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A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie
Micah 5:2-4
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-56

If you think things were tough for Mary. in the weeks leading up to Christmas, spare a thought for Joseph, talking to his mother-in-law.

Anna: You're taking her where? I do not believe my ears.

Joseph: Bethlehem. I have to go there, so I'll take her with me.

Anna: My daughter. Nine months pregnant. You want to walk to Bethlehem. You want to take her with you.

Joseph: Not _want_ to take her with me. I'm _going_ to take her with me. If she's out of town, the gossips can't pin down the date of birth. Besides, a son of David should be born in David's town. Where else?

Anna: A son, is it? Where else, you say? On the road there, maybe? If the robbers don't get you first, God forbid. Joseph, nobody knows when this baby is due. This is not the moment to take her on a walking tour.

Joseph: It _is_ a long way to walk. I could try to find her a donkey.

Anna: A donkey? Why not a chariot? And this is supposed to be an improvement? You should try being pregnant, and riding a donkey. Joseph, be reasonable. Leave her here. In a mother's care.

Joseph: She's in _my_ care, now - I'll take care of her. The angel said to take her.., and how _can_ I take care of her, if I leave her behind?

Anna: You 'II take care of her! Suddenly you're a midwife, as well as a carpenter! Joseph, this is her first baby. The only one that knows less about it than her is you.

Joseph: Don't try to frighten us out of it. We were both told, 'Don't be afraid', by the angel.

Anna: Did the angel mention any other details? Like how she was to manage? In her condition, in a strange town, with no help, no mother, only Joseph, the midwife carpenter, who dreamed it would be alright. On your head be it!

Joseph: I dreamed I was told not to be afraid to take her. So, if I have to go to Bethlehem, then she's coming with me.

Anna: (heaviest sarcasm) Oh well, if an angel comes to your dreams, with a personal message... then why listen to the voice of common sense? I'm amazed the angel didn't tell you you were pregnant, too. Why not?

Joseph: (grins) He told me it was going to be a boy. And to name him Jeshua.

Anna: Jeshua? MY grandson? What about Reuven? Reuven, after my father? Or David, even? Why Jeshua? What sort of a name is that?

(Fade)

"Listen to your mother-in-law!" A radio sketch from "The Angel and the Paper Bag and Other Sketches" by Cecily Cupit (Melbourne: Joint Board of Christian Education, 1993).

* * *

Preparation for Christmas can be difficult: difficult for Mary, for Joseph, for Mary's mother, Anna, for Elizabeth, and for us.

Are you ready for Christmas to come? cookies baked, house cleaned for guests, travel arrangements in place? gifts purchased and wrapped, tree decorated? I confess I'm behind on all those things; and probably some others I've yet to remember. During Advent we talk a lot about remembering to prepare for Christ to be born in our lives. And I'm way behind on that one too. My "spiritual house" is still a cluttered mess though I've tried dutifully to practice what I preach.

After reading today's lessons, though. I wonder where Jesus will choose to visit -- Will it be the well-prepared house with all the perfect color-coordinated decorations and the tastefully wrapped gifts? Is Jesus looking to be born in the soul that is really prepared for his birth? The person who really "has her act together"? the one who has neatly ordered his spiritual life? Does our God search out the people and places who are pefrectly prepared and in control of things?

Listen to our readings for today: God doesn't seem to be showing up at those places that are neatly prepared.

Micah tells us that the great shepherd of Israel will be born not in the power and security of the large, ruling city of Jerusalem, but out in the hill country of little Bethlehem.

Psalm 80 is addressed not to comfortable respectable folk, but to a despised people who are laughed to scorn by their enemies.

The Letter to the Hebrews talks of God ignoring the pomp and ceremony of ritual sacrifice in favor of humble service.

And finally in the Gospel, we hear that our Lord is going to be the child of an unwed teenager. Elizabeth might logically have greeted her young pregnant cousin with "Mary, what have you done? You've ruined your life!"

Then our imagined dialog between Joseph and his mother in law paints a picture of God coming into peoples lives in radically unexpected ways. Right in the place that one is least prepared: A carpenter is going to be a midwife?

Surely this God has a sense of humor. Showing up where least expected. Instead of pointing out our strengths, God shows up and magnifies the lowly places in our lives.

Did you really hear Mary's familiar song -- the Magnificat? It's not an affirmation of the good stuff of the status quo. It's a radical turning of the world upside down. The proud are scattered. The powerful are brought down. The rich are sent away empty. The lowly on the other hand are raised up; the hungry are fed. Apparently when the Lord is magnified, the ‘down and outs" are magnified also.

God seems to prefer the needy "have nots" to those who "have it all." God chooses strange unexpected ways to make history. This most important event in all human history happens not to a powerful and wise man, but to a powerless teenage girl. It is announced not by an assembly of royal heralds, but by an elderly pregnant woman.

Perhaps the wealthy and powerful would not have heard the message that Mary and Elizabeth heard. The lives of the wealthy and powerful are too full and too well ordered. But if you've ever lived with a 13 or 14 year old girl, you've seen that wonderful adolescent chaos and you know that there is an emptiness and powerlessness there as well.

The miracle is not the virgin birth The miracle is that God spoke and Mary heard. The Christian tradition has a long heritage that speaks of what preceded Jesus' birth not in sexual terms but in terms of God's word. In our time theologian Karl Barth echoed this tradition writing that Mary's pregnancy was "realized by the ear of Mary which heard the word of God."

God spoke and Mary heard AND obeyed. Obedience in the biblical sense (and in fact in the root meaning of the English word as well) means also to hear. To hear, really to hear, is to obey. And the result of that obedience is a miracle. Miracle enough that both women react with songs of sheer joy. God sends totally unexpected miracles in unexpected places to unprepared and needy people.

It's those unprepared and empty places that God chooses to fill with joy. God sees human need and answers our deepest longings.

So instead of looking for God in the beautiful, well kept part of our lives. Let's take time to consider our neediness. The unprepared places. A skilled carpenter is not asked to build a beautiful home for Jesus, he's asked to be midwife to a virgin. A successful businessman may not be asked to manage the kingdom of God, he may find God only in the brokenness of a sudden heart attack. A gifted teacher may be too busy speaking her wisdom to hear God's work, and God may come to her in her weakest spot.

Where is it that you are truly needy? Where is your life broken? Where do you feel inadequate and unprepared for life? Where are the empty spaces? Where do you hunger? Maybe it's loneliness or alienation? Poor health or financial stress? Depression or overwhelming fears? These are the mangers of our lives where God is asking to be born. Listen carefully in the broken places of your life. God is looking with favor on your lowliness.

Hear God's unexpected word promising to fill your greatest needs. Hear and leap for joy. The Lord will do great things for us and Holy is God's name,

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A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Philippians 4:4-9
Luke 3:7-18

"You brood of vipers!"
It's one of the great lines of Bible But just what is John saying? That his listeners are nasty, mean, and hurtful?

Just what do you know about vipers? Have you ever seen a brood of them -- a tangled mess of bodies twisted around each other? I grew up with them. In the Florida wilderness and even our backyards, vipers are common. Rattlesnakes and water moccasins are both pit vipers. I learned very early, for example, that one never steps over a fallen log -- you step on it good and hard first: to scare the snakes out from underneath. And they run away -- they are experts at "fleeing from the wrath to come."

The image John puts before us is of a fearful scattering in all directions.Snakes are afraid of people; It is their fear that causes them to be dangerous. Only when they are cornered or taken by surprise are they a problem. People are like that too -- our fears make us dangerous. Look deeply enough behind most hurtful behavior little hurtful words that slip out or major crime that destroys lives and you will find fear.

John's is telling us not to run away. Don't be afraid! Fear not! It is a customary beginning of the announcement of God's word by angels or prophets. John says. Don't run away! Stand and face the wrath to come. John has come to help us get ready for the one who is to come we can't do that if in our fear we run away.

But the words of today's gospel reading are really scary -- cutting off the dead stuff and burning away the chaff. We are told this message is "good news" but it sounds dangerous. Yet the essence of this message is not about destruction. It is about finding what is good underneath the messy buildup of garbage in our lives.

Today is housecleaning Sunday

If you're expecting a visit from a new baby, it's time to get things in order -- to remove the clutter from the guest room to burn the garbage and scrub things clean. That kind of work isn't always fun. (I know -- my house is a disaster and my mother and my daughters will arrive soon for Christmas.) But when you are preparing for something wonderful the anticipation can make a joy of the work. (I've even been known to sing while vacuuming up the dog fur.) And in the case of John's message what is anticipated is more than wonderful -- it's awesome. God is coming! Listen again to today's readings:

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!" We are expecting "peace that passes all understanding." "Sing the praises of the Lord . . . ring out your joy!" "Do not fear!" "God has taken away the judgments against you" -- they are burned away like chaff in the fire. The wheat is revealed and your shame is turned into praise. ""Rejoice and exult with all your heart." Now this does sound like good news.

John says we can do some of the easy housecleaning ourselves: Simple ordinary things: sharing what we have with those who have not -- go through your closet -- give some to goodwill; take some cans from the grocery cart to the food shelf; be satisfied with what you have -- don't ask for more than you share.

The good news is that when instead of running away like a brood of vipers we repent and turn and we turn and face God, even God's wrath, we get some heavy-duty help with our housecleaning: All the stupid and hurtful things we have done are going to be washed away, burned up, & wiped out.

Rejoice, you brood of vipers! Don't flee from your God and the tangled mess of your lives will be turned to joy.

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A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent
the Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie

Baruch 5:1-9
Psalm 126
Philippians 1:1-11
Luke 3:1-6

"You'd better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm tellin' you why:
Santa Claus is comin' to town."

Well he was at my house yesterday. At least the earlier version of Santa Claus -- St. Nicholas.

When my children were little St. Nicholas would arrive in full bishop's regalia -- cope, miter, and staff. He'd quiz them carefully and somehow he did know some of their little failings. This was always a mystery to the children because every family member who might have know that stuff was already in the room. Till one St. Nicholas' Day, when watching for the bishop out the window, the kids came running in and said: "Mom, St. Nicholas drives an abbey car!" And only then did they notice an uncanny resemblance between St. Nick and Father Wilfred, a family friend from the abbey next door.

For us every St. Nicholas' Day was full of forgiveness and grace. Even though he knew all about the messy rooms and assorted other not-so-nice things, the good bishop left lots of goodies in the kids' shoes.

It's not like the Santa Claus in the song. That Christmas song is kind of scary:
"He's makin' a list, checkin' it twice.
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice. . . .
He knows if you've been bad or good
so be good for goodness sake."

It's bad theology. That's not what Christmas is about. The old guy in the red suit has it all wrong. Let's not have any of this "keeping a list" stuff. God's not like that. We don't want our God to keep lists. Our Loving God, like Saint Nicholas of Myra and Father Wilfred of St. John's, gives gifts to everyone.

That's why in Advent we prepare a place in our lives for God's gift, right?

So what's John out in the wilderness shouting about? No jolly old man in a red suit or kindly bishop in elegant clothing, but some wild crazy guy wearing leather and camel's hair. So this is our message for Advent: "Season's Greetings" he says "Prepare the way of the Lord -- Repent!"

Repentance? Wilderness?
That's not how we prepare for Christmas. Come on: Let's have "Joy to the World" and shopping malls instead. It's Christmas -- we're looking for love, peace, and joy. We haven't got time for the wild scary emptiness of the wilderness

But where is it that Scripture tells us that God is found?-- in a manger, in a tent, on a mountain, in a storm and in a still small voice . . . . This god doesn't seem too fond of nice, enclosed places. This is a not a safe household god, but a god of the wilderness -- a wild god.

God is not about to be tamed, domesticated and controlled by us. A pastor (Steve Sylvester) in the Cities warned his congregation this morning not to try to make a pet of this wild god who "shreds furniture and pisses on the carpet."

God comes into our neatly ordered lives and wrecks things: dynamites the mountains we have built to protect ourselves and raises up the low spots we've neglected.

Get ready!. Look to the wilderness: God is coming! God's got a list. God KNOWS. God knows the depths of our valleys, the mountains of our sin, and the crookedness of our hearts.

The only way to Bethlehem is through the wilderness. Look out! God is coming and there's no stopping God.

The Baptist is running ahead of him, shouting Prepare the way! Don't let this dangerous and wild God come up behind you. Repent! (It means turn around.) Turn toward God. Let us place before God the depths of our valleys, the mountains of our sin and the crookedness of our hearts.

And then "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

We will see our salvation in a manger. That lowest of places will be exalted. An infant God will destroy every mountainous list that is set before him. And "those who sowed with tears" of repentance, " will reap with songs of joy."

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A Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie

 Zechariah 14:4-9
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-31

You know the signs. Just as we know that sprouting leaves mean summer is near. You know the signs: There's a growing excitement and some anxiety; the house is fixed up, scrubbed clean and made special: someone's coming.

You know the signs: a faint, light headed-feeling, the swelling of hands and feet, changes in appetite, odd cravings, and nausea, especially in the morning. You know the signs: It's advent and we're pregnant again.

Someone's coming -- a whole new person to be part of our lives. The birth of a child changes everything. Radical change: Surprise. Earth shaking, all consuming. Nothing is the same . . . Are you willing to change that much?

When God decided to tell us what it's like to have God come into our life, we are not told a story of a conquering king. God tells a story of birth. Birth is what it is like for God's kingdom to come -- hard work & tears, fear & hope. Are you willing to change that much to have God come into your life?

When we read lessons like today's about Christ's Second Coming, we do so already knowing the surprise method God chose the first time Christ came into the world. Everything changes for Joseph and Mary. Everything changes for the whole of the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting. The kingdom of God is near - Are you willing to change that much?

Perhaps that is the change suggested in the bumper sticker I saw recently: "Jesus is Coming--look busy!" No one wants to get caught goofing off. Would you be ready if Jesus and all his saints were to show up right here, right now?

Looking busy probably isn't much help. Again and again Scripture reminds us that nothing we do can save us. We are told to hope in God's promises, not in ourselves. Salvation is God's work, not ours.

So when we see the signs are we to sit back and let God do God's thing? Our job then would be to wait for salvation, to wait to be delivered from our distress, to wait to be loved and given life.Kind of like winning the lottery -- that's where most people look for their redemption -- to have everything paid off and all their problems solved. (That's literally what "redemption" means--being 'bought back.') We just wait and trust that our "redemption is drawing near." Just remember that we are to hope in God's promises, not in ourselves. Let God do all the work.

But we are Christians -- having been baptized, we are "in Christ." God's promises are for us AND in us.

The signs point to a new heaven and a new earth -- to a place of both justice and peace. And the signs point also to us -- to our judgment and our redemption. Perhaps the signs point not only to our redemption but also to our becoming Christlike -- that sort of "Christlikeness" that accounts for the joy that Paul feels because of the Thessalonians. This too is a sign that the kingdom of God is near: The world becoming Christlike.

That is our calling -- to become more and more like Christ. So, rather than expecting to be the passive recipients of salvation we are expected to be like Christ, like the one who saves us.

We're not going to win the lottery - we're asked to give it all away. In the coming of God's kingdom we are not so much to be rescued and loved, as to be rescuers and lovers. In this pregnancy we are not the much-loved and protected baby, being given life. We are the workers, the laborers who give birth.

Notice that today's gospel does not say that when we see the signs we are to relax. Jesus tells us instead: "Now when these things begin to take place, STAND UP and RAISE YOUR HEADS because your redemption is drawing near."

Birth is what it is like for God's kingdom to come -- hard work & tears, fear & hope: New life that changes everything. Are you willing to change that much?

The signs say we're already pregnant. That's God's gift. We did nothing to deserve it. We can do nothing to avoid God's being born -- God's coming in this world and into our lives whenever God chooses. But we can work for it -- labor and delivery is our calling.

We can't make salvation happen. We can prepare ourselves for it. Get ready for the birth -- do what expectant mothers do: Eat healthy: Strengthening spiritual food is served here every Sunday. Get in shape: Try some spiritual Lamaze exercises - like regular prayer. Listen to stories of experienced birth givers: Who was it who brought Christ into your life? There's a bestseller available on spiritual prenatal care. Check your local library or ask your local bookseller for The Bible. And read it.

In your own life, in the life of this church, and in the life of the world, we're pregnant. Are you ready to bring Christ to birth in the world?

You know the signs - Jesus is coming. "Stand up and raise your heads -- redemption is near"


Concluding the Prayers of the People -- A Prayer attributed to St. Francis:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

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