Advent 2 A 2016

Sermon by Canon Stuart Pike

Photo Credit: Jim Forest on Flickr.com

Sermon Text:

Advent 2 A – 2016 – Prepare Ye the Way

Isaiah 11: 1-10

Matthew 3: 1-12

“Prepare Ye the Way of Lord, Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord.

This is the way that your local group of singers from St. Luke’s started out our Music at St. Luke’s version of selections from Godspell last Spring. It starts with John the Baptist talking about the need to prepare for the coming of the Lord. John was the one who announced that one who was greater than he was coming. He was pointing away from himself, to announce the coming of the messiah. “The Kingdom of heaven has come near”, he says.

What was happening at this time that brought people so far out into the desert to the Jordan river to see this shaggy locust-eating, camel-hair wearing exceedingly intense man who ekes out an existence in the desert.

Those of us who went to the Holy Land four years ago know what the environment here looks like. It’s that part of the Jordan river which lies just North of the Dead Sea. In the days of John the Baptist, one would have to travel for a long day by foot, or by donkey through the desert to get to the Jordan River. When we travelled across the Jordan River and entered into the predominantly Isalmic Kingdom of Jordan, we passed a site which the Jordanians claim was where John the Baptist preached and baptized. John the Baptist is also considered a great prophet in the Islamic faith.

What was it that was drawing people to go to such extremes to journey from the comfort of their homes to listen to John?

And consider his message. It wasn’t a nice, fun, or comfortable message.

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near. Get ready. Prepare the way. And the people are coming out from Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside in droves. What drove them? My answer is, it was the Spirit working in them. At the deepest level of their being, people want to build a relationship with their God and, when people are ready, they are willing to go through extremes to build it.

So how does one prepare the way for the Lord? John certainly has an answer for that.

Repent is his message. “Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come near.”

Ok, now that word brings most people up short. Especially at this time of the year. How come we have this figure coming and disturbing our pre-Christmas planning with this severe message?

I had to go to the mall last week. Something which I am loath to do. I call shopping malls Babylon. It seems to have that feel to me. So I go to Babylon last week and I’m listening to Rudolph on the muzac over the P.A. system. There are fake evergreen garlands everywhere, strewn with tinsel and there is a monstrous great throne for Santa, who was mercifully absent. There are several residents on my street that have put up their outdoor Christmas decorations already. Everyone is Holly-jollying and here we have this voice crying out in the wilderness: repent! Won’t someone just give the man an egg-nog or some mulled wine or something and tone him down a little?

Repent? How does repentance fit in with the holiday season? First of all, let’s talk about the word. Most people seem to think that repentance is about feeling really badly about who you are, and about  learning how to grovel in the dirt. They think it’s about judgement and guilt. This really isn’t very helpful because it doesn’t provide much of a solution or a way forward. Groveling more or less keeps you stationary, right there in the dust!

Repentance is something much more positive and active. It is about movement, about changing your direction and aligning your path with God’s will. Repentance is about renewal and relationship, rather than about shame. Repentance is about listening to the spirit which is the deepest part of your being which is calling your forward, just as it was calling all those people who walked through the wilderness to hear John.

Of course, there was a section of his audience that got a harsher message: it was the Pharisees – most likely there to check up on John, who was creating such an impact outside of the official Temple establishment rules and regulations. The establishment didn’t like anything happening which didn’t originate from the temple.

Still, no matter what congregation I have ever preached to, I’ve never felt the urge to call a group of them a brood of vipers! What an interesting hook!

But you, see, John’s wrath is directed at those who were stopping people from developing, from changing, from moving to deepen their faith. The Pharisees didn’t like change. They didn’t like anything outside of their control, and the Holy Spirit is certainly outside of any person’s control.

The symbolism of this baptism was incredibly important too. It was through the Jordan river that these people’s ancestor’s crossed to enter into the promised land. It was the way that they sealed the covenant with God, by being washed, by being made new and entering into the promise as a new people.

John’s audience knew that what they needed was renewal, so they trek back out to the Jordan river to be sealed into a new covenant. They didn’t know all of that at the time, but this is what they were entering into. A new relationship with God, for the Kingdom of God was near, in fact it was just around the corner.

And what about you? What is it that is drawing you forward? What newness are you seeking in your life? Sometimes the inner voice of the Holy Spirit is really small. Sometimes, it has been a long time since we have heard it, or remembered it is there, calling us forward. But it is certainly there. You who have been baptized have been sealed into a new relationship with God and the Holy Spirit is within you calling you forward into a deeper relationship with God.

So, during this season of Advent, during all the hustle and bustle and preparations for the biggest commercial season of the year, for heaven’s sake, take the time to put down the eggnog and listen to your deepest desire, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit and asking you to prepare. Repent: that is move forward, or change your direction in alignment with God’s will, for the kingdom of heaven has come near – it’s just around the corner. The Lord is coming, prepare his way and be ready to meet him! Amen.

Advent 1 C 2016

Sermon by the Rev. Holly Klemmensen
St. Luke's Church, Burlington, ON

Photo Credit: Jorbasa fotographie on Flickr.com

Reign of Christ Sunday 2016

Sermon by the Rev. Elliott Siteman

Photo Credit: Stephen Little on Flickr.com

Proper 33 C 2016

Sermon by Canon Stuart Pike

St. Luke’s Church, Burlington

Isaiah 65: 17-25

Luke 21: 5-19

Photo Credit: Stuart Pike on Flickr.com

Oh the challenges and the temptations to the preacher who has this Gospel text to preach on, after the momentous, ground-shaking results of a wee little election in a fine little country immediately south of us.

Sometimes, the events of a week just sort of line up with the lections of the Sunday which follows. It’s like a little gift. But, in this case, it is a dubious gift indeed.

Jesus’ words in St. Luke’s Gospel has sometimes been called the “little apocalypse,” though in hearing it, it doesn’t seem so little:

⁹“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” ¹⁰Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; ¹¹there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.”

Check, check, check, it looks like we’ve got all that happening right now. Especially the dreadful portents bit… None of this sounds like a lot of fun, and then Jesus goes on …

“they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. … ¹⁶You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷You will be hated by all because of my name…”

Even less fun.

And all of this after Jesus and his disciples just saunter in from the countryside, like so many country bumpkins entering the great city and rubber-necking and ogling at all the wonders of the city-scape and, of course, most especially, the great temple so beautifully and carefully made and revered.

The Disciples are, of course, wonderfully impressed and in awe of it all. And that, of course, is what it’s all for: to impress, to create awe. Generations of people have built this Temple, just like many, many generations of the faithful have contributed to building up their faith. They’ve done it with great passion: often lovingly, often fiercely and in the face of oppression. And this beautiful Temple represents all of that: the history, the faith, the passion, the love … and to make sure that nothing was lost it has been codified, liturgized, legalized and regimented into an institution, and the temple is its centre and its symbol.

Of course, these country disciples are impressed. And Jesus is having none of it!

Now we know that Jesus loved a party. That was one of the criticisms leveled against him: that he ate and drank and partied too much. And he performed his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana to provide an over abundance of wine for the party. Yes, he liked a party, but yet, so often he seems to be such a party-pooper, as he is here. His disciples are all reveling and enjoying the beautiful city and temple, and Jesus brings that all crashing down. Just as he predicts the stones of that temple will all come crashing down.

And you know, it did happen just a few decades later.

It’s important to note here that the story is from the point of view of the disciples, seeing the beautiful Temple, well before the destruction of the temple. But the story is written by Luke after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans has happened.

This story is both before and after. A story about the Disciples feeling pretty chuffed and triumphant about their faith and all of its institutions and traditions. But told to a small and persecuted community of Christians who have witnessed the destruction of the Temple and are experiencing much of the oppression that Jesus speaks about in the story. They’re an oppressed people. They’re being handed over to synagogues and prisons. They’re being tried. They’re being betrayed by relatives and friends. And they’re even being executed and hated.

So what is the message to this small community of persecuted Christians as they encounter this not-so-little apocalypse in their lives:

Jesus says: “¹³This will give you an opportunity to testify. ¹⁴So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; ¹⁵for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict” and, “¹⁸But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

And what does this message mean for us:

When all of our institutions seem to be falling apart around us?: When the democratic process in our world is marked by division, scandal, misogyny, and small-mindedness on a truly impressive and oppressive scale? When our society no longer seems social? And when our Church institutions seem under attack and falling apart. When it feels like no stone will left upon another. When all is being thrown down?

It is our opportunity to testify. And to what do we testify, as all of our proud institutions seem to be crashing down?

We testify that there is another way. We testify that God loves the outcast: the stranger and foreigner in our land. The oppressed, those without power: the migrant worker, the refugee, women in general, the one whose customs we don’t share, who are not part of our proud institutions and our not-so-social culture.

In this past week, on Nov. 7^th my one neice shared a post from the Irish Times about that fact that from that date (because of pay inequality) Irish women effectively work for free for the rest of the year. Then on Nov 9^th, my other niece wrote this (she wrote a whole lot more, but I’m only quoting part of it):

“Today, a person that preaches hate, fear, racism, and misogyny has been elected as one of the most influential people in the world… It’s too late now to argue against him. The only thing we can do is to focus on how we can move forward… Education is not simply something that is learned at school, it’s about being socially aware and open to embracing ideas that are different from our own. It’s about spreading knowledge and understanding before bashing another’s opinion. Let’s teach instead of react. Let’s let love win.”

Ok, nieces, it’s your own fault: if you didn’t want to be in a sermon, you shouldn’t have had a priest as an uncle!

In the midst of the little Apocalypse, we preach the image of Isaiah:

“But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. ¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress… ²³They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. ²⁴Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. ²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; …They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

We preach of another way we because we do not put our ultimate faith in the institutions in which we take so much pride: our culture, our democracy, our beautiful structures of temple or Church. Our faith, instead is in God alone.

I don’t think Jennifer could have chosen a better hymn than our first one today (God, My hope on you is founded) which contains the words: “Human pride and earthly glory, sword and crown betray our trust; though with care and toil we build them, tower and temple fall to dust. But your power, hour by hour, is my temple and my tower.” Amen.

Remembrance Sunday

Sermon by the Rev. Elliott Siteman
St. Luke's Anglican Church, Burlington, Ontario (Diocese of Niagara)

Photo Credit: Stuart Pike on Flickr.com