LIGHT!
For the past eleven years of my life Isaiah 61’s initial Words
connecting to the story of GRACE entering into the world as Jesus the Christ
have sewn its impression upon my heart to strive to live for as a goal as His
disciple! Grace as an abstract spiritual motivation for us to live through in
faith is realizing God’s work in your life.
It is allowing the Holy Spirit to sew those seeds and for our lives to
spiritually mature to; as Isaiah continues in verse 11: “11For as the earth brings forth its
shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.”
St.
Paul clarifies this even more for us living into the lifestyle of GRACE as: “16Rejoice
always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do
not quench the Spirit.” Yes, we must not
quench the Spirit at all; but unfortunately we do that all the time! We are
like a patch of field where there are still barren, dark places where the seed
has been sewn but we’ve surely avoided being good gardeners… Another day, another dollar. The skies are a uniform grey rolling onward
with no sense of direction or motivation to really DO much of anything at
all! Some people would say, you’ve just
got the annual Christmas’ “Blues…” You’re
letting everything and anything negative drag you down.
It is
hard for many of us to till that field yet alone touch the Pandora’s box of the
concept of “Joy.” Oh Tidings of comfort
and Joy… it’s not just a simple verse from a beloved Christmas carol. How we bear forth in the world but not of the
world as Jesus’ disciples who DO have the Spirit upon us and are anointed to BE
witnesses, testify to the Gospel through painful perseverance! We can’t just be
spectators to Grace coming into the world; we need to be introspective
gardeners to till that dormant soil, stir us from placidness—O Spirit, Spirit
of Gentleness!
I truly
love that hymn: Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness.
For it was that same Spirit that gently awoke my heart, planted those
seeds of faith eleven years ago at my conversion experience in a tiny little
Lutheran church on the north side of Chicago… The beauty of the Living Word was
planted, and is tended to through the assist of the Holy Spirit. The story of Grace began truly for me and
outwardly now as I live into being and becoming a truthful, ever-changing
disciple—member of the priesthood of all believers.
In our
text study this Saturday, we talked about or should I say, pondered about why
verses five and six were left out of our reading from Isaiah 61 this week. The plain and simple truth was that it would
upstage the focus being on the story of Grace entering into the world—the advent
of Jesus the Christ coming to us to BE the light of the World! Verses five and six are about us: “5Strangers
shall stand and feed your flocks, foreigners shall till your land and dress
your vines; 6but you shall be called priests of the Lord, you shall
be named ministers of our God; you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations, and
in their riches you shall glory.”
Today’s
Gospel text once again features John the Baptist fighting off the priests and
Levites interrogating questions and simply confessing his purpose, his calling
to witness—testify to the one who is coming whom he even feels he is unworthy
to untie his sandal to! What makes a
powerful “voice” to and for the Good News is taking mostly seriously that
internal spiritual garden of faith that teeters on the spiritual edge of being
a wilderness unto itself—full of weeds, dead and dormant patches and fragile,
new little shoots relying upon us to nurture, water and grow to full
development!
Keeping
it real, you could say is truly an aspect of once again journeying into being
revitalized and renewed by the story of Grace coming into the world. Keeping it
real as well seemed to be the sub-theme to the yearly living nativity that Phil
& I take part in at the former parish of the pastor who helped to lead me
up the street to that little Lutheran church I would have my conversion
at. I confess that it was a little sad
to participate this year since he’s gone… but we’ve enjoyed taking part for the
past seven years. It probably would’ve
been more of a downer not to do it.
This
church isn’t necessarily wealthy but manages to scrape together several hundred
dollars to call a local farm to bring in a mini zoo of sweet, semi-Biblical
animals to be penned around the crèche. They still brought Jed the beloved old
donkey with the ever-curious and truly precious personality. They also brought a number of feisty black
and white sheep, some baby goats and two very noisy geese. Their antics were adorable, they did
everything but try to chew on the really bad fake baby Jesus doll in the
cradle. One overly ambitious sheep did
chew on the crib itself…. Thankfully it didn’t get torn apart and the children
loved it.
There’s
not too many churches in the area who still do a living nativity. It’s becoming a creature of the past. People can’t sit out for extended periods of
time in the cold yet alone want to hang in there through the smells…. This year
in particular, they had literally no volunteers except for me and my husband. After about an hour and a half in, thankfully
or joyfully I should say, a young family who attends there came by and asked to
sit for a while. It was nice to come in,
have some hot chocolate and regain feeling back into my fingertips. After all
it is for a good cause! The last wave or
hour of the living nativity saw its best attendance especially when the Handel
Messiah CD was blasting in the background.
It was like living in a time capsule being on display and watching the
world go by delighting in the innocent creatures and the perseverance of the
well-padded couple seated on some bales of hay.
As I
watched and delighted in the beauty and innocence of this simple fun gesture; I
found myself dreaming about the future again.
I thought about myself as Jesus’ disciple. How much the Lord of Grace has shaped and
transformed me and how I must live for every moment in prayer and praise! I knew as well I couldn’t let the other side
of my thoughts quench the Spirit… quench the spirit of being there for others,
joining in fellowship, sharing in the story in this fun and creative way. In
many ways you think about it, the cycle of Grace in, with and through our lives
is a constant comfort and joy…
Grace
as the Holy Spirit—God at work in, with and through our lives is present even
in what you least expected. They can be in the most trivial moments, or the
most painful or as that ongoing profound hope we are to labor as those gardeners. The garden of my soul still is tended by a wavering
brown-thumb but it is a work in progress!
We are all works in progress stepping down upon those stones of doubt,
indifference, sadness and fear. We are
turning the soil over as a New leaf or shoot to the foundation of the story of
Grace active within our lives for His sake and out of love for our neighbor.
AMEN
3rd Sunday of Advent;
December 14th, 2014; Year B; SOLA Lectionary Nicole
Collins
Psalm 126; Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; 1
Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28
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