First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
1The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
4They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
8For I the Lord love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
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 her jewels.
11For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.
Psalm: Psalm 126
The Lord has done great things for us. (Ps. 126:3)
1When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
then were we like those who dream.
2Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are glad indeed.
4Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses of the Negeb.
5Those who sowed with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed,
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise the words of prophets, 21but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22abstain from every form of evil.
23May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
19This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” 21And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23He said,
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ”
as the prophet Isaiah said.
24Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” 28This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
Children’s Sermon “It is time.” A Disney film that has helped me a lot recently is “Lion King.” Simba, the young lion, flees after seeing his father killed in a political move by his Uncle Scar. Pumba, a warthog, and Timon, a lemur, rescue him. He matures but one day his childhood girlfriend arrives to plead with him to return and save the kingdom that is “a real fix-er upper.” Simba runs away but encounters the monkey Rafiki who challenges him that the past does hurt but you run from it or you learn from it. Simba runs to the river where he sees his father’s reflection and hears his father speak from the clouds. “You are more than you have become. Remember who you are.” Simba returns. In the finale, Rafiki says to Simba, “It is time!” Simba steps onto Pride Rock to claim his rightful position in the kingdom and the sun shines as all the animals applaud. Today we see John the Baptist proclaiming, “It is time.” It is time for the Messiah to appear. He is questioned, though, “Who are you?” If you were asked “Who are you?” how would you answer?
Let us pray. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.
SERMON
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind,
consider it nothing but joy, James 1:2
When I started dating my future husband, he was memorizing the biblical book of Colossians. I thought he was weird but my sister said she was memorizing Philippians and the organist at the church was memorizing Hebrews. I had not done much memorizing of Scripture since confirmation. I was shocked and decided to work on the book of James because it talks about wisdom. Chapter 1 opens by encouraging readers to consider our trials pure joy. That has always been a conversation stopper and thought provoker for me. How do struggles and joy relate? How does John the Baptist and joy relate? JOY is our theme today. Again we grapple with how John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ and the face of Advent for us this year, helps us to understand real joy rooted in the truth of who we are and not just because we get our wish list on Christmas day.
Advent 1 we focused on the HOPE that comes from a God who is true to his word and fulfills prophecy. John the Baptist calls out, “It is time!” for prophecy to be fulfilled and for the Messiah to appear. Advent 2 we focused on PEACE as John the Baptist encouraged us to open our hearts through confession and repentance to prepare to hear the forgiveness the babe brings. “It is time” to come clean with God. Advent 3 focuses on JOY as John the Baptist and we are questioned about our identities. “Who are you?” “It is time” to ponder the truth of who we are and who we were created to be. Are we more than we have become?
7He came as a witness to testify to the light
In our Gospel text today we have three groups of people. John the Baptist is witnessing. The priests and Levites who were sent by the Jews in Jerusalem are worrying about John’s identity. But there is also all the people watching this scene unfold – us. Let us ponder witnessing, worrying, and watching and the joy they bring. The question hanging in the air, “Who are you?” confronts us about which of these three do we identity with today. When we know whose we are and why we are alive, we can find true joy in life even in the midst of trials. So take a moment to reflect right now. In your relationship with Jesus are you a witness, a worrier, or a watcher?
Witness in the Wilderness
Simba’s father’s appearance reminds his son that he is more than he has become. “Remember who you are!” John the Baptist is questioned and twice asked, “Who are you?” John answers that he is a “voice” witnessing to light. My first take-away in the text is that we are only voices, witnesses. We are not God. We are not perfect. We are only witnessing to truth, as we understand it now. The evil one would like to convince us that we have failed when a child goes astray or a spouse leaves or our business struggles that we have failed. As we live acknowledging that we have done our best with the truth we have been entrusted then we can leave the rough spots in life for God to level out. When we demand of ourselves that we be “the light” and do everything right, then we loose joy. We have forgotten who we are. We are not the light. We witness to the light.
Also John identifies with his audience as he claims he is a voice in the wilderness with the people. John is asked if he is a prophet. Prophets were messengers bringing words from God to the people often in correction of behavior or to foretell the future, but John says he is not a prophet but he is a witness testifying, telling truth to those in the wilderness of life. He is not correcting his audience but identifying with them and calling to them to prepare. We travel in community and live our “voice” for the good of all, hopefully pointing others to the Messiah who is coming.
So what does our life “voice” or testify or witness to today? As we think of the words coming out of our mouths, we are challenged to be honest if those vulgar explicatives frequently explode from us when we get frustrated and under pressure. Do our friends know they will always receive truth seasoned with compassion to tell them about what’s wrong? I pray we are not known for our sharp and cutting, sarcastic responses. One of the radio stations here in Florida advertises as the station that is safe for little ears listening. Is our voice safe for all the people around us? What does our voice witness to now?
Being a voice, being a witness, means that the Holy Spirit does the convicting. He changes the heart in another’s life but it is my role to witness to the truth of Christ in my life, not to change someone else. I know we love to say the popular saying that we need only show love, only use words if necessary, but as John reflects on being a “voice”, I tend to think that it is good that we use our voices to share our truth specifically pointing others to God and not just being kind. We are challenged to use our voice to testify about the real light of life, God. We are who we are, not because of the success of our hands but by the grace of God.
Worriers
If John is a witness, a voice testifying to the light, then the priests and Levites might be called worriers about the light. They are people sent by authorities in Jerusalem and they are concerned about reporting back to their bosses. Twice they ask John, “Who are you?” They “need an answer for those who sent them.” Perhaps we can put them in the category of people who want to be politically correct during Advent as they make decisions about how they are aligning themselves. They are not witnesses but responders looking for approval from those they seek to please.
I listen to all the advertisements during Advent that try to convince us to buy this or that, do this or that, go here or there. The motivation is pleasing the other, not developing relationship or finding the true light. When we are “people pleasers” worrying about the response of another, then I suspect we will have trouble finding true joy. It feels like conflict. Can we truly feel joy from within when the approval of another determines our success?
Advent is a time of the year when it is very easy to be a worrier. Presents are given and often there are more people we would like to bless than our budget allows. Meals are cooked and the evil one loves to remind us of burnt offerings or how well someone else did it last year. Christmas programs are presented where people wear their best, kids do their best, and musicians are outstanding. Comparisonitis can ruin our self-value as we imagine another evaluating us.
Perhaps our focus is the problem. Instead of worrying if so-and-so will like this or that, we need to work on placing the gift in God’s hand through prayer to bless that person. Seeking God’s help to use our efforts to voice light into another’s life connects us with real power and helps us silence our fears. Who do you seek to give an answer to this Christmas?
Watchers
The unnamed group in our text today is the people watching this exchange. It is we the readers. We may not see ourselves as a John the Baptist or even the preacher giving this sermon. We may not be called to be an upfront person, a voice witnessing to the light, but we are being called today to decide if we are following the light or settling for traditions. In our culture of leniency, tolerance and diversity, it feels dangerous to be too defined. It sounds a bit judgmental so we leave witnessing to the professionals or the TV, podcast, or the web. On the other hand, we do not want to think of ourselves like the priests and Levites reporting to Lutheran headquarters. We are not tattle tales. Our family tradition is Lutheran and we are proud of it. We may come and go to church but do we go through the motion without personally investing for the health of our own soul? We may be good people trying to live right but it is easy to become kind of neutral. We might be described as lukewarm. We can become people sitting in the pews. Advent challenges us to reflect if we are more than we have become. Hopefully we are not so overwhelmed that we feel like we are wandering in the wilderness as we are involved in all the hurry and scurry of the season.
Simba was happy living with Timon and Pumba. He had learned to survive on worms and grubs, “slimy but satisfying.” He was content. The problem was that he was not all that he was made to be, the child of the King, the heir apparent. Nola arrives and challenges him. The image of his father in the river and cloud challenge him also. “You are more than you have become. Remember who you are.” John the Baptist arrives and challenges us. Advent reminds us that we are created to walk in the light and our life is a testimony to the light. It is as we step into our rightful roles in our “fixer-upper world” that the sun shines and we experience true joy. Joy is different than contentment. Joy is hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit whispering in our soul about some situation, “It is time” and we respond. Perhaps it is time to give a hug. Perhaps it is time to pray or read. Perhaps it is time to pick up a phone. Perhaps it is time to forgive. As we step into witnessing to the light as the light calls to us then we experience true joy.
Allow me to rephrase slightly the close of our text today.
“Among us stands one whom many do not know, 27the one whom we celebrate as coming in Advent;
I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal” but he is the light of life and worth celebrating at Christmas.”
It is time for us to witness to the light of our world. We are not the Messiah. We are not Elijah. We are not the prophet Moses talked about. We are just voices speaking to our world about the one who comes to our hearts, who came in Bethlehem and who will come someday to make our world right. Blessings as you share this week. May you experience true joy.
Let the people of God say, “Amen!”
On the Way to Wonder 