Sermon for Advent 2C
Written and Delivered by The Rev. Canon Paul S. Nancarrow, PhD
John the Baptist appeared at the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, fulfilling the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"
"Prepare the way of the Lord"--that was the whole message, the whole purpose, the whole reason-for-being for John's ministry. Everything John did was centered around the single work of preparing the place where God's Holy One could be revealed. Nothing about John mattered as an end in itself; everything about John was done to prepare the way for Christ.
There is a painting of John the Baptist that was done by Matthias Gruenewald in about 1515 for an altarpiece for a church in Isenheim, Germany--and in that painting John stands there with a finger extended, pointing to Jesus. That's all John does; the figure of John has virtually no other eye-catching characteristics, other than that pointing finger; and the finger itself seems unusually long, as if pointing was the only thing it was ever meant to do. John's whole purpose, in the entire composition of that painting, is to point the way to Jesus.
In a way, that reminds me of a Taoist saying, that religion is like a finger pointing at the moon. You need to look at the finger to draw your attention to the moon; but if you never look past the finger, you end up missing the point. John the Baptist's religious message was like a finger pointing to Jesus. It was necessary for John to prepare the way; but the point was to be ready for Jesus.
And in that respect, I think we the church today are exactly like John the Baptist back then. We the church exist for one reason and for one reason only: to prepare the way of the Lord, to point attention to Jesus, to create the conditions where people can come to know and feel and experience a relationship with Jesus which can transform their hearts and their societies and their worlds. That's it. That's the only thing we as a church ever have to do. And if we ever start doing anything other than that, then we start missing the point.
But if pointing to Jesus is the one thing we have to do, then we must also admit we do that one thing in many ways. Jesus can mean many different things to many different people, and experiencing a relationship with Jesus can take form in many different ways.
For some people Jesus is a great moral teacher, an example of the ethical life. For some people Jesus is an important historical figure, someone who had an impact on the world. For some people Jesus is a kind of superman, the Son of God who looked like us but could read people's minds and foretell the future and never had any doubts and never had any questions and always knew exactly what he was doing and what God was doing and how everything was going to be alright. For New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan, Jesus is a political revolutionary who led a peasant uprising against the Romans in the name of God's justice and reign. For author Marcus Borg, Jesus is a wisdom teacher who embodies and shares timeless insights into what is really real and how we ought to live. Jesus can mean different things for different people.
And experiencing a relationship with Jesus can mean different things for different people. Evangelicals talk about relationship with Jesus as accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Mystics talk about relationship with Jesus as being united with Jesus, so that their spirits and Christ's Spirit become as one. Sacramentalists talk about relationship with Jesus as encountering the Real Presence of Christ in liturgical ritual and effective signs of bread and wine and water and oil. Servant ministers talk about relationship with Jesus as seeing Jesus in the poor, the outcast, the marginalized, and working with Jesus for justice in the world. I knew a woman once who said her main way of being in relationship with Jesus was to talk to him, just talk to him, every morning over breakfast to have an imaginary conversation with Jesus, telling him about her day, her plans, her hopes, her fears, her needs, her friends that she was praying for--just saying things to Jesus and listening, imaginatively, for what Jesus would say to her. Experiencing a relationship with Jesus can mean different things for different people.
And if our reason for being a church is to prepare the way of the Lord, if our reason for being a church is to point to Jesus, if our reason for being a church is to create the conditions where people can come to know and feel and experience a relationship with Jesus which can transform their lives--then we as a church must be prepared to share all these meanings of Jesus and all these relationships with Jesus in every way we can. Our growing, our thriving, our flourishing as a congregation in Christ will have everything to do with how we prepare the space where people can come to know Jesus--not just know about Jesus, but know Jesus--in the ways and means and relationships that mean the most to them. And how well we can do that will depend on how well we come to know Jesus--not just know about Jesus, but know Jesus--in the ways and means and relationships that really mean something to us.
So how about it? Who is Jesus for you? What does experiencing a relationship with Jesus mean for you? If you had the opportunity to stand up here, where I am, and tell your parish family what Jesus means to you, what would you say? Think about it--because in the weeks and months to come some of you are going to be called upon to do just that. I know, for some of you the thought of speaking in public is only slightly less scary than the thought of dying. But I know that many of you have vital and inspiring faith stories to tell, and many of you tell your stories very well indeed. Diana Butler Bass says that Testimony, bearing witness to our faith, telling our stories about what Jesus means to us, and telling them in public, is one of the core practices of Christian life, it is one of the things that helps congregations become vital and growing and transformative. Hearing each other's stories of faith helps us recognize better the power of our own stories. Telling our stories of faith to each other helps us to be more mindful of practicing what we preach. If we at St George's are serious about wanting to welcome people to experience Jesus here, we have to know what sort of experience we can offer. If we at St George's are serious about wanting to point to Jesus faithfully, we have to hear from each other who it is we're pointing to. Who is Jesus for you, and how would you share that with someone else? How would you prepare the way for someone to encounter the Jesus you know?
We can prepare many ways for people to encounter Jesus. But one of the places all those ways converge is here, in this worship, around this table, in this community which strives to be the living Body of Christ. One of the most effective ways we can point to Jesus, one of the best places we can create the conditions for people to have an experience of Jesus, is in worship, in prayer and song and storytelling and communion. When worship is good, it lifts you out of yourself, it communicates an energy you didn't have before, it puts you in touch with an experience of divine reality that is more than you get in everyday business-as-usual. Unfortunately, a lot of churches don't offer worship that has those energizing characteristics. I've been in churches were it seems like the main point of worship is to get through the service as quickly as possible, or the point is to put on a big show, or the point is to have a nice social hour with your friends, or the point is to fulfill a Sunday obligation, or the point is to remind ourselves how bad and sinful we all really are--the point is anything but to point to Jesus. I think a lot of people today are turned off by church because what they have experienced as the church's worship seems very far removed from the experience of the love and joy and energy of Jesus. So if we want to welcome people to experience Jesus here, we have to offer a kind of worship that really does prepare the way for Jesus to be encountered among us, a kind of worship that is filled with love and joy and energy, just like Jesus. We can show love and joy and energy in the way we make the responses in the service, the way we say "Amen" or "Peace be with you" or "And also with you" like we really mean it. We can show love and joy and energy in the way lectors proclaim the lessons, in the way choristers sing their music, in the way we speak out names in the intercessions, in the way we all join in the hymns, whether we think we have a "great voice" or not. We can show love and joy and energy in the way we listen to each other, in the way we really pay attention to each other, even in the way we sit in silence together and wait for the Spirit of Christ to move. If all of us bring our energy to our worship, then Jesus' energy joins us here, and our communion becomes a living experience of the abundant life of Christ. Diana Butler Bass, again, says that worship like that is one of the key practices which help churches thrive. Worship like that is a way that we can do our sole and singular job of preparing the way for Jesus.
Because in the end that is the one thing we have to do. In worship, in testimony, in hospitality, in justice; in building up membership, in paying the bills, in maintaining the institutions of our parish life; in being together, and in going forth--the one thing we have to do is point to Jesus, the one thing we have to do is prepare the way for people to experience Jesus. Like John the Baptist in today's Gospel, we are called to make that one thing the reason for everything.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight--now, here, and everywhere.
John the Baptist appeared at the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, fulfilling the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"
"Prepare the way of the Lord"--that was the whole message, the whole purpose, the whole reason-for-being for John's ministry. Everything John did was centered around the single work of preparing the place where God's Holy One could be revealed. Nothing about John mattered as an end in itself; everything about John was done to prepare the way for Christ.
There is a painting of John the Baptist that was done by Matthias Gruenewald in about 1515 for an altarpiece for a church in Isenheim, Germany--and in that painting John stands there with a finger extended, pointing to Jesus. That's all John does; the figure of John has virtually no other eye-catching characteristics, other than that pointing finger; and the finger itself seems unusually long, as if pointing was the only thing it was ever meant to do. John's whole purpose, in the entire composition of that painting, is to point the way to Jesus.
In a way, that reminds me of a Taoist saying, that religion is like a finger pointing at the moon. You need to look at the finger to draw your attention to the moon; but if you never look past the finger, you end up missing the point. John the Baptist's religious message was like a finger pointing to Jesus. It was necessary for John to prepare the way; but the point was to be ready for Jesus.
And in that respect, I think we the church today are exactly like John the Baptist back then. We the church exist for one reason and for one reason only: to prepare the way of the Lord, to point attention to Jesus, to create the conditions where people can come to know and feel and experience a relationship with Jesus which can transform their hearts and their societies and their worlds. That's it. That's the only thing we as a church ever have to do. And if we ever start doing anything other than that, then we start missing the point.
But if pointing to Jesus is the one thing we have to do, then we must also admit we do that one thing in many ways. Jesus can mean many different things to many different people, and experiencing a relationship with Jesus can take form in many different ways.
For some people Jesus is a great moral teacher, an example of the ethical life. For some people Jesus is an important historical figure, someone who had an impact on the world. For some people Jesus is a kind of superman, the Son of God who looked like us but could read people's minds and foretell the future and never had any doubts and never had any questions and always knew exactly what he was doing and what God was doing and how everything was going to be alright. For New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan, Jesus is a political revolutionary who led a peasant uprising against the Romans in the name of God's justice and reign. For author Marcus Borg, Jesus is a wisdom teacher who embodies and shares timeless insights into what is really real and how we ought to live. Jesus can mean different things for different people.
And experiencing a relationship with Jesus can mean different things for different people. Evangelicals talk about relationship with Jesus as accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Mystics talk about relationship with Jesus as being united with Jesus, so that their spirits and Christ's Spirit become as one. Sacramentalists talk about relationship with Jesus as encountering the Real Presence of Christ in liturgical ritual and effective signs of bread and wine and water and oil. Servant ministers talk about relationship with Jesus as seeing Jesus in the poor, the outcast, the marginalized, and working with Jesus for justice in the world. I knew a woman once who said her main way of being in relationship with Jesus was to talk to him, just talk to him, every morning over breakfast to have an imaginary conversation with Jesus, telling him about her day, her plans, her hopes, her fears, her needs, her friends that she was praying for--just saying things to Jesus and listening, imaginatively, for what Jesus would say to her. Experiencing a relationship with Jesus can mean different things for different people.
And if our reason for being a church is to prepare the way of the Lord, if our reason for being a church is to point to Jesus, if our reason for being a church is to create the conditions where people can come to know and feel and experience a relationship with Jesus which can transform their lives--then we as a church must be prepared to share all these meanings of Jesus and all these relationships with Jesus in every way we can. Our growing, our thriving, our flourishing as a congregation in Christ will have everything to do with how we prepare the space where people can come to know Jesus--not just know about Jesus, but know Jesus--in the ways and means and relationships that mean the most to them. And how well we can do that will depend on how well we come to know Jesus--not just know about Jesus, but know Jesus--in the ways and means and relationships that really mean something to us.
So how about it? Who is Jesus for you? What does experiencing a relationship with Jesus mean for you? If you had the opportunity to stand up here, where I am, and tell your parish family what Jesus means to you, what would you say? Think about it--because in the weeks and months to come some of you are going to be called upon to do just that. I know, for some of you the thought of speaking in public is only slightly less scary than the thought of dying. But I know that many of you have vital and inspiring faith stories to tell, and many of you tell your stories very well indeed. Diana Butler Bass says that Testimony, bearing witness to our faith, telling our stories about what Jesus means to us, and telling them in public, is one of the core practices of Christian life, it is one of the things that helps congregations become vital and growing and transformative. Hearing each other's stories of faith helps us recognize better the power of our own stories. Telling our stories of faith to each other helps us to be more mindful of practicing what we preach. If we at St George's are serious about wanting to welcome people to experience Jesus here, we have to know what sort of experience we can offer. If we at St George's are serious about wanting to point to Jesus faithfully, we have to hear from each other who it is we're pointing to. Who is Jesus for you, and how would you share that with someone else? How would you prepare the way for someone to encounter the Jesus you know?
We can prepare many ways for people to encounter Jesus. But one of the places all those ways converge is here, in this worship, around this table, in this community which strives to be the living Body of Christ. One of the most effective ways we can point to Jesus, one of the best places we can create the conditions for people to have an experience of Jesus, is in worship, in prayer and song and storytelling and communion. When worship is good, it lifts you out of yourself, it communicates an energy you didn't have before, it puts you in touch with an experience of divine reality that is more than you get in everyday business-as-usual. Unfortunately, a lot of churches don't offer worship that has those energizing characteristics. I've been in churches were it seems like the main point of worship is to get through the service as quickly as possible, or the point is to put on a big show, or the point is to have a nice social hour with your friends, or the point is to fulfill a Sunday obligation, or the point is to remind ourselves how bad and sinful we all really are--the point is anything but to point to Jesus. I think a lot of people today are turned off by church because what they have experienced as the church's worship seems very far removed from the experience of the love and joy and energy of Jesus. So if we want to welcome people to experience Jesus here, we have to offer a kind of worship that really does prepare the way for Jesus to be encountered among us, a kind of worship that is filled with love and joy and energy, just like Jesus. We can show love and joy and energy in the way we make the responses in the service, the way we say "Amen" or "Peace be with you" or "And also with you" like we really mean it. We can show love and joy and energy in the way lectors proclaim the lessons, in the way choristers sing their music, in the way we speak out names in the intercessions, in the way we all join in the hymns, whether we think we have a "great voice" or not. We can show love and joy and energy in the way we listen to each other, in the way we really pay attention to each other, even in the way we sit in silence together and wait for the Spirit of Christ to move. If all of us bring our energy to our worship, then Jesus' energy joins us here, and our communion becomes a living experience of the abundant life of Christ. Diana Butler Bass, again, says that worship like that is one of the key practices which help churches thrive. Worship like that is a way that we can do our sole and singular job of preparing the way for Jesus.
Because in the end that is the one thing we have to do. In worship, in testimony, in hospitality, in justice; in building up membership, in paying the bills, in maintaining the institutions of our parish life; in being together, and in going forth--the one thing we have to do is point to Jesus, the one thing we have to do is prepare the way for people to experience Jesus. Like John the Baptist in today's Gospel, we are called to make that one thing the reason for everything.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight--now, here, and everywhere.