December 17, 2017 Advent 3 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

The cover of our bulletin brings up the contrast between the love of power and the power of love.  That is the basic conflict in just about every story ever written.  It’s the basic premise of the Harry Potter book series.  And also the Hunger Games, and Divergent.  Disney cartoons from Snow White all the way to Aladdin, Mulan, and Frozen are all about the contrast between the power of love and the love of power.  With a new Star Wars movie coming out I’d better not ignore that.  I’ll bet just about anything that it’ll be about love and virtue overcoming evil.

            Who wants to read a book or watch a movie where power wins and love gets defeated?  Of course some stories are that way.  Look at The Diary of Anne Frank.  And yet, that book is only interesting because the Nazis lost the war. 

            The story of Jesus from beginning to end is about the conflict between the power of love and the love of power.

            Despite the fact that about the only kind of story we love is this kind of story it is a much harder reality to live out.  Most everyone thinks he or she is a basically good person, or tries to do what is right, but when it comes down to it the love of power usually wins in their lives.

            The love of power wins whenever a person’s chief aim in choosing a house is status it bestows upon the buyer; or when a person chooses a car mostly because of how it will make him or her look when driving it.  The same goes for clothing.  How many times have teenage girls said, “I don’t want to be seen in public wearing that!”  I have a colleague whose daughters, when they were teenagers, would only carry things in bags from the Gap.  They would certainly not carry anything in a bag from Walmart.  And they probably would have died of shame if they were forced to go in public with a bag from Kmart.

Boys are no better.  How many teenage boys at the height of cool go cruising the streets in minivans?  Adults are also no better.  At that business meeting when everyone puts their cell phones on the table don’t you check out what other people have; and then make a subtle judgement?  Admit it, you do!  What do you think of that person who whips out an old flip-phone?!?

This may not seem like the love of power, but it is.  It is about creating a preserving your image and status; in other words, your power.  No one wants to slip down.

The book of Isaiah had something to teach the people of that day, but they had a hard time getting it.  And it has something to teach us too, but we’ll also have a hard time getting it.  It is about how the power of love truly works and expands.

Last week I mentioned that the book of Isaiah was almost certainly not written by just one person.  Almost all biblical scholars agree that chapters 1 through 39 are based on the teachings and writings of the historical prophet Isaiah.  His writings come from the time between 740 and 701 B.C.  That is the time period when ten of the northern tribes of Israel were destroyed by the Assyrian Empire.  Only two southern tribes were left with the city of Jerusalem as the capitol.  It was a tense time for the Jews.  They were too weak to defend themselves against the mighty empires that surrounded them, for there was also Egypt threatening from the south.  Isaiah exhorted the Jewish leaders that they should trust God because God had promised to divinely protect Jerusalem forever.  That sounds like a good teaching, and it was, but it also led to arrogance, the idea that God would protect Jerusalem no matter what.

A century later the Babylonian Empire had grown in the east and it not only threatened Jerusalem, but it 587 it destroyed Jerusalem and hauled off the Jewish leaders into exile in Babylon.  You’d have expected a small nation, only the size of a couple counties with a population of a few thousand, to go extinct.  But it didn’t.  Ironically it was in total loss and defeat that the Jews began to realize how big and powerful God really was.

If you look at Jewish writings prior to the destruction of Jerusalem they describe God as being their God, and while they understand God as being big and as the creator of the universe, it is still more limited than later writings.

When you hit chapter 40 in Isaiah you’re reading from a different author.  While there are connections to the historical prophet Isaiah, which is probably why these chapters were attached to Isaiah and didn’t become their own independent book, the understanding is bigger.  Ironically, in dealing with economic collapse, loss of the Davidic dynasty, and military conquest their view of God becomes bigger.  The only thing they have left is God, and that reveals greater things about God’s power and God’s love.  They begin to realize that while they are God’s chosen people, the world is not about them.  Rather, God will use them as a vehicle to work in the whole world.  They start to see God’s work as being cosmic, and God holding everything together.  As the Jews see themselves as smaller they start to see God as bigger.

The first week of Advent we read from the original prophet Isaiah.  Last week we read from this second author in Isaiah.  His work goes up through chapter 55.  This week we’re reading from a third author whose work covers the rest of Isaiah.  He is writing from an even later time period.  By this time the Babylonian Empire has be destroyed by the Persian Empire.  The Persians allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it.  The Jews have spent decades in exile.  An entire new generation has arisen.  It should be a time of rejoicing and restoration, but it is not.  Corruption is back.  Pagan practices are back.  Work on the temple and the city is slow and stumbling.  Nothing has improved!  Plus, the Babylonians did allow some people to remain in Jerusalem, mostly poor and weak people not worth hauling off.  Even so, those who remained have scraped out a living.  Now they aren’t too happy about all these people coming back and wanting to rebuild the city, upending all that they have created to survive.

Do you have a friend or family member or maybe a co-worker that whenever they show up they completely upend all that you had planned?  That’s what the people who stayed felt about those coming back.

Where was this blessed time of peace and prosperity and restoration that the second author in Isaiah wrote about?  Is God still failing them?

            You can guess what happens.  In this third author in Isaiah they realize God is even bigger.  They realize that God is not only interested in saving Jerusalem and the Jewish people, God is at work saving the entire world.  The entire way of living called the love of power will be destroyed and the power of love will prevail.

            This will all be done by God, not by people.  Prior to our verses we read for today we find this in Isaiah 59:15b-18, “The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.  He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm brought him victory, and his righteousness upheld him.  He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle.  According to their deeds, so will he repay; wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render requital.”

            Notice God does the work, not people.  Notice how God dresses himself as a warrior for battle.  Now contrast that with our verses where the prophet says, “…for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels.”  God is again doing the dressing, and it is dressing the faithful people for a celebration.

            God’s work.  God’s celebration.  This is the power of love overcoming the love of power.  As the ancient Jews discovered their incapability they became aware of God’s capability.  God’s full capability would not be seen for a few more centuries, when Jesus is crucified.  Then we see the true power of love.

            The love of power is easy to see.  It is intoxicating and all of us fall victim to it, at least from time to time.  The power of love is sometimes almost impossible to see.  Yet its great strength is there always.  It is God’s way.  May we, like the ancient Jews before us, recognize God’s enormous power and tendency to work in unpredictable ways.  And then trust in that so that we too can be dressed by God for celebration as God’s ultimate victory comes.

December 10, 2017 Advent 2 Isaiah 40:1-11

Feeling anxious?  You have every right to!  Christmas is coming up.  You’ve got lots to do.  Plus there’s plenty on the news to worry about: wildfires and natural disasters, North Korea’s missile program, the proposed changes to the federal tax code, health care legislation, and the seemingly endless stream of executives or public persons going down on sexual harassment charges.  Then there’s the greater social tension of our nation dividing itself into groups of political ideology and being unable to listen to each other, let alone work together.  What should you worry about, and what shouldn’t you worry about?   And how do you know what’s true and what’s not.  Sometimes even the truth gets skewed into absurdity. 

It happened decades ago, but the 1950 senatorial primary campaign in Florida is a great example.  Incumbent Claude Pepper was opposed by George Smathers.  Pepper was especially strong in the “Bible belt” or northern part of Florida.  To shake the hold Pepper had on these people Smathers developed a special speech making use of certain facts:  Pepper was a Harvard Law School graduate.  He had a niece who was a member of a Senate subcommittee.  And he had a sister who was an actress in New York.

His speech went something like this, “Are you aware, my friends, that in his youth Claude Pepper was found matriculating in Harvard, that before marriage he habitually indulged in celibacy.  Not only that, he was practicing nepotism in Washington with his own niece; and he has a sister who is a thespian in wicked Greenwich Village.  Worst of all, my friends, Claude Pepper is known all over Washington for his latent tendency toward overt extraversion!”

It was all true.  It was all compliments!  But the way you say it changes the tone entirely.

What’s true?  What’s not?  And there’s more than national affairs to make you anxious.  As individuals we have our own livelihoods to worry about, our own children to worry about, our own health and wellbeing to worry about.  There are family dynamics and tensions.  There are financial challenges, and on and on can go the list.  Enter then the prophecy we read from Isaiah 40.

Usually when I preach about a text I tell you to pay close attention to the text.  Don’t overlook important details, and don’t bring to the text all sorts of assumptions that aren’t there.  But in the case of this one you probably understood it more clearly if you weren’t really paying attention!

The details of this are confusing and a little bizarre.  Perhaps the biggest is in verse 2 when it says, “[Jerusalem] has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

What does this mean that God would be demanding double payment for sins?  Talk about something to make you anxious!  How cruel could God be?  Biblical scholars go all over the place on this one.  Many try to find a root to it in the religious laws.  Others try to say it’s a bad translation and that the Hebrew root word really is intended to mean more completeness than double.  I even pulled out my commentary on Isaiah published in 1852 to find out what they said about it!

Most scholars say not to get too worked about it, that it passage is more of a poem than a literal teaching and the author is just using the word double as a literary flourish.

Once you’ve swallowed that pill there are plenty of others.  Let’s look at one other in the text.  God says that all people are like grass, their constancy is like the flowers of a field. Is that an insult? 

Commentators go all over the place with that one too.  But in the end most agree that it is best to take a step back from the text and just let the whole thing, troubling parts and all, speak to us tenderly.  After all, it is intended to be a prophecy of peace.

In this busy season with: shopping and cards and decorating and baking and parties and concerts and all sorts of things it all seems important and everyone in anxious.  A message of peace would be nice.

But a message of peace can go two ways.  Let’s also be aware that not everyone is busy this time of year.  I think this is the time of year that if you’re too busy you wish you could take a break.  But if you are someone who is not busy at this time of year – if you have no one to shop for, and no one to see your decorations, and no one to write cards to, and no concerts or parties to attend, and no one to cook for, you start to think something is wrong with you, or wrong with your life.

Last week I was visiting one of our members who lives in a nursing home.  In one of the big central rooms there was a small band playing and singing all sorts of Christmas carols.  They were singing with great gusto, and the nursing home staff were trying to be as energetic as possible, but nearly all the residents just stared off into space, taking in nothing.  I do remember one old lady enthusiastically stomping her foot on the footrest of her wheelchair.  And there were a few people nodding along in time to the music, but otherwise there was no response.  Not even music therapy could spread Christmas cheer there. 

For many of those residents Christmas probably meant an extra visit from their children who lived nearby.  Maybe a grandchild in college would stop in to say high while he or she was home on Christmas break, and maybe bring a flower or a card.  It was a memory care unit, so many of the residents aren’t even aware that it’s Christmas.  On the whole it was a pretty depressing scene.  I credit the staff and the band for doing their best, but what was the point?

At that moment I was glad to be too busy, but the scene also creates anxiety for the future.

Too busy… not busy enough… anxiety everywhere… the world’s always in a tail spin.  Let’s let that ongoing reality really sink in. 

Then Isaiah speaks, “Comfort, O comfort my people says your God.”  Prepare the way of the Lord, make a smooth place.  God is at work and God is coming.  The biggest, grandest, most important plans and accomplishments of our lives are to God nothing more permanent than the flowers in a field.  Our constancy is like grass which withers.

We are nothing, and all that we worry about is nothing compared to God.  The word of our God will stand forever Isaiah says.  God comes with might, true might, mightier than any earthly arsenal than can ever be put together.  At the same time Isaiah tells us that God will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom.

Though we are nothing, our mighty God claims us and keeps us.  Too busy, not busy enough, the world endlessly going crazy, God is here.  God is at work.  God is in charge.

That is the perspective Isaiah wanted his original readers to have.  And that is the perspective we should have too.  There are many things to be anxious about in life.  Anxiety can be a good thing sometimes.  But ultimately let God be the anxious one.  And we instead hear the words of Isaiah as he speaks that our lives can be ones of calmness, wholeness and peace when we can trust things to God.

December 3, 2017 Advent 1 Isaiah 11:1-10

            The cover of our bulletin has the artwork called “The Peaceable Kingdom” by Edward Hicks.  It is a famous painting and you may have seen it before.  The original hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.  It is based on Isaiah 11:1-10 which we had for our first Bible reading today.  It’s small and hard to see the details, but in the foreground you find an image from the second half of our reading.  There is a wolf beside a lamb.  A leopard and kid are lying down together.  A cow and a bear are grazing.  A lion and ox are eating straw.  A little child is playing over the hole of a snake.

            In the background is something to make my Pennsylvania roots swell with pride.  The background is an American expression of the first half of the passage.  The first half of the passage talks about a righteous ruler who governs with wisdom and understanding, with counsel and might, and with the spirit of the knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  And so depicted in the background is William Penn Jr., the founder of the colony of Pennsylvania.  He is kneeling.  With him are other English citizens, fully dressed and with hats.  Penn is kneeling before a group of Delaware Indians, who are also dressed in official attire and wearing head pieces.  The scene depicts Penn buying part of Pennsylvania from the Indians.  This is historically accurate in that Penn would buy land from the Indians, then sell it to settlers; then use that money to buy more land from the Indians and so own.  My own family was one of the original settlers that moved into the Susquehanna River area purchased in 1701.  And as you may know, there are no Indian reservations in Pennsylvania and no Indian land claims.

            William Penn Jr. was one of those rare leaders who had incredible power yet embodied the spirit of Isaiah 11.  Penn’s reputation was that he was first and foremost kind and peacemaking, as his Quaker beliefs required him to be.  Yet he was also a solid businessman.  He knew how to make deals.  He knew how to keep order and he knew how to administer discipline.

            Would that our political leaders today lived by those same principles, but all too few do in any of our political parties.  Yet as Penn demonstrated, it can be done.

            These are the same principles we want to live by.  As Christians we read of the peaceable kingdom in Isaiah 11 and we say that it points to Christ.  Indeed Jesus did fulfill it.  So let’s look at it so that when we are in a position of power or leadership over others, we know how to lead in a Godly way.

            It starts off: “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, a branch shall grow out of his roots.”  Biblical scholars believe this portrayal comes out of the period of the Syro-Ephraimite war in the 8^th Century B.C.  You’ll remember that Jesse was the father of King David.  After the war the Davidic dynasty appeared a mere stump compared to its enemies.  We learn that God can pull great leadership from seemingly small and weak places.  You don’t need an exquisite education, a fine pedigree and all the right connections in order to be great and effective in God’s work.

            While Jesus could claim a bloodline to David he did not have a formal education.  He was not rich and he was not well connected.  None of his disciples were either.  We should never think ourselves incapable just because life didn’t give us the perceived advantages of some.

            The verse goes on, “The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him…”  Here the word spirit is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:2 to talk about the spirit of God in the work of creation.  The idea is that a leader’s inspiration comes from God’s own spirit, God’s own creative purposes.

            That’s a sweet thought, but one that is hard to feel.  Most every person feels that his or her faith is too weak, or not up to the task.  Rarely do people feel a confident sense of God’s presence and inspiration in their lives.  The good thing for us is that the text goes on to describe that spirit.  So for those many times when we doubt or don’t feel it we can still know how to live it.

            According to Isaiah the spirit of the Lord endows a faithful leader with three pairs of gifts: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, and the knowledge and fear of the Lord.  Those words might sound familiar to you.  We pray them over our confirmands when we confirm them and every time we do an Affirmation of Baptism service.

            It only takes a few moments’ worth of contemplation to realize what these gifts are intended to do.  A wise and understanding leader is able to face reality and deal with it fairly, including politics and law. 

            The spirit of counsel and might refers to diplomatic and military judgment and authority.  Those who think the world is a safe and sweet place are kidding themselves.  Jesus is often portrayed as a sweet and kind guy.  Indeed he probably was.  But he could also be forceful.  He overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple.  He verbally conflicted with the religious leaders on many occasions.  He challenged people, refused some people, and called many people into dangerous situations.  Having faith in God does not mean one becomes a cream puff for life.  And when you are in leadership you should have the courage to use force when necessary, but also the resourcefulness to be able to avoid it.

            William Penn Jr.’s great city of Philadelphia was first built without any walls or defenses.  Why?  Because unlike other colonies Penn worked with the Indians and made sure they had all the rights and privileges of a fair legal system.  If you were a European looking to move to the New World Pennsylvania looked pretty sweet.  It was safe.  Plus, places like Philadelphia could be built much faster and cheaper if defense wasn’t a constant worry.  Penn could be forceful, but he knew how to create a situation where it was unlikely to be needed.

            And the third pair of gifts are knowledge and fear of the Lord.  I want no leader – whether it be in business or politics or religion who does not have some fear of God.  This doesn’t have to be a trembling fear, but it does have to be the fear that causes respect in the face of ultimate power.

            When a pastor is ordained he or she is reminded that one day her or she must be ready to give account to God for what they do in ministry.  While God is gracious, loving and forgiving, that does not give leaders the license to exploit.  Leaders in business, politics and religion are not less likely to become arrogant and greedy if they truly respect God.

            And while we’re talking about real leadership let’s also remember something very important as we look at this from the point of view of Christ – that is, incarnation.  Remember, incarnation means God coming to earth in human form and fully embodying his form.

            I want to conclude with this clip from the radio program On Being which WXXI airs on its AM station on Sunday mornings.  In last Sunday’s show the host, Krista Tippett, interviewed Jesuit Priest Greg Boyle, who works with gang members in Los Angeles.  I think it speaks to how Jesus relates as a leader. 

Ms. Tippett: What your ministry so bespeaks is this incarnational heart of Christianity, but that it always comes down to relationship between people — that that’s where we discover God, as well.

Fr. Boyle: Well, it’s relational, but it’s also — I think we’re afraid of the incarnation. And part of it, the fear that drives us is that we have to have our sacred in a certain way: It has to be gold-plated, and cost of millions and cast of thousands or something, I don’t know. And so we’ve wrestled the cup out of Jesus’s hand, and we’ve replaced it with a chalice, because who doesn’t know that a chalice is more sacred than a cup, never mind that Jesus didn’t use a chalice?

And a story I tell in the book about a homie who was — on Christmas Day, I said, “What’d you do on Christmas?” And he was an orphan, and abandoned and abused by his parents, and worked for me in our graffiti crew. And I said, “What’d you do for Christmas?” “Oh, just right here.” I said, “Alone?” And he said, “No, I invited six other guys from the graffiti crew who didn’t had no place to go,” he said. “And they were all…” He named them, and they were enemies with each other. I said, “What’d you do?” He goes, “You’re not gonna believe it. I cooked a turkey.”

[laughter]

I said, “Well, how’d you prepare the turkey?” He says, “Well, you know, ghetto-style.” And I said, “No, I don’t think I’m familiar with that recipe.” And he said, “Well, you rub it with a gang of butter, and you squeeze two limones on it, and you put salt and pepper, put it in the oven. Tasted proper,” he said. I said, “Wow. Well, what else did you have besides turkey?” “Well, that’s it, just turkey.”

[laughter]

“Yeah, the seven of us, we just sat in the kitchen, staring at the oven, waiting for the turkey to be done. Did I mention it tasted proper?” I said, “Yeah, you did.”

[laughter]

So what could be more sacred than seven orphans, enemies, rivals, sitting in a kitchen, waiting for a turkey to be done? Jesus doesn’t lose any sleep that we will forget that the Eucharist is sacred. He is anxious that we might forget that it’s ordinary, that it’s a meal shared among friends, and that’s the incarnation, I think.

Greg Boyle didn’t intend to speak of the peaceable kingdom, but that’s it.  Enemies gathered around to share, held together by our Lord, our Lord who creates, sustains, and saves.  And may we always be gathered in the same.