Advent
2A 2013
Father Adam Trambley
December 8, 2013, St.John’s Sharon
This morning’s readings are all powerful. Matthew’s Gospel tells us about John the
Baptist’s message, but we aren’t going to spend time here today. Next Sunday,
at the 10:00, service we are expecting a special visit from John the
Baptist. So you’all want to come back
next week.
Before looking at the great vision of Isaiah, I want to
start with what is probably the least familiar of today’s reading, the one from
Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul
prays that the God of steadfastness and encouragement allows us to live in
harmony with each other so that we can glorify God together. Steadfastness is meant to keep us on God’s
path, and the scriptures encourage us by showing us the compelling vision of
God’s future. An important part of that
godly future is that we live in unity.
As we listen to God’s word, we catch the hope of what God has in store,
and that helps live together in harmony today.
Then Paul gives one direction specific direction for living
in this unity. He says to welcome one
another just as Christ welcomed us, for the glory of God. To become one, we need to show hospitality to
each other, just like Jesus did. Jesus dined with people, sat and talked with
them, went to parties with them, cared for them when they were sick, was with
them at weddings and funerals, and prayed for them. He still does the same with us, inviting us
to his table at the altar and being with us in all our life circumstances, even
if we are only aware of how much he is there when we stop and look for him. Paul says to act the same way. We know from experience that when do share
our lives with one another, it does bring us closer. We do have a depth of love in this church
from relationships built up over decades as people have welcomed each other
into their lives. Part of our ability as
a church to more completely glorify God with one voice comes from spending more
time, with more people, getting to know them and sharing our lives with each
other.
The Isaiah reading gives us encouragement here to make us
steadfast. We have the beautiful image
of the
wolf lying with the lamb, the leopard and the goat napping together, and
the child reaching into the cobra’s lair. Think about it. If God is able to
bring together the baby to play with the cobra, there is nobody in this church
or in any other church that we can’t manage to know and love. I’ve met pretty much everybody in the church
and I know all about people being mean, cranky, rude, scary, ornery, tired,
selfish, short-sighted, and difficult -- and so far I’m just talking about your
priest – but I haven’t seen anything as bad as a sharp-fanged, venomous cobra.
But Isaiah also puts his divine lovey-dovey wildlife park
into a context. That context for the
peaceful life of creation is the Lord’s rule, where people know what God wants
them to do and they do it. If Jesus
tells the leopard to go vegan and the tells the wolf that Thanksgiving is only
tofurkey from now on, they’ll make good friends with the holy soy bean. Our unity finds its fulfillment as we take
the welcoming relationships we’ve developed and move into a common obedience to
God’s instruction.
At a fundamental level, we know that we need to follow the
basic laws of God to be able to live together.
Thou shalt not steal; because if you take someone’s clothespin cookies
it breaks the relationships in the church.
Thou shalt not kill, even if someone took your clothespin cookies. Thou shalt not commit adultery, even if your
spouse likes clothespin cookies and eats them when you aren’t paying attention,
or, worse yet, didn’t buy you any to begin with. You might want some counseling, but, you
know, it is “for better or for worse.”
Without following the basic instructions, all our common life
collapses.
But our unity comes through an even deeper obedience to God
than just the ethical mandates of Christian life. We also have particular vocation, and our
vocation in this parish comes in living out the purpose that God has called us
to: Worship God, Care for People, and Grow as Christians. This statement summarizes what St. John’s has
been about since a group of Episcopalians got together to begin worshipping in
Sharon almost one-hundred and fifty years ago.
The same emphasis we see throughout our history is coming together for
common worship on Sundays, reaching out to help people in need, and teaching
our young people and one another how to live a Christian life. The services and the music have sometimes
looked a little different, the ministries have changed, and the curriculums
continue to be revised, but we always worship God, care for people and grow as
Christians.
Specifically at this time, God is calling us to work in five
particular directions. First is to worship God in creative,
passionate and beautiful ways that inspire a wide variety of people. (and you
can read these on the walls by the doors so I’ll just summarize them) We also are called to build authentic, loving
relationships, to strengthen youth and families, to meet people’s basic needs
and to participate in the revitalization of our wider community. As we follow God’s lead to live out our
purpose by following our strategic directions, we are going to come closer
together. People working effectively to
get somewhere always draw closer than when everyone just stays put. Living out God’s purpose is the kind of
adventure that leads us to rely on each other, and keeps us from the isolation
inherent in focusing only on making ourselves more comfortable.
Then of course, our own situation differs slightly from the
one in Isaiah. We don’t have a lot of
leopards, lions, wolves, snakes, or bears here, so having our exotic pets go to
the doggie park together for play group may not be the most important mark of
the Kingdom of God breaking into St. John’s.
But our guiding principles identify how we are to live our common life
of faith together. We ask for God’s
guidance and power, we work do develop loving relationships, we are hospitable
and welcoming, we do what we do well for the glory of God, we enjoy our work
and have fun doing it, and we engage the wider community in our work. As our parish life exhibits these qualities,
we are living into our best selves, and we see the Kingdom of God is coming
among us.
This Advent, we have seen this purpose and these strategic
directions and these guiding principles lived into, and the results have been
just what Paul said they would be – our greater unity, and the inclusion of the
Gentile into God’s saving work, which for us today means that people from
outside of St. John’s, especially the unchurched, are coming to us and
discovering something about God’s love and hospitality and presence and way of
life. By doing what we are called to do
we are able to overcome the challenges that ministry brings so that we can grow
in unity and in ministry.
 | |
| Making cookies!! |
The challenges can be tough, too, especially on day like
yesterday when hundreds of people were in church for five different
events. The 3C’s had dozens of folks
from the parish volunteering and hundreds of others coming to buy cookies and
other Christmas items, while also offering lunch for people to stop and
socialize. They brought in over $5,000
which they will donate to a variety of groups over the next year. (And, as a
brief commercial announcement, after the service delicious cookies and a couple
of varieties of soup are available for sale in Allen Hall.) The second anniversary of St. John’s Kitchen
had a relatively light day, serving just under 150, while having to revamp
their menu due to, as they say, “circumstances beyond our control.” Some of our lunch guests were able to have
their photos taken by Rachel Dudzenski, who is about to graduate with a
photography degree, after having make-overs earlier this week through a
partnership with Laurel Technical Institute.
The healing team held a soaking prayer service at 1:15, and House Group
1 bought cookies, ate lunch, and then held a book discussion. Then today, we have two services, Sunday
School, and 120 people will be using Allen Hall later for a soccer banquet. Over two days, hundreds of people worshipping
God, caring for people (or being cared for), and growing as Christians in ways
that correspond to our strategic directions.
All the while people praying, and helping visitors get where they needed
to go, and doing things with a sense of excellence, and building loving
relationships with each other, and even finding some fun in the midst of
ambulance calls and logistical hitches and staying on our feet for hours and
all the other little nagging difficulties that get dealt with on the path to
the Kingdom of God.
Other events are happening in our life together, as
well. ECS is in the midst of its
Christmas give-away after completing its Thanksgiving give-away a few weeks
ago.. Last Sunday the youth group had an
outing and they will make Kettle-Korn next weekend. The choir, along with other parishioners and
non-parishioners, sang Christmas carols downtown last weekend for Sharon’s
Small Business Shop-Around. The ECW
Christmas party is coming up a week from Monday, the Altar Guild will be
preparing for Christmas on Saturday, and a second AA group is starting up here because
they have felt so welcome that they feel a connection to this place, which is a
wonderful thing.
Then, next week at the 10:00 service, we are being joined by
dancers, actors, musicians and vocalists connected to Walnut Lodge and the
Ballet Theatre Shenango Valley to help bring our scripture readings to life. The Gospel will be a dialogue between Jesus
and John the Baptist. The reading from
James will be sung to a contemporary composition written for this service and
the Magnificat will read by a spoken chorus.
Our offertory anthem will be a special arrangement of O Come, O Come Emmanuel with original
choreography and about twenty ballet dancers.
And, even with all this, we are going to keep the service a reasonable
length. We are going worship God in
creative, passionate and beautiful ways in accordance with our guiding
principles. Please come and experience
what should be an incredible Advent opportunity. More than that, feel free to invite folks to
join you. This is the kind of special
service that is easy to ask a family member or friend that hasn’t been to
church in a while to join you for. It’s
special and people might come, and then you can invite them again for
Christmas. We’ll have a reception in Allen Hall following
the service for all of us and our guests, and we expect a lot of guests. Given the artists coming
and their families, we could have fifty to a hundred guests, so please come and
be welcoming and help them find their place in the service and walk them down
to Allen Hall and generally give people such a powerfully good experience that
anybody who doesn’t already have a church might start showing up here
occasionally. This opportunity is so
wonderful on so many levels that we want to take full advantage of it.
This parish is doing wonderful work, and you can probably
tell because many of you are tired today.
We are coming together in unity of purpose and mission. That unity is helping people from outside of
St. John’s come to know and praise God in all sorts of ways. The work we are doing during Advent will help
those inside and outside the parish recognize Jesus as he comes at Christmas
and at the last day. As we worship God,
care for people and grow as Christians, we grow in together and welcome others
in so that we all give glory and praise to God.
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