MEDITATION: Called to prepare the kingdom. The Third Sunday of Advent December 14th, 2014 By The Rev. Nathanael Saint-Pierre We Invite you to be part of our worship in person or on the web. Please lets be in communion and share the word and sacraments. Our Healing and Eucharist service is at 8:30 AM and our Main Eucharist Service is at 10:30 Am. We will be happy to have you with us. Here is what we will further develop in our sermon, feel free to share, comment and discuss. Have you seen how many questions John the Baptist was asked in the Gospel today? Wow! For a man who was chosen by God, he had to endure: “Who are you?”, they asked as if they did not know him. “I am not the Messiah”, he humbly replied. “What then?”, they followed up. “Are you Elijah?”, “I am not”, he said. They insisted, “Are you the Prophet?”, and again, Who are you?” … They needed an answer that they could use against him. They needed to pump him up so that he would run out of patience. They were questioning his very self, his call, his competence, his personality and his credentials. But John knew better than that. He knew it was not about himself but about the one who was coming after him. When we see people so eager to ask us for our credentials sometimes they are the ones who don’t hold any. I believe that what we need to remember today is that Life in Jesus Christ goes beyond our own lives. It is about God and not about oneself. When we speak up to denounce injustices, when we stand up for social equity, when we prevent those who have always grabbed the gifts of God for themselves from doing what they do best, when we challenge people to go outside of the box, we need to expect our legitimacy to be questioned. We also need to remain rooted in the Lord, because we cannot prove in any human terminology, shape and form that the service we are doing is responding to God’s call. Today we lit the candle of JOY, and there is sadness in our hearts because our country is troubled by the murder of so many. A report produced by the senate this week established that our government has allowed the torture of captive terrorists. We cannot be proud of that. But already some voices are loud and clear, finding justification for these actions. Yes, we were attacked and yes, we were at war, but are we not a nation of justice? Since when were the police given authority to provide justice on the spot by taking the lives of troubled people no matter their crime? My prayer for our church, our nation and our world today is that no matter the way we are attacked or questioned, we can respond in Christ by being: 1. Who we are. We are not a title. John refused the title of Messiah. He refused to be the reincarnation of Elijah. He refused the title of Prophet. Who we are does not depend on a title or any inscription before or after our names, even should it be MDiv. or PhD. Jesus did not have any of that. Who we are depends on the actions we do every day to RESPECT THE DIGNITY of ALL HUMAN BEINGS. If it’s ok to introduce ourselves as champions for democracy to far and remote countries, it is wrong to oppress citizens of our own country and go outside our borders to request and impose that other countries offer civil liberties. So many people from the outside are looking at the USA as a model and as an example of justice standing for peace. How do they perceive us when they look at their TVs and see that our police are taking down citizens that they are called to serve and protect? When young children and teens are being gunned down (Sandy Hook Elementary shooting 2nd Anniversary), when our captives are being tortured? When, because we don’t want to regulate the guns ownership, and so many children are killed by a troubled teen, we (the church) are called to be the voice in the wilderness crying: “make straight the way of the Lord”. 2. What we are. We are waiters but not lazy waiters. We are watchers: guardians expecting the master to come with enough fuel for our lamps. We cannot sit in silence and let the world become chaos. We need to hold our government accountable and monitor what it is doing here and abroad. The bible invites us “to watch and to pray”; we should not turn our heads away to avoid seeing when injustice is happening, no matter where. We cannot have our eyes so tightly closed in prayer that we can easily fall asleep, be robbed and be fooled. We have a duty to hold ourselves and the world accountable. All actions have consequences. If there are no consequences for our wrongdoing, there is no need for repentance, no need for redemption. We should commit to do that. 3. What we are called to accomplish. John was called to prepare the way of the Lord. We are called to prepare the way for the kingdom. We cannot be preparing the way to this kingdom inactively. To build the way to the kingdom, we need tools, we need to take our pickaxes and get the crooked rocks off the way. We need to get rid of the bumps and provide to all, access to the Lord. We need to be ready to accept that the ways of the Lord will be different from the ways of the world. Some will disapprove the methods and the means. But let us stay focused…it is not about us, it is about the Lord. Let us stay strong and advocate for what is just in the eyes of God. Let us remember who we are, what we are and what we are called to accomplish. For, no one may know but God, what we are called to be and to do. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil. May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24) “Shine the light! Give God the glory!”
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 06:00:20 +0000
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