Fiona
(Scroll down to read scripture on which the sermon is based.)
Grace to you and peace from God our Creator, from our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and from our Sustainer, the Holy Spirit. Amen
There was a man and a doctor. The doctor says, “I have some good news and some bad news.” The man asks, “What is the good news?” “The good news is that the tests show that you have 24 hours to live,” the doctor replies. Astonished, the man asks, “How is that good news? What is the bad news?” To that, the doctor answers, “The bad news is that I forgot to tell you yesterday!”
There was an artist and a gallery owner. The gallery owner tells the artist, “I have some good news and some bad news.” The artist asks, “What is the good news?” The gallery owner responds, “The good news is that a man came in here today asking if the price of your paintings would go up after you die. When I told him they would he bought every one of your paintings.” Flabbergasted, the artist exclaims, “That’s great! What is the bad news?” Cautiously, the gallery owner says, “The bad news is that the man was your doctor!”
The bad news. Complete and utter devastation. Have you seen video of the floods in the northwest? Rivers in western Washington state overflowed their banks with more than ten inches of rain as an atmospheric river known as Pineapple Express drenches the Pacific Northwest resulting in at least two deaths.
The bad news. Complete and utter devastation. Have you seen the video of the volcanic eruption of Mount Marapi in Indonesia where plumes of ash shot almost two miles into the air shrouding towns and villages with blankets of ash and rock and killing at least 23 hikers in the area?
The bad news. Complete and utter devastation. Have you ever heard of or seen pictures of Khayelitsha township in South Africa where over a half million people live in abject poverty in just under 15 square miles and the average medium income is $1800 per year and 70% of the residents live in shacks with no toilets and no running water?
The bad news. Complete and utter devastation. Did you know that in Gaza 98,000 buildings have been destroyed, almost half of which are homes – 339 are schools, 167 are places of worship, 26 of 35 hospitals are destroyed or non-functioning and 1.8 million people have been displaced? Meanwhile over 100 Israelis are still held captive including children and the elderly and press reports continue to surface of multiple incidents of horrible and brutal rape and murder by Hamas of Israeli women in their initial raid into Israel on October 7.
It is to this kind of scene of complete and utter devastation in the same region – the Middle East –the Holy Land – near Jerusalem – which the prophet Isaiah speaks in today’s first lesson. In fact, Isaiah refers to the complete and utter devastation of Jerusalem destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. Since then the Israelites have returned from exile (they too were displaced by war and their cities destroyed) and are shocked to discover that their beloved city of Jerusalem has not been rebuilt to its former glory.
So what does God do in the midst of such devastation and destruction? What does God do when there are such messes all over the place – whether the mess comes from floods, volcanoes, poverty, climate change, war, terrorism? What does God do when there is devastation all around?
The good news. God sends people into the mess. Good news. God anoints the prophet Isaiah to bring that good news to the oppressed, to comfort those who mourn, to release the captives. God equips and sends Isaiah – one person, but then at the very end, what does Isaiah say is next? He says, “They shall build up the ancient ruins. They shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities.” You see, God is not just sending Isaiah, God is sending all kinds of people to go and rebuild and repair and recreate and renew. All kinds of people are sent to clean up the messes.
Isn’t that what the story is all about – the story we are all waiting for, preparing for anticipating – the Advent and Christmas stories? The story where God sends actual flesh – the flesh of Jesus to repair a broken world, to rebuild a devastated planet and to renew a heartless people.
I would like to give you an example of God in flesh. This example may seem too far-fetched, too simple, or even too obvious and it may seem to have nothing to do with devastating floods and volcanoes or what it is like to live in utter poverty or the cruelty of war. However, I invite you to listen and see how God reveals Jesus himself in the very ordinary but exceedingly special.
There is a girl among us named Fiona who is a part of our community. She comes to church with her grandma, Andrea. She just celebrated her 10th birthday. She goes to Sunday Church School and Advent Supper Church. After the first one a week and a half ago, I noticed she went and found a big push broom and started sweeping up the mess left on the floor in the Fellowship Hall. I don’t know if anyone even asked her to do that, but there she was with a push broom cleaning up our mess. Then last Wednesday, there she was setting up the tables with Mike, pitching in, helping to create the beautiful setting for Supper Church. As far as I can tell, she did it all cheerfully. Yes, she happily cleaned up our mess and helped to create our ministry called, Advent Supper Church.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (well, no – not me – Fiona).” Yes, the Spirit of the Lord is upon Fiona because the Lord has, in fact, anointed her –to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to comfort all who mourn.” Aren’t her actions comforting? My friends, it is that simple and that beautiful at the same time, and I have to say that watching her serve, watching her clean up our mess, watching her create made me happy and hopeful. Happy and hopeful in a world filled with messes of all kinds and in all places. Happy and hopeful to witness the Spirit of the Lord anointing a 10 year old amongst us.
Speaking of which – that is anointing. Do you happen to remember who used these very words of the prophet Isaiah in his very first sermon ever preached? “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me…” Fresh out of seminary, back in his home church with his mom watching on the edge of her seat, who preached these words from Isaiah in his very first sermon? It was Jesus!
For the first time he declared, “He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort all who mourn, and that became Jesus’ mission statement, his passion, his life and his death – to bring good news to a messy and broken world. As a Lutheran colleague named Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber wrote, “The world into which Christ was born was certainly not one of a Norman Rockwell painting. The world has never been that world. God did not enter the world of our nostalgic silent-night, snow-blanketed peace-on-earth sugar cookie suspended-reality of Christmas. God slipped into the vulnerability of skin and entered a world as violent and disturbing as our own.”
“God slipped into the vulnerability of skin” and became one of us. God showed up in the flesh by sending flesh – a real person named Jesus. That is the point of Advent. That is the point of Christmas. We are watching and waiting to see how God shows up in the messy world we made. We are watching and waiting to see how God shows up in the flesh – how God shows up through real people to clean up the worst messes like war and poverty and disaster. Perhaps even more importantly Advent is about how God shows up in you – how Jesus becomes real in your flesh – how Jesus is at home in your skin.
From the words of 1 Thessalonians, our second lesson, “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” He anoints you. He lives in you. Just look at Fiona. Amen.
Source for quotation and commentary on Isaiah 61: “Untying the Cerebral Knot” Jonathon Davis, December 14, 2014
First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Though the people had returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, they continued to face hardship and oppression. In the language of the jubilee year described in Leviticus 25, the prophet, moved by the spirit of God, announces deliverance for those who are oppressed and comfort for those who mourn.
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.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.