Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser
Preparing
for Christmas - Close, Closer….
12/16/18 Advent 3-C Luke 3: 7-18
I used to groan when it got closer
to special company coming (Advent..get it?), because my mom always went into a
flurry of cleaning. Not just the normal,
Saturday cleaning, but a dust the windowsills and move the couch to vacuum kind
of cleaning. An on your knees in the
kitchen so you got all the corners well kind of cleaning. An take the mop and dust where the ceiling
and wall come together, and over all the doors kind of cleaning. Missy and I used to say, “Why all this
cleaning before they come? Its only going to be a mess again after the party anyway!”
For all my complaining, I couldn’t
escape mom’s training, so I did the same thing to my kids, and they used the
same line back at me. I was especially
ardent when it was my mom who was coming for a visit, because I knew she’d
notice! Not only for company, but I have to leave the house clean before I travel, too, because I know I’ll be
all worn out when I get back, and at least I won’t have to clean the house.
Do people still do Spring
cleaning? Its good to do a deep cleaning
once in a while - when we do move the couch, its amazing what has gathered
under there. I find all my cat’s
little mousies; a cat I used to have
liked shiny things, so often I’d find an earring I thought was lost, or a pen. When I would take the couch cushions off to
pump them and shake them, I’d find so much grime in the back of the couch! All the cheetos and chips and peanuts the
kids had eaten on the couch left pieces dripped down in the crevices. I also
found lots of change that fell out of pockets - I always considered that part
of my pay, so I kept it.
The kids’ rooms were the worst. At a young age, my daughter made what she
called ‘experiments’ where she combined toothpaste, perfume, liquid soap -
whatever she could find, and let her creations dry on pieces of aluminum
wrap…..at least they were on aluminum wrap!
I would find them under her bed…
I would find the one missing sock from various pairs, or underwear, or
toys under the boys’ beds. On a regular
basis, then, all the toys got put back in the toy chest, the books on the
bookshelves, any mugs or glasses got back to the kitchen, dirty socks got
washed, and the house looked good. It
didn’t last, but it looked good for a couple days.
Cleaning out is important, because
daily living scatters a lot of mess all around.
A new word I learned - detritus - stuff left around. Cooking in the kitchen leaves spatters as
well as dirty dishes. Even pouring
coffee leaves little spills. Although I
work at using leftovers, every once in a while I need to dig in the fridge and
find the stuff that’s starting to mold.
Pens and pencils get left around where we wrote checks or signed report
cards. That item we meant to carry back to our room sits on the steps
waiting. Living is messy.
Here’s my segue to the texts about
John the Baptizer and the spiritual life.
John’ s message was to say, “Hey folks, get your life right with God,
clean up your act, quit dilly-dallying about your faith life, quit depending on
your parent’s faith & your great heritage.
God is sending the Messiah, and you better get ready.” And he added an “or else” - the ax is ready
to chop down the unproductive trees, friends, so bear some good fruit. Its pruning time! God is sifting the wheat, and only the good
stuff is going to be kept.
John was preaching to the crowds that came out in the desert
to hear him and see him, including the religious folks, and he didn’t spare
anybody’s feelings - he called them a “brood of vipers,” some harsh words, and
called them to turn around their ways.
That’s what ‘repent’ means - to do a 180, turn around, get going in the
other direction towards God. John is
cleaning house with a new broom, getting the corners and the ceilings and under
the couches. Cleaning the house of God,
preparing for the Advent of God’s new acts.
Here 2000 years later, Christian history has seen some
reform times and some renewal times.
Just like our houses, religious life is also messy, and over time stuff
accumulates if its not cleaned out. We
get lazy about our practices of faith, we relax our vigilance over our morals,
we get debating on non-essential points, and the real work and message of the
church gets ignored. I’ve wondered if
this is maybe what’s happened to the church at large - we obviously have failed
to pass along our faith to much of the next generation; we have lost the
respect of people in general; we have moved over to the edge of unimportance to
a lot of humanity. Not totally, and not
to everybody. Whatever it is that has
clouded people’s awe of God, perhaps the attraction and growth of a consumerist
mentality, the worship of possessions, the race to compete over money, a
philosophy of each person for themselves that Ayn Rand popularized in her
novels, a clinging to blind belief that is unable to see the value of science
and just rejects it - whatever it is that has caused Christian faith to seem
irrelevant, we as a church have not been up to the challenge. No longer can people look at us Christians and
say, “See how they love one another!”
Christianity started with a criticism of mainstream religion, and a
prophetic criticism of the values of the Roman Empire. When Christianity gets
in bed with the Empire, it loses its voice, and it loses its way. I wonder if that’s part of why our churches
are closing at an increasing rate. In
the relay race of faith, as Paul talks of it in a sports metaphor, perhaps we
are fumbling the baton.
On the drive down to Georgetown Y, there’s a house that has
the sign ‘Pray for our Nation.’ I talk
to that sign, and tell it that I, too, pray for our nation, although I probably
don’t pray it for the way that sign means…. Although they and I probably desire
that the values and faith of Christianity again be important in our country,
I’m pretty sure we have a different picture of what that would look like. I don’t think that the rigid and
hierarchical, fundamentalist faith is the path, especially imposing it at the
behest of some charismatic leaders. I
think its more a change of heart, a 180 from the way we’re going, a respect of
people’s worth to God and to each other, that’s needed.
However, the fundamentalism that I grew up in does have some
strengths to offer. We knew our Bibles -
yes, it a very literalistic way, and yet we knew the stories and the ancestors
and the teachings - they are in my mind and my psyche for the Spirit to
use. We might mock their literalism as
shallow, but most of us don’t know our own faith texts as well. We might see the devotional readings as
sentimental - or perhaps too moralistic, or portraying a simplistic faith - yet
how much time to we spend pondering the intersection of faith and life, how
much time do we spend in prayer? We
might look down on the way evangelism has turned into buttonholing strangers and
turning the idea of salvation into a personal fire escape from Hell, yet have
we continued to develop ways to communicate our deepest truths in a way
non-church people comprehend and find value in?
How often do we feel the conviction about our behaviors and seek to
amend our ways? And with ardor and
passion long for God? Do we fervently
seek to put into practice what we read of God’s will? Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked,
working for justice for the powerless?
Seeking resolution for racism, or sexism, or elitism, or
homophobia? Seeking a lifestyle of
simplicity, fighting the materialism of our era? Working for the good of creation and care of
this planet’s environment? Fighting for
a livable wage that honors both people and work?
Have we retreated behind our walls, trusting for personal
salvation at the cost of the rest of the world?
My friends, that is not Christianity. Are we laying up treasure in the
world, or in heaven?
This kind of questioning of ourselves and our practice of
faith, this kind of examination of our practices - this is the housekeeping of
preparation that John preached for the coming of the Christ. Hard
questions. Important questions,
especially as we see the waning of the way we’ve done church for so long. When I attended the 2nd training week for Transitional,
or Interim Ministry, I was shocked at the number of stories of local
congregations closing up shop.
Its not all bad - people do join other congregations and
live their faith there. Some churches
have voted to sell their buildings and rid themselves of the expense, in order
to build affordable housing or do other ministries, while worshipping in a
rented space. Individual churches seem
to have a lifespan. I’ve been to final
worship services in closing churches, where they celebrated donating their
church organ, communion services and remaining monies to new church
plants.
But by and large, an era is closing, where the “if you build
it they will come” view of local churches succeeded. I don’t have a vision of what comes next -
sometimes I see my generation of preachers as bridges to the next form of
Christian faith and practice, standing in the gap as one way fades and another
emerges. I want to be open to the future
that God will bring in, not stand in its way.
I want to believe that there is resurrection for the church. Like John the Baptizer, I am looking to the
ones coming after me to lead the way - if that’s so, then, like John the
Baptizer, I need to be about cleaning house, calling for a deep cleaning among
those that profess faith to prepare the way.
So the Scripture brings us a challenge today, as a part of
our preparation, as the Advent of Christ comes nearer. What needs to be cleaned up in me? What needs to be set right in the
church? Ask the hard questions, seek the
answers - and make the 180 where it needs to be made. AMEN.
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