Sermon from Luke 3:7-18 for December 16

So…

In my office I have a new “dummy” sign. The sign is for me, because every once in a while, I have to be reminded to do certain things and not put them off.

It says, “Bias for action: Just Do It!”

It turns out that a bias for action is one of the things that distinguish great leaders from just good leaders.

Good leaders take time to think, and then eventually act. Great leaders, think fast, act fast, and fail fast. Why? Because while thinking slow and acting slow can save resources, it doesn’t save the greatest resource of all, time!

And while we struggle with our dueling parables: strike while the iron is hot, look before you leap, he who hesitates is lost, and the rest, the world, our volunteers, and often, our opportunity for mission is lost.

We need to act because sometimes people’s lives are at stake and sometimes so is their eternity. We all have a finite number of days. Acting now, as soon as is possible can make a huge difference.

And that includes when it comes to making clear that our repentance is real, and even more than that, that our love is real.

It turns out, at least according to John the Baptist, that repentance has to be made tangible in a personal transformation that leads to action.

Did you get all of that?

Repentance has to be made tangible, real, in a personal transformation that leads to action.

Listen to what John says, “If you have two coats, give one to someone who doesn’t have any. If you have food, share it with someone else.” To the tax collectors he says, “Don’t make people pay more than they owe.” And to the soldiers he says, “Don’t force people to pay money to make you leave them alone. Be satisfied with your pay.”

That is, make your repentance, and your transformation real, by doing something about it. It’s the original “bias for action: just do it!”

The other day a person stopped by my office and shared that their kids weren’t going to get presents this year because one parent was unemployed, and the other underemployed.

One response available to me was to commiserate, offer to pray with them, and move on to the 99 others things I needed to do, or…

I could contact some of our amazing Deacons who know what’s what and get some Christmas help headed in that family’s direction right away because of a bias for action! We don’t sit on our hands and wonder and worry, we get to it, just like Jesus did.

Wednesday night we read the scripture in Luke where a blind beside the road heard that Jesus was going by and yelled to him for mercy. Jesus was mobbed, busy, even overwhelmed.

But Jesus stopped and ask the man what he wanted, what he really, really wanted. “To be able to see,” he said. And so Jesus healed him. Right there. Right then. None of this , “get an appointment and call me in the morning.” Just do it.

It fits with our church motto: “Making a difference: in Jesus Name!”

We believe in action, repentance made real.

We have recognized our sinful condition and we have repented, turned around 180 degrees.

Now we are onto getting into the world just like John said, and sharing our resources, helping those in need, making sure as best we can to care for those who need our help; not sitting on our hands waiting for an opportunity to let grace be revealed in us.

I retold the story this week of my early days here in Otisville, when I was confronted with people who needed food, and found myself getting a bit uncomfortable thinking they really didn’t need the help.

I remember talking to Father McHale at Holy Name about that, and he said, “Well, I look at it this way. When the day comes that I meet the Lord at the Pearly gates, do I want him to say, ‘Well Charlie, now why didn’t you feed that hungry child”? Or do I want him to say, “Well Charlie, you fed a few that didn’t really need it, didn’t you?’”

Somehow, with the second response would come a huge smile on Jesus face and that heavenly hug we all want so bad.

John saw the people and said, “why are you sinners here? Go and do something that makes your repentance real!”

And the Kingdom of God was revealed. Advent was real. And then Jesus…

Amen.

Sermon from Luke 3:1-6 for December 9

So…

In the midst of all the craziness around Advent we hear the Christmas Bells ringing: “focus, people”! Thank you, John!

One of the things I love so much about John the Baptist is that he, especially in this Advent season, is the complete Debbie Downer. We are all tied up in tinsel and bows, and John is all about repentance, baptism, and forgiveness.

Repentance, of course, requires us to admit, at least to ourselves, that we are off course, headed in the wrong direction, totally lost. Okay then.

Not just confused, or fuzy about the directions, but totally without our Garmin, Google Maps and Apple maps.

Repentance, as a word, suggests that we are in need of a 180-degree turn, all the way the opposite direction from where we were headed.

Do you remember the rules for what to do when you get lost: hug a tree? The idea is to stay in place until someone finds you.

Or how about the rule of threes, a stark reminder of what can go bad in three seconds, three minutes, three hours and three days. But the most important advice is this, once you realize you are lost, stop getting more lost!

Repentance suggests an even more aggressive strategy.

Look back and see f you can find the path you were on following Jesus, and then go back there. Get on the trail, get on track, get back in sync, and then follow the Master.

And John suggests another step: get baptized and experience God’s forgiveness, God’s grace, God’s love, God’s acceptance.

That is, don’t just rejoin the disciples; make a memory of it. Do something to memorialize your new start. Yes, get back up and dust yourself off as it were, but then take a moment, a public moment and say, “hey, I got lost, but I’m back on track people. Let’s do this!”

Baptism is a sacramental way to do that, but there are others. Testimonies are a good one. Tell folks your story. Make a commitment. Join with others in a public way to not only get back on the path, but intentionally join a group on the trail so there is some accountability, for you and for them! And then tell them about your off the trail adventure.

You know, there are quite a few little ones that have been born into our extended family over the past months, so baptism is always a possibility on any Sunday!

And just so we are clear, if you’ve never been baptized, we can make that happen!

But you can also choose to renew your baptism at any time. Just ask! We would never deny a sincere follower of Jesus the opportunity to say once again, I’m in!

So, if we are taking Advent seriously, repentance should be part of the deal, and so should baptism, as well as the experience of God’s love and forgiveness. It should be part of our time of introspection and centering in the deepest meaning of our faith, during Advent.

We Presbyterians don’t rebaptize, it’s a one and done experience. But renewing baptism, yes, yes, yes! Why wouldn’t we publicly renew the symbol of our commitment to Jesus’ call to discipleship?

Discipleship is hard no matter when we start doing it. Remember Jesus call to take up a cross and follow him. It’s even harder when it is a culturally crazy time. So why not just suck it up now and be disciples right in the midst of the crazy!

We could focus on sharing the good news of Jesus’ love and acceptance with all kinds of sinners and tax-collectors and fishermen and shepherds and used car salesmen and drug addicts and Walmart workers and whoever else is on your list of “least likely to be picked for “saint of the month!”  

We could work together in teams like Jesus’ disciples were, 2x2, or 4x4 and go and bring “good tidings of a great joy,” to lots of folks who least expect it.

Of course, that might mean going against some cultural norms and family expectations! We wouldn’t be able, perhaps, to get all the presents wrapped or go to all the parties or decorate all the trees or cookies or whatever.

It might be that we would be too busy making sure God’s beloved lost children were getting back on track to worry about all the hoopla.

But it would mean that we would be a lot more like John, a voice crying in the wilderness, “make a pathway for the Lord! Make it straight. Fill up every valley and level every mountain and hill. Straighten the crooked paths and smooth out the rough roads. And then everyone will see the saving power of God.”

It’s time to focus! On what really matters. Jesus.

Advent is here.

Amen.

Sermon from Luke 21:25-36 for December 2

So…

Advent has arrived, yippee! Kind of…

For many, Advent seems like it should a time of great joy.

But the reality is for most, it’s a time of great stress!

Advent is all about the ninety million things we need to do to get ready for Christmas. Hey Sue, lets rehab the kitchen just to make it crazier!

This is the time of year the furnace dies or the washer and or drier, or in the church’s case, the copier!

It’s just all about more. More shopping, more planning, more baking, more cleaning, more on top of everything else to the point that is all exhausting!

Advent, the time of preparation before the arrival of the Christ child on Christmas, is supposed to be a time of introspection and preparation of our hearts, but we have made it a time of preparation of everything but…

Because as always, we get it backwards, running around trying to figure out where the elf on the shelf has hidden itself since last year. Baking cookies, wrapping presents, trying without success to figure out what to get people who have everything and need nothing, until we drop over whipped from all the Advent Joy.

Years ago, when Father Gibney was the pastor at the Holy Name Church here in Otisville, he and I talked about the two churches going caroling together. And he told me that we couldn’t sing Christmas carols, only Advent carols.

I only know two Advent songs and we are singing them today! Then what?

Well, he said, Advent is a time of preparation for the baby’s coming, and for the Coming of Christ the King and the end of time. Advent is the time we think about the two comings, the two arrivals of Jesus. It is not a time to celebrate Christ’s birth!

We do that during what is known as the twelve days of Christmas, from Christmas Day until Epiphany, January 6^th, the day we remember the arrival of the Magi who visited Jesus and his mother at home, bringing them gifts fit not for an infant, but for an adult king: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

During Advent we are to think about the baby Jesus and King Jesus and get our lives and hearts together. We are not supposed to be exhausting ourselves over all the other stuff. We are supposed to be getting recharged.

So, of course, we ignored Father Gibney and sang Christmas Carols, because we are much more comfortable thinking about the baby boy in the manger, than a King come in power and glory!

We are more comfortable with our accumulated Christmas hoopla, than with sitting quiet and thinking about what we should be doing to please the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

 Of course, no matter what we do, the King is coming, Jesus reminds us!

The baby Jesus is here he seems to say to his disciples and us. He, Jesus, is an adult, one who will soon die on a cross. But the King is still coming, and knowing that, we are to get busy, not decorating tree, but preparing the Kingdom.

Jesus’ description of the great tribulations that overtake the faithful is not intended to make us faint of heart, but rather to stir us to faithful action.

We are part of the generation that is given the task of making disciples and sharing the good news of the kingdom with the world, and in particular, with those who are suffering the world’s ravages, whether they be man-made or natural disasters.

We are part of the generation that started with Jesus’ death and resurrection, with Pentecost, and with the destruction of Jerusalem. There was no going back. And we, disciples like those original listeners to Jesus, still have the same calling, the same marching orders, the same tasks.

We are to be reaching out and inviting others to follow Jesus, not so much because time is short and the end is near, but because our time is short, and our ends are near!

Did you hear what I just said?

Crazy, isn’t it. But’s true. I have no idea when the end of time will come, no matter what the Left Behind books and movies suggest. No one does. Jesus made that abundantly clear.

But…

We are to be reaching out and inviting others to follow Jesus, not so much because Jesus arrival is immanent, but because their time is short, as is ours, and our ends are near!

We all know how much time we have, and it is much less than it was yesterday, or last week, or last Christmas. It might be forty years. Or it might be forty hours. You and I don’t know. But what we do know is that what we have been called to do isn’t done and so now, today, we need to get to it.

So, who do you need to go and find and say, “I’m sorry!” to?

Who do you need to invite back into your life?

Who haven’t you shared your crazy love of Jesus with?

Who do you need to ask to go with you to drop off a fruit basket, or a box of food, or to go to Carolina or Florida and rehab a house with you?

Who haven’t you invited to worship, because you know they wouldn’t be comfortable here, and what should we do to make them comfortable here because there are a whole lot more people like them than not?

And why haven’t you decided that with the limited time you have left, that you are going to make growing the Kingdom of God a priority, because the King of that Kingdom has made you a priority since the beginning of time?

It’s Advent. In twenty-three days we celebrate Christmas. Time is short.

Amen.