Good Shepherd Lutheran Church(elca)
Following Christ, Growing in Faith, Sharing God's Love
Sermon
December 6 and 7, 2009
Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8
Advent 2
Advent is a season to listen for God’s voice.
A season of preparation.
A season to share the good news.
And today’s readings from Isaiah and Mark
help us look at each of those things.
The 2 readings are closely linked.
In fact, Mark quotes Isaiah.
Together, they guide us today.
With a particular emphasis on the reading from Isaiah.
So, first,
There’s a style of Bible Study
we use from time to time,
where the first question you ask is:
“What is God doing in this text?”
“What is God up to?”
Look at the beginning of Isaiah 40.
Read verse 1 with me please:
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
What is God up to?
Comfort.
Declaring comfort to us.
Telling us to comfort one another.
There’s a big gap
between the 39th chapter of Isaiah and chapter 40.
At the end of chapter 39,
the prophet is warning of the exile to come.
Then, in chapter 40,
it’s nearly time for that exile to be over.
Chapter 40 is the beginning of a section of Isaiah,
often called 2nd Isaiah,
written during the exile.
In 587 B.C.,
the Babylonians defeated the Hebrew people
and took them away
in exile to Babylon.
The prophets understood this
as God’s action—
--as punishment
--as correction.
But now,
what’s the word from God?
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
The word is a word of comfort.
And there are so many times in our lives
that we need to hear that good news,
that word of God’s comfort for us.
In difficult times,
we see only by faith.
That was true for the people of Israel.
That’s true for us.
I heard a preacher say once
to his congregation
that 60% of the people in the pews
on any given weekend
have a problem they’re battling
that they can’t see a way out of.
I share that statistic every once in a while.
I’ve never been able to verify it—
--but people tend to think it rings true.
We have struggles in our lives.
Struggles with health—
--we’re sick
--or a loved one is sick.
Struggles with the economy—
--a job in jeopardy (or already gone)
--retirement savings depleted
--bills that just keep coming.
Struggles with relationships—
--children
--parents
--relatives
--friends.
And some of the problems we bring on ourselves.
We sin.
We mess up.
And there are consequences.
But that’s not the final word.
There is good news.
God gives us good news of comfort.
Good news of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.
Good news of one who loves us.
One who never gives up on us.
One who comforts us—
--even in the midst of the worst of situations.
Not that everything will go as we wish.
But good news,
that in the midst of whatever life brings,
God is with you.
God comforts you.
God will feed his flock like a shepherd.
He will gather the lambs in his arms.
God holds us
and loves us
and never lets us go.
So, first, Advent is a season to listen to God’s voice—
--a voice of comfort.
Second, Advent is a season of preparation.
Would you read Isaiah 40, verse 3 with me, please
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
“Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all peoples shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
In the ancient Middle East,
when a King was making a trip,
there was an advance team
that headed out to clear the roadways.
They made sure the roads were safe—
--nothing blocking the road
--no ambushes.
That sort of thing.
Isaiah seems to take this to another level.
Mountains made low.
Hills leveled out.
Uneven ground level.
Rough places a plain.
In Advent,
the King is coming.
Jesus is coming.
What does it mean to prepare the way?
John the Baptist prepares the way.
And you and I prepare the way, too.
But what does that mean?
What does that look like?
The Monday night Bible study we have here
is a great thing.
I think it’s great for everybody involved,
because we look at the Bible readings for the coming weekend.
But it’s especially great for me,
when I’m the preacher,
because it helps me write the sermon—
--to think through the message of the Bible readings
with a group of smart, inquisitive Bible learners.
This past Monday,
I asked the question of the group:
What might it look like
for us to Prepare the Way of the Lord?
The prepare the way for Jesus’ coming?
As we thought about clearing the roads for the King,
raising the valleys
and flattening the mountains,
here’s some of what they said:
--To prepare the way
is to clear out the bad stuff—
--the bad stuff in our hearts and minds.
is clearing out resentment, bitterness, hatred.
--Preparing the way
is forgiveness.
is reconciliation.
What struck me about their answers
is how quickly they moved from personal
to relational.
That’s very insightful.
To prepare the way
is to do what God asks of us every day—
--to love one another
as Jesus first loved us.
As we have been loved,
we follow Christ
into love.
We prepare the way by
Following Christ,
Growing in Faith,
Sharing God’s Love.
That leads us to the third point.
First, Advent is a season to listen to God’s voice—
And third, Advent is a season to share the good news.
Would you please read verses 6-8 with me.
A voice says, “Cry out!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand forever.
God says to us: “Cry out!”
The word can also be translated proclaim,
or preach.
What shall we preach?
What shall we proclaim?
What shall we cry out?
That God is busy.
God loves us.
God is God.
“Here is your God.”
And we proclaim that through our words.
And we proclaim it through our lives.
We proclaim it to one another when we gather.
And we proclaim it to the world.
We got this Thrivent magazine a while back.
I glanced through it
and gave it to Ruth.
She gave it back a while later,
and said—
--this article is good.
Might be good for a sermon.
The article by Ed Klodt,
from Bethel Lutheran Church in Encino, California,
starts like this.
Two years ago,
on October 2, 2006,
a heavily armed gunman walked into a one-room schoolhouse
in the Amish community of Nickel Mines
in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
He killed 5 little girls, ages 6 to 13,
before turning the gun on himself.
Remember that?
It was tragic.
It was evil.
It was so sad.
Yet, in the midst of that tragedy,
Americans got a glimpse
into another world.
Before the end of the day,
members of the community
visited the family of the gunman—
--offering compassion and forgiveness.
One Amish man held the shooter’s father
while he sobbed—
--some reports said for as long as an hour.
The gunman’s widow wrote an open letter to her Amish neighbors,
thanking them for their forgiveness, grace and mercy.
She wrote:
“Your love for our family
has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need.
Your compassion has reached beyond our family,
beyond our community,
and is changing our world.”
God was at work through them.
Proclaiming the good news.
But it’s not just in the big things like that.
We also proclaim God’s good news
in everyday acts of kindness.
He continues the article telling about a time when he was at a restaurant
with his wife.
A young couple came in.
The man’s buzz cut, ramrod-straight posture,
and Marine Corps shirt
left no doubt that he was in the military.
Ed’s wife whispered to him,
“I bet he’s served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Let’s buy them dinner.”
He protested,
pointing at the menu prices.
They settled on buying the couple
a nice bottle of wine.
As it was poured,
the waitress pointed out Ed and Lyn
to the surprised couple.
They lifted their glasses
and the two couples toasted each other.
Ed writes:
“And at that moment,
a different spirit seemed to pervade the restaurant.
We could sense it and so could others there.”
Later,
as Ed and Lyn were leavning the restaurant,
they stopped and talked to the couple.
He had served two tours of duty in Iraq
and was glad to be home.
As they walked out the door,
the owner was waiting for them
and handed them a box of the restaurant’s famous pastries.
The owner said:
“Everyone has been talking
about the wonderful thing you did.
It changed everything in the restaurant this evening.
I want to thank you.”
God is at work through you—
--in the big things
--and perhaps especially,
in the everyday things.
In this Advent season,
listen to God’s voice,
hear the good news of comfort.
Prepare the way,
in your heart,
in your relationships.
And proclaim God’s good news
with your words
and with your life.
Everyday.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
