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Harboring a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, having it take root and living into it; is the route of the disciple to prepare and travel down. Truth be told one of my favorite figures within the greatest story ever told is that of John the Baptist. Now here’s someone who just couldn’t stop being that voice rippling through the air, parting that wilderness of those hearts seeking faith, hope renewed during a time that was anything but peaceful or promising about the future.
Not much has changed at all some 20 centuries later. Yes, there are mulitudes of Christians abroad
who have considered themselves “well prepared” and who claim to “know the Way
of the Lord,” but like that saying goes: No Jesus, No Peace—the hopeful version
this being Know Jesus, Know Peace. Our
lives are always in transition not necessarily for the better either. Instead
of sitting in the ashes of that withered stump, skeptical of it ever
regenerating any kind of life whatsoever—let your hearts be empowered to be the
miracle grow to bring to life a whole New Hope.
A hope that not only includes the Lord but prepares one for a New
Creation to come.
We don’t necessarily understand creation too well. It’s beyond having a care or concern for the
environment, but thinking of how we must regenerate spiritually. Human nature
of course, more often feels that we are regenerating but it is more or less
akin to being an intellectual movement of “progress” and “promise.” The promise and progress, God brings into our
world, not just during this time of Advent, but often in our lives journeys is transitioning—transforming
our hearts to be of service to the Gospel—become, reap that New Nature seed
planted by Christ to realize the Kingdom of God.
John the Baptist was someone given a vision and a message
and like those stop signs we all must yield to (btw, rolling stops don’t
count!)—His voice needed to be heard! He wasn’t just a “sign of the times,”
being an Old Testament prophet living an estranged, aesthetic life preaching
and teaching what God compelled him to share…
He was much more than that. We
don’t believe in prophets much anymore yet alone prophecy… In fact, just like many terms concerning the
Christian faith, it has suffered negative attachments. These negative attachments have included
everything from politics to racism, sexism and a number of other ‘Isms, that
work hard to take us away from God, period.
Our continued intellectual “naval-gazing” interpretations
of things is also what John the Baptist was accusing the Pharisees of when they
said—we KNOW the Law (better than you) and we have Abe’ on our side! What they
didn’t truly know and never attempted to develop, was the growth needed in
their hearts to become selfless servants to love God and neighbor—in order to
be living into the promise of a Kingdom restored! Their hearts were metaphorically speaking—that
deadened stump the Prophet Isaiah spoke of, leaving no room for a New growth to
take ROOT.
In continuing to speak of “taking root,” St. Paul, in the
snippet we have from Romans today is more or less doing the same thing as John
the Baptist but as a Christian witness.
He was preaching and teaching from a converted, transformed heart
parting the airways of the Gentile wilderness with the Gospel—the light of
Christ and its hope and promise for all the world to share and come to know. Coming into the knowledge the Gospel speaks
of, is metanoia. Metanoia is a wonderful
Biblical Greek word that literally means to change. To change for both John the Baptist and for
St. Paul it was to be realized as repentance.
Repentance in its original prayerful meaning was to be
that heart turning to God, realizing what needs to be done and preparing oneself
to regenerate for a greater purpose and a beautiful goal. Truth be told, being a Christian takes an
exhausting amount of being both the optimist and the realist. Sometimes however, where the world seems to
be turning has cynicism and indifference take root merely to produce the
withering fruits of graceless behavior—anything BUT true “progress…”
Outside of the Black Friday protests and the brutality
against those engaged in pipeline protests, there is still that ongoing
politically correct war to remove mention of the word Christmas from the public
airways. As Christians, we should be outraged
that this is still an issue. Not just
the freedom of faithful expression but an assault against the faithful with the
political correct agenda. Our greatest
signpost and marker of our faith is Christ Jesus. His Gospel, His Cross is our signpost and
preparation for a great and glorious life together—realizing the Kingdom of
God!
Our call to turn our hearts back to God, letting His
Gospel take root in order to harbor the Spirit’s prompting of true wisdom and
understanding, is the righteousness God is seeking for us to develop! We are all witnesses to the truth—what Christ
Jesus is to mean for not only ourselves but beyond ourselves—to the world
abroad. And it’s hard, the Christian spiritual formation journey is not an easy
one. It’s even harder for those trying
to serve in the “post-modern,” fractured structure of what we know as “church.” It’s not just a matter of scratching our
heads and figuring what should we focus on next as the Body in the world (but
often forgetting not to be of it—Christ’s command to the disciples…) But are we
aiding and nurturing that seemingly at times, hopeless garden, in the heart, to
GROW and GO with the Gospel?
In some senses, discipleship in the modern church, has
seen a lot of failure where the remains of what was is that deadened stump
praying to be restored, hoping someone will be encouraged and hopeful enough to
reap that seed laying in the ashes… Faith is a two-way street, however—you’ve
been given faith and now you got to live it in order to give it! Having our
hearts once again prepare the Way for the Messiah’s beginning to echo within
the dead of winter (the one in reality and the one within our lives)… restores
that hope and promise we need in order to live.
This is in order to live into the lifestyle of Grace, Christ, our King
prepared for us.
Let us hear Isaiah’s words come to life shouting through
the rugged lips of John the Baptist once more: 2“Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3…“The voice of one crying out in
the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Let us take the time, clear our lives of all
the clutter that brings us down and away from God—let us prepare that royal
highway. With this in mind, here are some
of the lyrics (along with my reflections) to perhaps my favorite Advent tune:
Prepare the Royal Highway.
Prepare the
Royal Highway
Prepare the royal highway; the King of kings is near!
(God is near to us always, we must recall his story)
Let ev'ry hill and valley a level road appear!
(Our lives will always have hills and valleys—making the
pathway clear is our spiritual task to hear and live into the Gospel’s
challenge to us to change)
Then greet the King of glory, foretold in sacred story:
Chorus: Hosanna to
the Lord, for He fulfills His Word! (Shout this to hear and incorporate it
fully)
Then fling the gates wide open to greet your Lord and
King,
(Open wide the gates of your heart and welcome the New
Nature seed to be planted and begin the reaping)
That ours and ev'ry nation their tribute here may bring.
(We have seen the signposts, now let us reap through true
wisdom and understanding, in peaceful harmony—the fruits of Grace: love,
kindness, mercy and so forth)
All lands will bow before Him; with singing now adore
Him:
Chorus: Hosanna to the Lord, for He fulfills His Word! (Shout
this to hear and incorporate it fully)
His is no earthly kingdom; it comes from heav'n above.
(The Kingdom of God and its righteousness is the New
Creation—fully incorporated and lived through our perfect model and savior—Jesus
Christ.)
His rule is peace and freedom and justice, truth and
love. (Know Jesus, Know Peace and all the beautiful spiritual fruits the New
Nature has to give us once that stump has been willingly restored)
So let your praise be sounding for mercy so abounding:
Chorus: Hosanna to the Lord, for He fulfills His Word! (Shout
this to hear and incorporate it fully)
Well I hope you heard that song starting to play in the
soundtrack of your mind as well as in the walls of that first church, the heart. I think its message is powerful as well as it
is a beautiful hymn. I will be looking forward to caroling fairly soon and
singing this tune as well! Worship, when
it’s done in its intended prayerful way, is to be our expression of praise—joy (an
emotional aspect of Grace). With a regenerative song in our hearts ascending,
Let us pray—
Gracious and Loving Lord,
Help us to have that New Creation take root in our hearts
And be lived prayerfully through our hands and feet
Help us to abound in the Hope and Promise
Your righteous Gospel frees us to see
May our lives become signposts of all that You need us to
grow and go with
May Your expectations of us be fulfilled and Your Kingdom
revealed in Glory and Joy
Help us prepare and straighten the path
AMEN
December
4th, 2016; 2nd Sunday in Advent; Year A; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon
by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm
72: 1-7; Isaiah 11:1–10; Romans 15:4–13; Matthew 3:1–12
https://youtu.be/Dm6V4malPjM
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