THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2005
This sermon was preached on The Second Sunday of Advent, December 4, 2005, by The Rev. Canon William L. Wipfler.
Isaiah 40:3-4 “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Mark 1:3 “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!”
Last Monday, I was returning from our cabin in the Catskills. We were selling our retreat and were planning the closing this past Thursday. It was a sad departure after 24 years of wonderful family experiences there and I wanted to make the trip home as quickly as possible. So I decided to take a shortcut north to the thruway to avoid some delays I had run into on the way to the cabin.
When I came to a long line of orange cones and then a sign announcing “Merge Ahead” I got a sinking feeling. (I’m sure you know what I mean!) As the two lanes became one the inevitable slowdown began. After several miles a sign announced: “Obey the Flagman -One Way Traffic.” Then it was stop and go, as we waited for the oncoming traffic to take its opportunity to use that single lane. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was my turn, assuming that on the other side traffic would go back to two lanes and a normal speed. But that was presumptuous!!! My single lane continued for several miles, and then, that “Mother of All Signs” appeared: “Route 10 closed for Bridge and Road Repairs – Follow Detour.” That detour was almost 10 miles long.
Each of the delays slowed me down. But after I got back to Route 10, I thought about it and recognized that the roads do need repair. They need upgrading. They need expanding. And if I take that road in the future, I will rejoice that it is repaired, widened, straightened.
As I reflected on this morning’s reading from Isaiah and its repetition in Mark, I began to realize that we have to engage in an evaluation of our spiritual lives in a similar way to my experience on Rt. 10. We feel put upon, perhaps annoyed, when it is suggested that we need to do spiritual work: to repair, to smooth over the ruts and bumps, to straighten out our relationship with God and our neighbors. We don’t want to be slowed down, or delayed, or have to take an alternate route. We want a straight path. But, in fact, only we, with God’s grace can do the repair work.
In our yearly Advent journey, there is only one road to Christmas. In spite of the calls from the malls, from the merchants, from TV and newspapers and junkmail stuffing our mailboxes, there is no shortcut to Christmas. In Advent, we always have to deal with John the Baptist. There is no way around him ... no detour. He is there calling us to examine our lives, to repent, to do the repair work.
The more we rush around , not paying attention to our innermost needs, the more we should be feeling the warning: “Slow down, it is the time to prepare for the one who comes!!!”
The more we focus on society’s externals (make dates, dates, dates; decorate, decorate; send cards, send cards, and more cards; buy presents, presents, and last minute presents;) the more those orange cones should be popping up and reminding us, that we are not only preparing for the birth of The Holy Child in Bethlehem, but for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
As we become possessed by the frenzy of December ( – or did it begin for you after Halloween??? – ), John the Baptist appears in the middle of our road, like that Flagman, and says: “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight the paths of the Lord. Change direction! Make a U-Turn. (— that’s what “repent” means – ) turn your life around. Look for the presence of God. Open your hearts to the authentic spiritual struggle, joy and beauty of the Advent road.”
Fr. Dan shared with me some reflections for clergy about today’s Gospel that he received from Brian Stoffregen, the pastor of
Stoffregen writes: “....as Mark seeks to redefine the good news and Jesus as the Christ/Messiah and Son of God, so he seeks to redefine what following Jesus means and what life immersed in the holy Spirit means. All of these point to the cross. An ironic sign of victory or good news for God’s anointed, the Son of God.”
And he then goes on to comment : “I’ve heard the Gospel of mark summarized with the statement, ‘Before you decide to become a Christian, you had better make sure that you look good on wood.’ As we enter the fantasy of the commercial Christmas season, it may be good to remind our [selves] about the real costs of following that baby who will be born. .. Perhaps we need to look at the Advent/Christmas season as a time to begin to hear the good news again for the first time .... as it was for those first readers of Mark.”
It is December 4th, and we have three God-given weeks to consider where, in our lives as individuals, congregations, communities and as a society, we post “No Access”, “Road Closed” or “Detour Ahead” signs . Are there any parts of our lives that we hold off-limits for God or our fellow human beings? Is there anywhere that we don’t want to allow access to God or God’s judgement? Is it because of trauma, of shame, of doubt, or just inconvenience? We all need to do some repair work before we encounter the Lord of Lord’s.
Preparing the way of the Lord may mean allowing the Lord into the shadowy corners of the ghettos of our personal lives and community attitudes – that we prefer to ignore: sinful tendencies, racial and gender prejudices, grudges, pride, greed, hatred, fear, injustices in our parish, our town and in our nation. The child born in
Just think... you won’t be confounded by the question of that wonderful carol:
What child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?
You will be able to answer with strength, joy and conviction, as if for the first time:
This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing,
Haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.
Isaiah 40:3-4 “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Mark 1:3 “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!”
Last Monday, I was returning from our cabin in the Catskills. We were selling our retreat and were planning the closing this past Thursday. It was a sad departure after 24 years of wonderful family experiences there and I wanted to make the trip home as quickly as possible. So I decided to take a shortcut north to the thruway to avoid some delays I had run into on the way to the cabin.
When I came to a long line of orange cones and then a sign announcing “Merge Ahead” I got a sinking feeling. (I’m sure you know what I mean!) As the two lanes became one the inevitable slowdown began. After several miles a sign announced: “Obey the Flagman -One Way Traffic.” Then it was stop and go, as we waited for the oncoming traffic to take its opportunity to use that single lane. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was my turn, assuming that on the other side traffic would go back to two lanes and a normal speed. But that was presumptuous!!! My single lane continued for several miles, and then, that “Mother of All Signs” appeared: “Route 10 closed for Bridge and Road Repairs – Follow Detour.” That detour was almost 10 miles long.
Each of the delays slowed me down. But after I got back to Route 10, I thought about it and recognized that the roads do need repair. They need upgrading. They need expanding. And if I take that road in the future, I will rejoice that it is repaired, widened, straightened.
As I reflected on this morning’s reading from Isaiah and its repetition in Mark, I began to realize that we have to engage in an evaluation of our spiritual lives in a similar way to my experience on Rt. 10. We feel put upon, perhaps annoyed, when it is suggested that we need to do spiritual work: to repair, to smooth over the ruts and bumps, to straighten out our relationship with God and our neighbors. We don’t want to be slowed down, or delayed, or have to take an alternate route. We want a straight path. But, in fact, only we, with God’s grace can do the repair work.
In our yearly Advent journey, there is only one road to Christmas. In spite of the calls from the malls, from the merchants, from TV and newspapers and junkmail stuffing our mailboxes, there is no shortcut to Christmas. In Advent, we always have to deal with John the Baptist. There is no way around him ... no detour. He is there calling us to examine our lives, to repent, to do the repair work.
The more we rush around , not paying attention to our innermost needs, the more we should be feeling the warning: “Slow down, it is the time to prepare for the one who comes!!!”
The more we focus on society’s externals (make dates, dates, dates; decorate, decorate; send cards, send cards, and more cards; buy presents, presents, and last minute presents;) the more those orange cones should be popping up and reminding us, that we are not only preparing for the birth of The Holy Child in Bethlehem, but for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
As we become possessed by the frenzy of December ( – or did it begin for you after Halloween??? – ), John the Baptist appears in the middle of our road, like that Flagman, and says: “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight the paths of the Lord. Change direction! Make a U-Turn. (— that’s what “repent” means – ) turn your life around. Look for the presence of God. Open your hearts to the authentic spiritual struggle, joy and beauty of the Advent road.”
Fr. Dan shared with me some reflections for clergy about today’s Gospel that he received from Brian Stoffregen, the pastor of
Stoffregen writes: “....as Mark seeks to redefine the good news and Jesus as the Christ/Messiah and Son of God, so he seeks to redefine what following Jesus means and what life immersed in the holy Spirit means. All of these point to the cross. An ironic sign of victory or good news for God’s anointed, the Son of God.”
And he then goes on to comment : “I’ve heard the Gospel of mark summarized with the statement, ‘Before you decide to become a Christian, you had better make sure that you look good on wood.’ As we enter the fantasy of the commercial Christmas season, it may be good to remind our [selves] about the real costs of following that baby who will be born. .. Perhaps we need to look at the Advent/Christmas season as a time to begin to hear the good news again for the first time .... as it was for those first readers of Mark.”
It is December 4th, and we have three God-given weeks to consider where, in our lives as individuals, congregations, communities and as a society, we post “No Access”, “Road Closed” or “Detour Ahead” signs . Are there any parts of our lives that we hold off-limits for God or our fellow human beings? Is there anywhere that we don’t want to allow access to God or God’s judgement? Is it because of trauma, of shame, of doubt, or just inconvenience? We all need to do some repair work before we encounter the Lord of Lord’s.
Preparing the way of the Lord may mean allowing the Lord into the shadowy corners of the ghettos of our personal lives and community attitudes – that we prefer to ignore: sinful tendencies, racial and gender prejudices, grudges, pride, greed, hatred, fear, injustices in our parish, our town and in our nation. The child born in
Just think... you won’t be confounded by the question of that wonderful carol:
What child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?
You will be able to answer with strength, joy and conviction, as if for the first time:
This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing,
Haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.
