Rekindling Joy, Advent 3, Dec. 11, 2016

Third Sunday in Advent (Year A)

Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016

Theme:  Rekindling Joy

Reflection: Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.

-Albert Schweitzer 1875-1965

There is not much I enjoy more than a long, hot shower to start the day.

Perhaps it harkens back to the day I was one of seven children in an old farmhouse with one bathroom and an average-size water heater. Taking a shower in the morning was not to be taken for granted, and having enough hot water depended upon everyone being efficient.

A long, hot shower seems like a bit of a luxury now, especially as the weather turns colder.

But one morning in September, my shower was anything but long and hot. The water flowing out of my showerhead was chilly. And my mood was even icier. We’d just replaced our old stove – now our water heater is dead??? I warned Mike about what awaited him – although he dealt with it a lot better than I did, not being a fan of hot showers – and I rushed off to work.

Grrr. I thought about where to buy a hot-water heater and who would install it. And that’s when it clicked. The stove. The gas was shut off when the stove was replaced. The hot water heater pilot light was out.

After work, I read through the instructions, and even though I’d never re-lighted this pilot light, I could manage this. Carefully, patiently, step-by-step, until the moment of truth. Strike match, reach in and …

Whoooosh … the blessed sound of our hot-water heater firing back to life. What joy!

Today’s lessons are a mixture of dead pilot lights, re-igniters, and joy. In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist has been put into prison for speaking out against Herod, a sentence that will end with this prophet’s death. Knowing his time was running out, he sent word back to Jesus: “I’ve gotta know – are you the One? Are you the Messiah our people have waited for so long? If not, it’s not likely I will live to see the day.”

Jesus told the messengers – don’t just tell him “Yes.” Tell him what you’ve seen and heard. “Blind people see, lame people walk, lepers restored, the deaf hear, dead people back to life.” John immediately would have remembered Isaiah’s prophecy.

We’re not accustomed to thinking about miracles today. Read the Bible and you have a sense that miracles happened on the daily. Moses parting the Red Sea. Jesus healing and bringing back to life. Pentecost. One source named 124 miracles, most of them in the Gospels.

For an action to be truly a miracle, it must be above nature, above man. By definition, it shows an intervention by a power interrupting the fixed laws which govern their movements, a supernatural power.

Thus, things I think are miraculous, like the blind regaining their sight through cataract surgeries and artificial retinas, the deaf hearing through cochlear implants, spinal injury patients walking, and people brought back to life through CPR and heart transplants, are not miracles – they are medical marvels. However, cancers disappearing by themselves, and people reviving for no apparent reason after being declared brain dead by medical science, now THOSE are miracles. Mothers and fathers lifting cars off their children – superhuman acts that cannot be explained by anything but Divine intervention.

Yet I see God at work in ALL of these. I see Jesus in our midst when hungry people are fed, when orphans are adopted and widows and widowers are cared for. When refugees and homeless people in our midst are sheltered, and when healing happens between family members and friends previously angry and divided.

I see our Lord’s action when someone with depression beams with gladness, or when a student actively re-engages in learning with the encouragement of a gifted teacher – can you picture the pilot light being reignited there? I see the Christ when people take care of the environment, or a living thing comes off the endangered species list.

So, with the disciples today, I say rejoice – let your light so shine. Yes, Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised one. The promise is alive and well, and coming to dwell among us again. Alleluia! Amen.

Faith App:  Let your light shine, and re-light the flames of those whose lights have dimmed or gone out. Just be present and loving, light-bearers, and watch the glow return.

HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS

Joy to the World, ELW 267

Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing, ELW 545

My Soul Now Magnifies the Lord, ELW 573

Canticle of the Turning, ELW 723

Let Streams of Living Justice, ELW 710

We Are Called, ELW 720

Light Dawns on a Weary World, ELW 726

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, ELW 257

Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn, ELW 242

Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy), Chris Tomlin

For All the World, Phillips, Craig & Dean

Light of the World, Lauren Daigle

VIDEO

If you want to share a video clip of a modern day miracle, one possibility would be this mother who had lost her hearing for 15 years having a medical procedure to restore it, and hearing her 8-year-old son’s voice for the first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8VV7oxvQ_g

LESSONS

Isaiah 35:1-10 Waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

Psalm 146:5-10 Happy are those whose hope is in the Lord their God.

Or Luke 1:46b-55 Mary’s spontaneous song of joy.

James 5:7-10 Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

Matthew 11:2-11 John asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Summary of the Lessons: The third Sunday of Advent challenges us to be the joy of Christ drawing near among God’s faithful people – patient, justice-seeking, and aglow with the Light, because some still are in darkness.

OPENING LITANY  based on Psalm 146:5-10

L:  Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

C:  Out of the darkness, our great hope appears!

L:  Joyful are those who trust in God’s help,

C:  Yahweh is our hope, just as Jacob believed;

L:  The God who created the cosmos and the earth –

C:  The seas, the landscapes and every living thing!

L:  Faithful is our God who tends to the lowly:

C:  Giving justice to those the world exploits:

L:  Freedom to the captives, sight to the blind,

C:  Food to the hungry, family to those cast aside.

L:  Tender is our God to those who love mercy,

C:  But the heartless ones God stops in their tracks.

L:  Our mighty Lord will reign forever and ever,

C:  We will rejoice and give our thanks and praise!

CONFESSION

L:  The Mighty One did great things for Mary,

C:  And all generations will call her blessed,

L:  But God, what have you done for us lately –

C:  We say from our warm, well-stocked homes.

L:  The Lord has lifted up all who are lowly,

C:  Filled the hungry ones with good things,

L:  But God, where’s your help when they need it –

C:  As we walk past holiday food boxes and gifts.

L:  The Lord watches over the strangers,

C:  Remembers lonely seniors and kids,

L:  But God, have you forgotten them now –

C:  As our community reaches out to all.

L:  The Lord helps the lame ones walk again,

C:  Opens the eyes of the blind, ears of the deaf,

L:  But God, couldn’t you do some healing today –

C:  As medical procedures give folks back their lives.

(Silent reflection: soft music, such “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” could be played during the reflection each week of Advent. Or the music could be a softer version of the tune played for an Advent candle lighting.)

L:  In our confession, we pray together,

C:  Most Merciful God … we are the blind, the deaf and the ones with imprisoned hearts who have forgotten the great things you’ve done for us. We refuse to see, hear and recognize the miraculous around us in every moment. Restore to us the joy of your presence, and help us magnify your compassion, healing and love.

Here is Good News: Let your eyes be opened, your ears unstopped. Let your sorrow and sighing flee away. Return with joy and singing before your God. Be set free from whatever prisons you find yourself in, or the ones you’ve locked yourself inside. You are set free and forgiven of all your sin. Let your lights so shine to all the world.

In the name of…

Amen

PRAYER OF THE DAY

L:  We pray together, 

C: God of Celebration … as we enter the season of Advent, we pray that you would prepare our hearts once and always for your presence among us. Stir us up, Lord, that this season would bring us more than the transient happiness of the season’s celebrations, but real joy as we recognize you working in our lives, in the lives of those around us, and in our world each day.  Amen. 

COMMUNION BLESSING

L:  We pray together,

C:  We give thanks, most gracious God, for your presence in this meal, that we might be re-inspired – breathed back to life – every week when our light fades. Send us out, burning brightly, so that we may extend and share our light with those who are living in despair and hopelessness. And let our giving prepare us to receive you anew with joy.  Amen.

SENDING

L:  Strengthen your hearts, for the Lord is near –

C:  Be patient, beloved children, the Light is coming.

L:  Rejoice in the expectation of God-With-Us –

C:  The promise of our Lord’s presence drawing near.

L: Go now, radiant with joy, to love and to serve the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God!

First Reading Isaiah 35:1-10 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: Isaiah 35 is a chapter out of place in the despair and desolation texts of the first part of Isaiah. Scholars think it may have been misplaced, but maybe the writer was tired of the hopeless narrative.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

    the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

    and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

    the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the LORD,

    the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,

    and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

    “Be strong, do not fear!

Here is your God.

    He will come with vengeance,

with terrible recompense.

    He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

    and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

    and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,

    and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,

    and the thirsty ground springs of water;

the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,

    the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there,

    and it shall be called the Holy Way;

the unclean shall not travel on it,

    but it shall be for God’s people;

    no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

No lion shall be there,

    nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there,

    but the redeemed shall walk there.

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

    and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

    they shall obtain joy and gladness,

    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Second Reading  James 5:7-10 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: The book of James, often attributed to James, the brother of Jesus, gives useful information about what a Christian community should look and feel like. Before this, James warned the followers not to focus on possessions and personal comfort. Now he says endure suffering with patience.

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Gospel  Matthew 11:2-11 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: John the Baptist has been imprisoned in Herod’s prison for speaking out against Herod marrying his brother’s ex-wife. He would never be free again, and his death foreshadows Jesus’ death.

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

    who will prepare your way before you.’

Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.