Sermon, Sunday 6 Dec, 2 Advent: 'Prepare'

Over the season of Advent, we are decorating a bare, white tree with various symbols.   
Last week, we reminded ourselves we are a people of promise, 
that we are people who live with hope in our hearts.
Writing our names on the back of green paper leaves, the 'empty' tree sprang into life...
This week, picking up on the Advent theme of 'peace', we named places where peace
is absent/ or people who live in areas where there is no peace. These mini-peace prayers
were in the shape of doves, which nestled among the tree branches....

The sermon picked up on the Advent theme of preparing for Christ's coming,
focusing upon John the Baptist
Malachi 3: 1-4
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 1: 68-79

SERMON 'Prepare'
Let’s pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations 
of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, 
our strength and our redeemer, Amen.

In a far away land, 
in a far away time,
there lived a people oppressed 
by a foreign power…
Occasionally, some among them would shake their fists at their overlords, 
and some would rebel… 
but they were too weak and too powerless 
to resist for long.  
Mostly, the people kept their heads down and just got on with 
the business of living and making the best out of a bad situation.
In this far away land, so long ago, 
the people felt forgotten by their God…

In their distant past, their God had travelled with their ancestors, 
had rescued them from other oppressors, 
and spoken with them through inspired visionaries – prophets.
The voices of the prophets had given hope - reassurance, in the dark times.
The voices of the prophets warned and promised:
warned of judgement, spoke of justice, 
promised God’s mercy, rescue, love and grace. 
But the prophets had long since gone.
God seemed far away.
Distant.
Silent.
And then… 
the silence was broken by the cries of a wailing infant.
A prophet was born.
His name was John -
the last and greatest of the prophets.

John was the answer to prayer of a childless couple: Elizabeth and Zechariah.  
And it was said by folk far and wide 
that the hand of the Lord was upon John, 
...and all wondered what would become of him.
And Zechariah, filled with awe, thanksgiving and the Holy Spirit prophesied:
He saw God once again saving his people – 
liberating them from the phoney peace that had been brought by the Romans:
phoney, because peace is not peace if you’re living under the heel of the oppressor.
He saw the beginnings of God’s promise to his ancestors coming true, 
coming to fulfillment, and his son was the one who would usher 
in that fulfillment -
preparing the way, 
preparing God’s people:
John, prophet of the Highest.
John, messenger of God.

God’s voice once again sounded through the land 
in John’s words of repentance, salvation, forgiveness, and compassion.  
In John’s message were words of light and life 
and hope and peace.                                                 
John’s words were words of preparation for the One who would follow, 
who would be greater than him.
John’s words sounded through the wilderness places:
‘Be prepared.
Be prepared to see what God has done;
what God is doing...
what God will do.
Clear the decks!
Make the roads straight!
Get rid of the obstacles…
Get rid of anything that will stop you hearing and seeing what God is doing’
That, in a nutshell, was what John was all about – 
calling God’s people to stop, look, listen and prepare:
To be prepared for the coming of Christ.

And if we were to continue reading the gospel, 
we’d find out that many people did listen to John, messenger of God.
They flocked to hear -
and, on hearing, they chose to change, to repent, 
to turn their lives around to face God, 
not look the other way.

And, there were also those who didn’t listen.
They were just busy getting on with their lives
And the sounds of their busyness blocked out the sound of God’s words….
God’s life-giving words.
…Such extraordinary words – 
Words about God’s Word – Jesus: 
God become human.  
God’s ‘extraordinary’ Word…
The Word ignored in the routine humdrum of the everyday.
But whether God’s people responded or not, 
whether God’s people prepared… or not.. 
light grew in the darkness regardless… 
a light which the darkness has never been able to fully extinguish:
the light which shines, on those who live in the darkness under the shadow of death….

On this second Sunday in the season we call ‘Advent’ we encounter John the Baptiser, 
who called God’s people so long ago to prepare for an encounter with God.
And down through the years, John continues to call God’s people to prepare to encounter God…
And his message meets us - here, now …
In this time,
in this place.

As we were reminded last week, Advent is the season of waiting… 
and in the waiting time, we, too, prepare to encounter God.
It can be a hard thing to have to wait...
it can be a very hard thing to swim against the tide of tinsel and glitter in the 
headlong rush to Christmas. 
In the jangle of tills and the jingle of carols we find it 
harder and harder to hear God’s voice…
Pressurised to worship at the altar of consumerism, 
to worship the retail God who is never satisfied, 
it takes all the energy we can muster to fight against it 
and to remember the real ‘reason for the season’… 
We can easily get caught on the merry-go-round that seems to 
whirl dizzyingly faster and faster, almost unable to stop and to take time.
...And sometimes… the busyness is also a way of avoiding that encounter with God.  
The reading from Malachi talks of God’s coming in dramatic terms:  
Of a refining fire, of purification…
Malachi says:
‘Who can endure the day of his coming?  Who can stand firm when he appears?’
Perhaps, sometimes it just feels safer to hide under the tinsel and glitter?

The birth of John,
the liberating song of his father, Zechariah,
John’s life, and his message to all to be prepared for Christ’s coming 
challenges us.
forces us to stop, to think…
and to ask questions:
In this time,
in this place, 
how are we preparing to encounter God made flesh, this Advent?
Is there something we need to do to make it easier for Christ to enter our terrain
and to be known in the world?  
Is there some path through our souls which we need to straighten, to smooth?
Is there some mountain of an obstacle that needs to be levelled 
so that Christ will meet less resistance in us? 

As we prepare to encounter God with us, 
I’m reminded of an old Celtic saying about meeting Christ in the stranger’s guise.  
It reminds us that we’re all created 
in the image of God… 
As we encounter one another – 
even, or especially, in the midst of this busy waiting and preparing time – 
are we prepared to see and to encounter Christ in one another?  
As Paul saw Christ in and at work in the lives of the Philippians, 
do we see and encourage one another to be more like Christ?
Someone once said that Advent is ‘preparing for the long view: 
we reflect on the coming of Christ past, present and future.
Christ past – in the miracle in the stable in Bethlehem;
Christ present – born again in our lives now;
Christ future – when he will come again at the completion of all things.’

Advent is a time that prepares us for more than Christmas…
At Christmas, it’s right to sing the well-loved carols of joy, 
that tell the story of the Christ-child… 
but the story is bigger, so much bigger:
We’re also telling the story of the God who sees the pain of His people 
and who breaks into His world to lead us out of pain and darkness.  
God gives birth to hope where there’s despair, 
light where there’s shadow,
And life, where there’s death.
It is the greatest story:
A story deep and rich and beautiful;
A story which lasts forever;
A story that makes sense to prepare ourselves for.

If we stop,
if we still ourselves,
if we listen very hard, 
perhaps we might just hear a miracle:
the beating of a tiny heart…
the heartbeat of the One who became one with us and for us:
the One who is wonderful, counsellor, 
prince of Peace... mighty God.
Over this Advent, let’s watch, wait, listen…
and prepare to be amazed as we encounter God
in Christ once more. 

Let’s pray:
Loving God
You are not distant or detached
You meet us where we are.
In this season of Advent
Help us prepare to look for you 
behind the tinsel and the glitter,
that we may worship you in spirit and in truth,
and in hope-filled joy.  
Come now, O prince of peace...
we, your people, are waiting.
Amen.