​Emmanuel = God-With-Us
​
(Luke 1:26-38, 46b-55)
 
Today’s scripture passage from Luke 1:26-38 is an early Christmas present from God to us.  It tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary.  The story is called the Annunciation.  Annunciation means “announcement.”  Gabriel visits Mary to announce to her that she will become pregnant with the Son of God.  She is to name him Jesus.  Not surprisingly, Mary is perplexed, since she is a virgin.  How can she conceive if she is a virgin?  Gabriel tells her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her, and the power of the Most High will overshadow her.  In this way, the child she conceives will be holy; he will be the Son of God.
 
This story is an early Christmas present from God to us because it contains many gifts for us.  This sermon will unwrap and explore each gift.  The first gift is the visit from Gabriel to Mary.
 
Gabriel is an angel.  Angels are pure spirits created by God.  The word “angel” comes from the Greek word “angelos” and means “messenger.”  Angels are often messengers from God.  But the Bible tells of other things angels do.  They worship and praise, guide, provide for physical needs, protect from danger, deliver out of danger, strengthen and encourage, answer prayer, care for people at death, and, in the Old Testament, they execute humans at God’s command.[1]  Essentially, they are emissaries between God and humans.  There are different types of angels and there is a hierarchy of angles, but there is disagreement about the types and the hierarchy.  For the sake of this sermon, I will provide you with one version of the types and hierarchy.[2]
 
First are the Seraphim.  These are the highest order or “choir of angels.”  They are attendants or guardians before God's throne. They praise God, calling, "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts.”  Seraphim have six wings: two cover their faces, two cover their feet, and two are for flying.
 
Second are the Cherubim.  They are manlike in appearance, are double-winged, and are guardians of God's glory. They have intimate knowledge of God and continually praise Him.
 
Third are the Thrones.  Thrones are angels of pure humility, peace and submission.  They reside in the area of the cosmos where material form begins to take shape.
 
Fourth are the Dominions.  Dominions are angels of leadership.  They regulate the duties of the angels, making known the commands of God.
 
Fifth are the Virtues. Virtues are known as the spirits of motion and control the elements.  They are sometimes referred to as "the shining ones."  They govern all nature.  They have control over seasons, stars, and moon; even the sun is subject to their command.  They are also in charge of miracles and provide courage, grace, and valor.
 
Sixth are the Powers.  Powers are warrior angels who defend the cosmos and humans against evil.  They are known as potentates.  They fight against evil spirits who attempt to wreak chaos through human beings.  
 
Seventh are the Archangels.  They are the most frequently mentioned throughout the Bible.  The Archangels have a unique role as God's messengers to the people at critical times in history and salvation.  The Archangels include Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.
 
Eighth are the Principalities.  In the New Testament, Principalities refers to one type of spiritual being which are now quite hostile to God and human beings.  The New Testament states that these beings were created through Christ and for Him.  Given their hostility to God and humans due to sin, Christ's ultimate rule over them expresses the reign of the Lord over all in the cosmos.
 
Ninth are the Angels.  Angels are closest to the material world and human begins.  They deliver the prayers to God and God's answers and other messages to humans.  Angels have the capacity to access any and all other Angels at any time.  They are the most caring and social so that they can assist those who ask for help.
 
So, why share all of this information about angels?  The existence of angels tells us that the spiritual world is real and accessible to us.  I think of angels as passing back and forth between the spiritual and material realms.  They bring God and Spirit to us, thus making God and Spirit accessible to us. 
 
I first became interested in angels when I saw and bought this book, by Sophy Burnham:  A Book of Angels.  Burnham writes,
 
“This book began as a kind of personal history, written for myself and for my friends, because it occurred to me around the age of forty-three that many curious and mysterious things had happened that could not be passed off anymore or explained away as logical.  I just wanted to set them down, all in one place, where I could look at them, turn them like stones in my hands, and see what truth they made.
 
Because the fact is this:  I did not grow up believing in the paranormal, and by the time I reached midlife, I felt confused.  How could I ignore the fact that my own life had been saved in a miraculous fashion?  Or that strange coincidences and meetings seemed to occur?
 
This book began, then, as a series of stories strung like pearls on a necklace – stories of things that had either happened to me personally or to friends so close that I could attest to their sanity.  Each encounter is true.”[3]
 
The existence of angels lets us know that we are not alone, nor is God far away.  He is as close as the person standing next to us, who may, in fact, be an angel in disguise.  Remember, Hebrews 13:2 tells us not to forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.  After all, Mary was just a young woman hanging out at home when Gabriel came to her.  Sophy Burnham, at the conclusion of the Forward to her book, asks a searching question of us:  “Some people insist that angels don’t exist, never having seen one.  And other people ask why they appear only to certain humans, though others still say that angels come to everyone.  The question to ask is:  Who will recognize them when they come?”[4]  Will we?
 
Angles are spirit beings who are able to pass the boundary between the spiritual and material worlds.  They come as emissaries from God.  They are like life lines thrown to us as we struggle in the sea of life. But Gabriel comes to Mary to tell her – and us, by extension – that that is not enough.  It is not enough that God’s emissaries come to us.  God, Himself, must come.  Life lines are not enough; God, as human, must come to rescue us as we drown in the sea of life.  He must come, not as a being full of power and of might, but as an embryo, as the beginnings of a human being, as vulnerable as a being can be.  God must come as a tiny spark of life, growing inside of a woman, nurtured by her body and blood, growing as does any other embryo, slowly becoming a being that can be born and exist outside of his mother’s body. 
 
This is the second gift of this scripture passage:  God in human form in the material world; God incarnate; Emmanuel, which means “God-with-us”.  God pierces through the veil between the spiritual and material worlds and lands on our Earth as one of us.  All of the holiness of God comes to redeem and sanctify us and our world.
 
Which brings us to the third gift of this passage:  Nothing is as it appears, for all has been touched by God.  Mary was a normal, young woman, engaged to be married and expecting the kind of life that any young woman in her position in her society could expect.  And, then, one day, an angel appeared to her and she found out that she was more than even she knew she was!  She was not just Mary, engaged to Joseph; she was Mary, the mother of the Son of God!  Why was she chosen for this honor?  Gabriel merely states that she has found favor with God!  He doesn’t state that she was perfect, and so found favor with God.  He doesn’t state that she was extraordinary, and so found favor with God.  He doesn’t state that she was above average, and so found favor with God.  He merely states that she found favor with God.
 
Mary appeared normal, but because God chose her, and because she said yes to God, she became extraordinary.  You see, with God, nothing is impossible.  Nothing is as it appears to be.  The ordinary becomes extraordinary.  Which means that even we can be extraordinary.  To be so, we need only say “yes” to God.  We need only say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to God’s word.”  At that moment, we become extraordinary because we allow God’s Spirit to work in and through us, as it did with Mary.
 
The fourth, and final, gift of this passage is at hand:  Mary is not the only one who gives birth to Christ in the world.  We do, too, all these years later, long after Jesus lived, died, rose, and ascended.  We have the opportunity to give birth to Christ in the world every day, as his disciples.  When Jesus prayed for the disciples before his arrest, he stated that he had sent his disciples into the world just as God had sent Jesus into the world.  He prayed, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (Jn 17:18-19).  We are sanctified – made holy – by Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and we are to go into the world to sanctify it as Jesus did. 
 
Recently, I had a “God-with-us” experience.  I wrote about it on FB, but not all of you are on FB, so I’m going to tell you about it now, too.  As you know, for their final project in their baptism class, the youth in our church made backpacks full of supplies for the homeless and people in need.  Bella and RJ Johnson gave their backpacks to the Canton social services office.  My children decided to keep their backpacks in our car for those times when we see someone by the side of the street asking for money or food.  A few weeks ago, on my way home from seeing a doctor in New Haven, there was a man on the side of the street with a sign saying he was hungry and needed food.  I put the car in park, put on the hazard lights, opened up the back, gave him one of the backpacks, gave him a hug, said God bless, and then got back in the car.  As I was waiting at the light, he came up to the window to show me the ratty backpack he had.  He said that he had been hoping to get a new backpack and now he had one.  I said, "God is alive!" the light changed, and I drove off.  It was one of those “God-with-us” moments. I experienced God alive in our world.  We can have those experiences every day as we give birth to Christ.   
One scripture passage; four gifts:
 
1)  There are angels among us who minister to us in various ways.
2)  God walked among us as Jesus Christ.
3)  We become extraordinary when we say yes to God.
4)  We can give birth to Christ in our world just as Mary did.
 
All four of these gifts remind us that God is Emmanuel:  with us here on Earth.  The spiritual and material worlds have intermingled and intermingle even now.  Nothing is as it appears.  All has been touched with glory.  May we embrace these gifts and this truth as we do our final preparations for Christmas.  May we be prepared to do as Mary did, and give birth to Emmanuel, God-with-us.  Amen.
 
 
Sermon preached by the Rev. Amy Johnson at the Canton Community Baptist Church, Canton, CT, on Sunday, December 20, 2015, the Fourth Sunday of Advent.


[1] Information about what angels do is from http://christiananswers.net/q-acb/acb-t005.html#1

[2] Information about the types and hierarchy of angels is from http://www.catholic.org/saints/angels/angelchoir.php

[3] New York, NY:  The Balantine Publishing Group, 1990, xi.

[4] xiv.

Worthy Fruit

(Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Matthew 3:7-12)
 
Have you ever bought a piece of fruit – like an orange or a peach – that looked delicious but, when you bit into it, was dry or mealy?  It is so disappointing when that happens.  First, fruit isn’t cheap, so a piece of fruit purchased under false pretenses ends up being a bad investment!  Second, a piece of ripe, juicy, delicious fruit is so wonderful to eat that we feel really let down when it turns out to not taste good.  And the thing is that it is really hard to tell from the outside what a piece of fruit will be like on the inside.  The outside can be beautiful and the inside horrible.  Or, the outside can be ugly and the inside wonderful.  We take a gamble when we buy fruit.
 
The Pharisees and Sadducees looked like beautiful pieces of fruit.  They had the right pedigree, appeared to live righteous lives, and came out to John the Baptist to repent.  John, however, picked up on the possibility that the Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t have quite the proper attitude when they approached him.  He tore through their presumption as ancestors of Abraham.  He challenged their privileged position:  “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor;’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Mt 3:9). 
 
It didn’t matter who they were or where they had come from; what mattered was their attitude and their behavior.  Did they come to John with new hearts and changed lives, or were they looking for a cheap grace, a mere forgiveness of sins that would assuage their guilt over past offences?  It wasn’t enough to feel badly about the past; the Pharisees and Sadducees must also be willing and ready to live lives worthy of repentance.  They must be willing to be fruit that is delicious on the inside as well as beautiful on the outside.
 
Of course, the same is true for us.  We must be or bear worthy fruit.  But what does that mean?  If we look to the Old Testament scripture passages for today – to Psalm 72 and to Isaiah 11 – we get an understanding of what John the Baptist would consider fruit worthy of repentance.  Throughout the Old Testament Psalms and the writings of the Prophets we find the words righteousness, justice, and peace.  Psalm 72:1-7 uses the word “righteousness” four times, the word “justice” twice, and the word “peace” once.  And Isaiah 11:1-12 is all about righteousness, justice, and peace.  When we delve a little deeper into the relationship between these three words, we find that they are interconnected. 
 
Righteousness is the orientation of the heart that yearns for those things for which God yearns:  honesty, gentleness, truth, compassion – basically, the fruit of the Spirit we read about in Galatians.[1]  The righteous heart yearns for these things to be present within human communities.  Justice is the presence of these qualities within communities.  Jim Wallis, a public religious figure, states, “The clear meaning of ‘justice’ is ‘what is right’ or ‘what is normal’ — the way things are supposed to be. . . .  Justice is part of God’s purpose in redemption.”[2]   And peace is what results when justice is present.  Righteousness leads to justice, and justice leads to peace, and peace that results from justice that flows from righteousness is a sign of the kingdom of God.
 
Fruit worthy of repentance begins with righteousness and produces justice and, ultimately, peace!  When we repent, we are not to merely ask for forgiveness for our sins; we are to come with a heart that is willing to be changed, willing to be oriented toward God and the things that God desires, a heart that will lead to a changed life!
 
I am sure you have noticed by now that in the peaceable kingdom described by Isaiah, natural enemies exist lovingly with one another:  the wolf with the lamb, the leopard with the goat, the lion with the calf, the bear with the cow, the infant with the cobra, and so on (Is 11:6-8).  In the peaceable kingdom, there are no enemies.  There are no enemies because the earth is “filled with the knowledge of the Lord” (Is 11:9).
 
The knowledge of the Lord allows us to see people and the world as God intended them, not as they are.  That is the way Jesus saw them.  Isaiah tells us that Jesus was the shoot that came up from the stump of Jesse, the Branch that bore fruit.  On him, the Spirit of the Lord rested:  the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of knowledge and respect of the Lord.  Jesus contained God’s wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, and knowledge.  He could look at brokenness and see beyond it to the wholeness that God intended; he could look at sin and see beyond it to the righteousness that God intended; he could look at evil and see beyond it to the good that God intended.  And in his seeing beyond what was evident, he could bring into being what God intended.  That is why he could heal with a word, with a touch, with an intention.  The woman with the hemorrhage merely touched his robe and was healed.
 
God calls us to try to see things as Jesus saw them.  God calls us to see beyond the evident and the obvious.  He calls us to see people and the world as he intended them to be.  That doesn’t mean we don’t acknowledge the brokenness and sin and evil.  We acknowledge it, but we also see beyond it, to what people and the world can be if they are redeemed.   We say, “Yes, this is the way it is, but I can see what it could be if it were redeemed, and I will help create a space for it to become what it could be.”
 
The problem is, as human beings with our own “demons,” we get in our own way when we try to do as Jesus did.  We are growing in Christ, but we are NOT Christ, right?!  Henri Nouwen writes about this in his book, The Inner Voice of Love.  Nouwen states, “As you see more clearly that your vocation is to be a witness to God’s love in this world, and as you become more determined to live out that vocation, the attacks of the enemy will increase. . . . The more you sense God’s call, the more you will discover in your own soul the cosmic battle between God and Satan. . . .  Don’t be surprised by the demonic attacks.  They will increase . . .”.[3] 
 
This is a spiritual truth.  As we grow in Christ, the power that opposes Christ – what we call in Christianity the demonic or satanic – will fight back.  It doesn’t want to lose the battle!  Remember, after Jesus was baptized and claimed as God’s son, he was sent into the wilderness and tempted there by Satan.  Jesus was hungry and Satan tempted him with food.  Then, Satan tempted him to test God.  Finally, Satan tempted him with worldly power.  Each time, although made vulnerable by his wilderness sojourn, Jesus withstood the temptation and remained faithful to God. 
 
Satan tempts us, too.  He knows our vulnerabilities and he will go for our soft spots.  Are we fearful?  He will tempt us to be afraid.  Are we doubtful?  He will tempt us to doubt.  Are we prideful?  He will attack our pride.  And so on.  When we are growing in Christ, Satan gets worried and goes on the attack.
 
Nouwen tells us what to do when the enemy attacks:  “Do not be afraid.  Keep deepening your conviction that God’s love for you is enough, that you are in safe hands, and that you are being guided every step of the way.  [As the attacks of the enemy] increase, [and] as you face them without fear, you will discover that they are powerless.”[4]  When we refuse to be tempted by Satan and we stand firm in the love of God, Satan has no power.  He only has power when we give it to him; on his own, he has none.
 
And, so, we turn to Jesus be strengthened and we grow in Christ.  We will need that strength because, if we long for that peaceable kingdom described by Isaiah, we must be willing to work with God to achieve it and, as we work with God to achieve it, the attacks of the enemy will increase.  So we cling to Jesus and become obedient to him.  John baptized with water, but Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnows out of us all that is not worthy of repentance and burns it with an unquenchable fire.  He winnows out of us all that is worthy of repentance and makes of it life-giving bread to feed the world.  Our righteous hearts – hearts that long for those things God longs for – are the secret ingredient that allows Jesus to make of us life-giving bread.  “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps 42:1-2).  Thirst for God, drink from the living water that Jesus offers, and become the fruit and bread that feeds the world, despite the efforts of the enemy.
 
Fruit, bread, water . . . yes, we can become these things that nourish the world.  Our lives can be peeled like an orange, broken open like a loaf of bread, or poured out like a pitcher of water, and then given to the world for the glory of God.  What better thing do we have to do with our lives than serve God by serving God’s world?  There is no better vocation. 
 
In one of the issues of The Christian Century magazine that I get, the editor, John M. Buchanan, reviewed and recommended four books he had read.  One of the books is the novel by Jonathan Franzen titled, Freedom.  In it, Franzen explores freedom, the having of it and the not having of it.  Buchanan wrote the following about the book:  “Franzen’s characters, I thought as I read, don’t have enough important things to do.  Even the attempt to save a songbird from extinction becomes compromised.  I kept wishing they’d all pack up and go to church some Sunday morning and volunteer in a homeless shelter or sign up for a mission trip.”[5] 
 
As I was reading what John Buchanan had written about Franzen’s characters, I almost laughed because, I, too, have felt that way sometimes as I’ve listened to people or watched their lives.  I have thought, “Just go to church.”  Let the discipline of weekly church attendance – the singing of hymns and the praying of prayers, the attentive listening to the reading of scripture and to the sermon, the studying of the Bible, the loving and supporting of others who long for God – shape and form your life in such a way that you become part of the work of God in the world.  You become worthy fruit, dense bread, and pure water that God can use to nourish the world.  I think even Buchanan would agree with me in saying that such work is certainly important enough to do.  May we all be so blessed that God enables us to do it despite the efforts of the enemy!  Amen.
 
Sermon preached by the Rev. Amy Johnson at the Canton Community Baptist Church, Canton, CT, on Sunday, December 13, 2015, the Third Sunday of Advent.
 

[1] Walter Brueggemann, Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gavents, and James D. Newsome.  Texts for Preaching:  A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV – Year A.  Louisville, KY:  Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, 14.

[2] http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2014/06/06/how-the-bible-understands-justice/32339
 
[3] “Face the Enemy,” 93.

[4] 93.

[5] November 30, 2010, 3.

Dear American Baptists,

Now is not the time to turn our backs on our Muslim neighbors. Certainly the terroristic act in San Bernardino, in the wake of the attacks elsewhere, has raised uncertainty and fear. But to generalize those acts to every Muslim is dead wrong. Sometimes it is easier to gain perspective by considering another set of circumstances. We know that right before San Bernardino there was a shooting incident at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs which resulted in the deaths of three and the wounding of another nine. The man arrested for this attack was motivated by his strong beliefs against abortion. Yet, who among us would generalize his acts to every person who holds views against abortion and suggest that every such person be put on a watch list, be forbidden to enter this country or relinquish any of their rights afforded by our constitution? Yet there are those who in effect wish to do this very thing to anyone of the Muslim faith.

The image of the couple in San Bernardino contrasts sharply with that of the Muslims I have met. Over Labor Day weekend this year, I attended the meeting of the Islamic Society of North America with thousands in attendance. They began their meeting with the trooping of the US flag and the pledge of allegiance led by Muslim Boy and Girl Scouts. Throughout the meeting I heard speaker after speaker reference themselves as Americans and spoke to those gathered as “we Americans.” Workshops were offered on how to counter efforts to radicalize youth.

Likewise, I have had the privilege of meeting outstanding leaders in government, medicine, law enforcement, education, business and the military who are Muslim and who are committed to seeing our country flourish in peace as a multicultural/multifaith nation anchored in democratic values with a commitment to universal religious liberty. These are the images that flood my mind.

At the end of January 2016, I shall be in Marrakesh, Morocco, for a conference called by the King of Morocco concerning the rights of minority religions in Muslim-majority countries. I shall be there as a Christian leader with deep concern for the churches in those countries as well as other faiths. But how do I speak in Marrakesh for full religious liberty for all without speaking to that same issue here in America? I cannot. As a Baptist Christian leader, I am compelled by principle and experience to speak out against all attempts to paint a whole religion and the peoples who share that religion by the extremist actions of a few.

Now is the time to turn toward our Muslim neighbors not away from them. Now is the time to confirm our common commitment to counter violence in the name of God. Now is the time to work together for the common good of America and the world.
​
Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley
General Secretary, American Baptist Churches USA

http://www.abc-usa.org/2015/12/08/general-secretary-addresses-recent-attacks/

For their final project in their baptism class, the youth in our church made backpacks full of supplies for the homeless and people in need. Some of the youth gave their backpacks to the local social services office. My children decided to keep their backpacks in our car for those times when we see someone by the side of the street asking for money or food. Today, on my way home from seeing a doctor in New Haven, there was a man on the side of the street with a sign saying he was hungry and needed food. I put the car in park, put on the hazard lights, opened up the back, gave him one of the backpacks, gave him a hug, said God bless, and then got back in the car. As I was waiting at the light, he came up to the window to show me the ratty backpack he had. He said that he had been hoping to get a new backpack and now he had one. I said, "God is alive!" the light changed, and I drove off. We are preparing to celebrate Christmas soon, that day on which we rejoice that Emmanuel, God-with-us, is born. Where do YOU see GOD ALIVE in our world?

Pastor Amy Johnson

Image is from http://thebridge-uk.com/files/headers/blogs/characterofgod/header-godsalive.png

Comfort & Preparation
(Isaiah 40:1-11)
 
The scripture passage from Isaiah is a one of hope and assurance written to the Jews in exile in Babylon.  The Babylonians had waged war against Israel and Judah and conquered the Jews.  The Jews had been deported to Babylon, living there in exile for 200 years.  While in Babylon, the Jews were able to build homes, plant fields, marry, and have children, but they were not free to leave; they were not free to return to their homeland.[1]  Some felt at home in Babylon and did not desire to return to Israel and Judah.  Others, however, longed to return to their homeland.  Babylon was like a prison to them.  This passage speaks to them, assuring them that their God will prevail and that they will be released from Babylon and returned to Jerusalem.
 
For the Jews in exile in Babylon, the comfort that God would give had to do with being set free from bondage.  It had to do with movement, with moving from Babylon to Jerusalem.  It had to do with change.  If they wanted to be comforted by God, they would have to be prepared to let go of what they had come to know.  They could not retain their homes and fields in Babylon and still be comforted by God.  Just like their ancestors had had to give up the fleshpots of Egypt in order to be released from slavery, so these Jews had to give up the fleshpots of Babylon in order to be released from captivity.  God could not comfort them if they were not prepared to receive God’s comfort instead of the comforts of Babylon.
 
There are many kinds of exile.  We can be exiled from our homeland, as are people who live as refugees.  We can be exiled from our families, as are people who are estranged from loved ones.  We can be exiled from our minds, as are people who suffer from depression and other types of mental illness.  We can be exiled from our bodies, as are people who suffer physical illness.  We can be exiled from God, as are atheists or people experiencing a crisis of faith.  We can be exiled from love, as are people who were never taught how to receive or give love.  There are many kinds of exile.  As the prophet writes, “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades” (Isaiah 40:6-7).  Like grass and flowers, which are growing and thriving one moment, and withering and fading the next, we are not constant in our relationships.  Our relationships with ourselves, with others, with our country, with other countries, with God – all of our relationships can decay and die.  We are not constant.  And so we can be exiled in a number of ways; or, we can exile others in a number of ways.
 
But that doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter because the word of our God will stand forever (Isaiah 40:8).  It’s all right that we are not able to be constant because our God is constant.  The prophet writes, “The Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.  He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead them” (Isaiah 40:10-11).  God is constant, and he will comfort us in our exiles.
 
The thing we have to remember, however, is this:  God’s comfort is not a warm, fuzzy “there, there.”  God’s comfort has to do with setting us free from those things that have captured our hearts and minds and that hold us captive in exile.  God’s comfort requires us to let go of what is familiar so that God can lead us to the place that is truly home for us.  Whatever is our Babylon, we have to let go of it so that we can follow God.
 
Many of us feel, these days, that we are all in exile – all of us who live on the Earth.  We hear, and see, and experience sin and evil to an extent that makes life, itself, feel like exile:  terrorism, racial tension, economic woes, religious wars, refugee crises, climate change, political corruption, culture wars – need I say more?  The Bible tells us that we are, in one sense, exiled while in our earthly bodies.  Our true citizenship is in heaven, not on Earth.  Paul states in Philippians 3:20, “Our citizenship is in heaven.”  Although we journey on Earth while in bodily form, it is not our true home.  Our true home is in heaven, and our true king is Jesus Christ.  Regardless of what is going on here, as Christians we keep our hearts, minds, and souls focused on the kingdom of God – our true home – and Jesus Christ – our true Lord.  That is why we let go of our Babylons – those things that keep us exiled from our true home and our true Lord – and follow the way and the will of God. 
 
So, while await the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh that dwelt among us, bringing light and life (John 1), let us prepare by asking ourselves what our Babylons are.  What are the things that are preventing us from receiving God’s comfort?  What are the things that we are unwilling to let go of so that God can be our shepherd?  Let us remind ourselves that whatever it is that stands between us and the comfort of God is not worth what we think it is worth.  The only things worth having are the things to which God, as our shepherd, leads us.  All else is as grass and flowers.  They will wither and fade and pass away.  But the word of our God stands forever.  As we remember that, let us affirm it as we recite together the Advent Affirmation of Faith that is on an insert in the bulletin.
 
An Advent Affirmation of Faith
 
When the cold white ice of winter grips us,
when the white shimmering heat of summer melts us,
and we doubt that anything can survive
the extreme of this world’s harshness,
we still believe.
 
Somewhere in the depths of our souls,
despite the evidence,
we believe.
 
We believe that the ruins of life can be rebuilt.
We believe that the tears we shed will water seeds of joy deeply buried.
We believe that the green shoots of God’s justice will bear fruit.
We believe that the Light that enlightens the world
will pierce the winter’s longest night
and eclipse the sun’s brightest moments.
We believe that in all circumstances the Light
radiates hope and joy, peace and love,
so that even in our darkest moments
we can see.
 
Even in the palest light of faith,
we can find our way through the shadows.
 
And for that we give thanks.
 
(Author unknown)
 
Sermon preached by the Rev. Amy Johnson at the Canton Community Baptist Church, Sunday, December 6, 2015, the Second Sunday in Advent.


[1] Seasons of the Spirit Congregational Life.  Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, December 1, 2002 – March 2, 2003. Page 24.