12-4-2011
Jerusalem
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
9Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
The Word of our God will stand forever. This line from Isaiah is echoed in last week’s reading from Mark, “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” The Word of God is something permanent and powerful, but is also something that is commonly misunderstood. We in the Lutheran church have a three-fold understanding of the Word of God. With a small w, it can mean one of two things, either the Bible or proclamation of God, such as in sermons, but also in classes and conversations. Both of these are important to understanding the nature of God, but they are not God. The Bible was inspired by God and tells us of the rich history of God active in the world at a certain time, but it is not God. As Jonathan Rundman says in his song “Little Bible”, “Little Bible you could never give yourself to die for me, No blood ran through your pages on that crucifixion tree. I will pay attention to the message that you bring
But written word and Living Word are very different things.”
But written word and Living Word are very different things.”
Our scriptures are the guide that we have for God. They tell us about God and His overall plan and desires for his children, but it is not the same as experiencing God and it comes to us from a certain worldview that is foreign to us. The Bible is a great tool for beginning out journey of seeing God and for living the Christian life, but it is not God or a magical book that needs to be put on a shelf and never touched. It is to be read and marked in and devoured by our hearts and minds, and examined as one of the ways that God speaks to us, but remembering it is still a product of human hands.
The spoken word is much the same. We believe that these discussions and preaching are inspired by God. Yet I understand that I am not God up here speaking to you, no matter how big of an ego boost that is. Instead preaching is another way that the word of God is heard by God’s children. The story is told and retold, and in conversation we dig deeper into that word. But again, this word is not the embodiment of God, but rather a way to begin seeing God more clearly. The written and spoken word are like seeing God dimly through colored glass. We can make out the form, but not the detail of God.
Luckily we also have the everpresent Word of God with a capital W. We have God Incarnate, Jesus Christ, who came to us here on earth and emptied himself and took upon our flesh to be with us. Jesus Christ is the very Word of God, here with us, the Word that speak s to us each day of our lives and that survives all things. Much like the energizer bunny, He keeps going and going and going. Even after being crucified and buried, He could not be stopped. As opposed to grass and people and books, Christ never fades or falters. Instead he lives on and will stand forever.
Yet there is a promise that Christ carries as well. The promise that we shall stand forever too. Sadly we at current time do fade and wither, yet we are given the promise that the day will come when we shall be joined with Christ and in that eternal life. We shall stand longer than the mountains when that time comes, and that is what we look forward to this Advent season and every day.
And as we prepare, we are to prepare the way of the Lord, make everything level and easy for God. This was a common practice in the times, when royalty was coming the people would strive to make the way as easy as possible so that the king would not be taxed by the journey and could ride into the city in glory. Much the same is done today. Think about all the millions of dollars that are spent on preparing cities for the Olympics. There are buildings that still stand unused in these cities, since they don’t have the resources to tear them down and build something more useful.
But here we are preparing the way not just for some human king, and not for some sports event, but rather we are preparing the way for God. We are preparing the way for His triumphant return, when all shall be brought into completeness and every knee shall bow at His name. and so we prepare, by being like John and spreading the gospel of the Lord, proclaiming the word of God to all people, so that they may know that God is our Lord and that God is with us and promises us amazing things and that He will always be present with us, never to wither or fade. For the Word of God conquers all and gives life to all.
So we make straight the way for Him, through our lives and the using of our gifts. And the way needs to be made straight not in the city, which is thought as safe in those times, but rather in the wilderness, in the areas that are frightening and different from what we are used to. We go into these places to bring the comfort and the peace and the assurance that God gives to his children that know Him. We go and level the playing field, fighting injustice and aligning ourselves with the poor and the abused and oppressed so that they may have a chance to escape the cycles of poverty, underneath which so many lives have been destroyed and lost. We go to bring healing and comfort, for we know that our God is one who brings comfort and healing and peace and who leads us like a good shepherd leads his flock. One who holds us close, desiring to be close to us at all times, who comes to us in the Spirit and in our communion each week. This is the God that we bring and this is the God who cares for us, in order that we may prepare the way for Him.
And it all begins with how we live our lives. If we focus only on winning or forget those who are outside our circles of friends, then we have already lost our way. Grover Levy sang a song entitled “If you want to lead me to Jesus” in which he sang “Your message is clear you sound so sincere your intentions are good. The forgiveness of sin life without end I'd believe it if I could. But I've watched from afar and I've seen how you are with the people you're around And I don't see a trace of the love and the grace you talk so much about If you want to lead me to Jesus you'd better find a better way.” Our mission as the church is to live out the message of Christ in word and deed, not to meet a budget or to increase membership or have the most beautiful church in the world or have the coolest social club, it is to do mission and to help people find their gifts so that they may see God and do His mission and as well. We do it all in preparation, all for the sake of our God and King. We prepare the way for God to be seen in their lives by living out that mission and supporting one another in doing the work of God. That is the other way that Levy sings about, the way that is not about our individual accomplishments and of hollow words that are spoken out of rote, but rather it is about living in the Light of Christ, living out the Word that is given to us in written, spoken, and living forms, and living out our callings as Christians.
In our confirmation class this week, we discussed how the 2nd commandment which is “Thou Shalt Not take the name of the Lord in vain” does not just mean not swearing and cursing, but also realizing that we are named as the Children of God and our actions speak towards God and how people are going to see God. If we go around acting as if God does not matter in our lives, then that is how God is going to be seen by others around us. In doing so we dishonor the name of God and His word becomes a discordant, ear-piercing sound or completely silent, instead of the life giving Word that it truly is.
So let us not bring dishonor to that name and set up roadblocks, but instead let us prepare the way for our God, embrace His eternal Word, and share with all around the ways that God has touched our lives and helped us through our times of trial, and may we be that comfort to others as well.
Amen
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