A season of anticipation
Category: Advent
Speaker: The Rev. John Shellito
Sermon November 29, 2015 Rev. John Shellito
God of light in the darkness, as we enters this season of anticipation and preparation, let your wisdom and your courage be present in the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts this day. In the name of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Inspirer. Amen.
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
We encounter this promise of new life, indeed, this promise of deliverance, in the midst of Jeremiah’s prophesies of the destruction of Jerusalem—a destruction he tied to the unrighteous actions of the people and their leaders. Jeremiah’s sense of corporate responsibility in this chapter can be contrasted with that of his contemporary, Ezekiel, who is known for emphasizing the watershed concept of individual responsibility to God, [with accountability in relationship with the Holy One who does not insist on punishing the children for the sins of their parents]. Chapter 18 in Ezekiel is famous for this, although it is by no means the only example one could cite. Ezekiel and Jeremiah are both part of the family tree of Priests, and that is a tradition that has continued. Some extrabiblical traditions also describe them as descendents of Rahab.
Both Priests lived through the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem in the year 587. The book of Jeremiah warned of a time of darkness, where the Temple would be destroyed, and where the people would find themselves cast into a period of difficulty, many of them waiting to return to the land while, living in exile in Babylon. The idea in our pericope today that Judah could be saved and that Jerusalem could live in safety would have been almost unimaginable in the aftermath of the destruction. And yet, here we are, receiving his image of abundant life and renewal in community, as so many communities have before us. Our Gospel from Luke also carries the seeds of hope, even as it speaks to a community reeling from the displacement of the Second Temple’s destruction.
Even the image of a branch springing up from a stump of David (and Jesse), popularized also by individuals citing Isaiah 11 and Romans 15, evokes the image of new life after destruction. Deforestation was a regular part of war at that time, whether to make cooking fires for army encampments, to build siegeworks, to build fleets of ships, or as a scorched earth or terror tactic. Its easy to forget as we look at images of individuals fleeing the desert sands of Iraq and Syria that the so-called Fertile Crescent was once a jungle. Desertification happened as a result of a loss of trees, which meant that there was a loss of shade and a loss of temperature moderation along with it. As root systems died, topsoil could be carried off with the rain, and there was no opportunity for trees to absorb precipitation and return it to the air through natural transpiration. Every ecosystem depends on the cooperation of multiple species, working together to fulfill a variety of roles. The image of a sprouting branch points to new life, and new growth, where once there was only death and the fear of death.
I see our text today from Jeremiah calling us to hope in the midst of darkness, like a lit candle shining brightly in the night. The Taizé service gives us a beautiful example of numerous candles twinkling in the darkness, but perhaps at another time you may find yourself in the Nave after dusk, and if you go over to the Epistle side, near the small sacristy, you can see the lit candle over the Aumbry for the reserved Sacrament, to notice how that one bright candle can push back the darkness, simply by doing what it was designed to do—fulfilling its own purpose. One light is enough to show the Way, although a panoply of hopeful images can certainly multiply the effect. Perhaps you will choose to light the first of the Advent candles on an advent wreath tonight. Each of us has the opportunity to shine a light in the darkness, wherever we may be. Even in the times when you might feel like your light has gone out, or that the oil in your lamp is low, we are called to recognize that with God there is enough—we are beloved, and cherished, and that God is with us, in a deep and powerful way.
This Sunday could be a time for a New Year’s resolution, in honor of the beginning of our liturgical year. This is a time for preparation and for looking forward to new beginnings, most significantly those new beginnings that God is planting in our soul. When Luke warns us to "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life”, I hear an admonition to a community trying to move forward even with the realization that the beloved Second Temple, with all its beauty and tradition, had been lost.
Even today, if we find ourselves in grief or facing a setback of any kind, sometimes the best thing we can do is to keep ourselves from being weighed down, from avoiding our emotions with any range of things that we know we shouldn’t be doing—to try to open up and express ourselves in a healthy and productive way. Its not going to be fruitful for us to numb the pain of our loss by trying to avoid the difficult emotions with a series of distractions. It won’t help to try to control our situation by worrying about it. In words that were popular when when I was growing up, I hear Luke’s words as an ancient version of “Watch yourself”—to take a look at what we are doing and to pray for our own strength so that we can focus on our own actions and calling—and to remember that we are not the Savior. We are not the Deliverer. That is for the One who came in the Incarnation and who is still coming to us.
I was struck recently with the words of Absolution in the Rite I service at 8am, that the Priest prays that Almighty God “have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins”—to me the older text offers an interesting context for the perhaps more straightforward absolution at our 10:30 Rite II service, where the Priest prays “Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ”—in the older language, we are “delivered” from our sins.
Being delivered from sin means that we are saved from the results of our own mistakes, if we have the courage to confess them. In our confession and forgiveness I find also the encouragement for us renounce them, make what amends we can, and keep showing up to seek God’s guidance for how grace can come into our situation. We are called to forgive as a practice of freedom, and our forgiveness of others can teach us about how God is forgiving us, if we only have the courage to open up to the temporary pain of truth required for healing.
I couldn’t help laughing out loud as I reflected on healing while reading Glennon Doyle Melton’s Momastery blog post about Thanksgiving—her reminder was that our families are usually not the place where we start our journey towards healing—for her, our families are the “final frontier” in our work of compassion for ourselves and others. Our friends and acquaintances can often be the easiest places for us to practice compassionate action towards our neighbors and ourselves, as an outgrowth of God’s deep compassion for us. As we take our own faltering steps towards deeper devotion to God, church can be a place for practice, but families are the place where we can encounter the most challenging work. Extended families can be that fruitful place where we find ourselves overwhelmed, and in exile far from home. And yet can take our stand, trusting that God is with us. Jeremiah’s words today, along with the apocalyptic words in Luke, can remind us that whatever our situation, God’s love has come and is still coming into the world, and we are called to make our preparations.
“In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.”
Amen.