A part to play in history... Advent 4C 2021

Micah 5:2-5a  • Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80:1-7  • Hebrews 10:5-10  • Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)

Image from: https://www.learnreligions.com/city-of-bethlehem-overview-700678

I have not travelled anywhere near as much as I would have liked, and so, places like Israel are completely unknown to me, except for what I read.  Some of the Christmas cards that we sometimes see would have us believe that Jesus was born at a time of deep snow, a fact which some have used to say that our celebration for the birth of Christ is at the incorrect time.  And so I have done a little research….. 

 

I have found a picture of the city of Bethlehem that I really love as it looks to me like one of the places I have actually seen, briefly.  The place of my heritage, Malta and the city of Valletta.  The city of Bethlehem is located about six miles southwest of Jerusalem.  The climate is similar to the typical Mediterranean climate, but milder because of its altitude and nearness to the sea.  Winter time temperatures are between about 14c and 5c and Summer 30c and 19c.  It does snow sometimes in December, but more likely in February.

 

To be more accurate, from the Website  https://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/Israel/Bethlehem/14-Day-Forecast.aspx  

 "Over the next 14 days the Bethlehem forecast suggests the average daytime maximum temperature will be around 11°C, with a high for the two weeks of 12°C expected on the afternoon of Friday 17th. The mean minimum temperature will be 8°C, dipping to its lowest on the morning of Monday 20th at 4°C."

 

Some other facts that we should know about Bethlehem are that it is the place where the favourite wife of Jacob (AKA Israel) was buried.  Rachael died after giving birth to her second son Benjamin. 

Something else of significance about Bethlehem is that this is where Naomi and Ruth returned to after having lost husbands and sons.  This is where the story of Ruth and Boaz took place and where Obed was born.  Who is Obed?  The grandfather of the great King David.  Therefore, Bethlehem is known as the city of David.

Bethlehem was a little village and it rose to prominence because of the connection with King David, but at the time of Christ’s birth, it had once again diminished in size.  This is where Joseph went with the very pregnant Mary to be registered because he was of the line of David.

 

Our first reading comes from the book of Micah and the prophecies of this book are most important because they tell of the coming of Christ.  They also tell of the reign of Christ where all the nations worship him and live in peace… a time yet to come with the second coming of Christ. 

 

Our familiarity with the Bible and the reading of Micah may numb us to the implications.  Let me try to put you into the picture.  This very same scripture which was written something like 700 years before the birth of Christ, is likely the one that was shown to the Magi when they came to Herod to look for the King whose star they were following.  We are reading the ancient prophecy, other than the translation, exactly that which was shown to the Magi.

 

The prophecy includes a promise made for all the nations and clearly shows that the Messiah is for people of all nationalities.   Another interesting fact is that Bethlehem means “House of Bread”.   Jesus referred to himself as the bread of life.  All things are more that mere coincidence, but show the design of God.

 

Bethlehem is described as one of the little clans.  King David was little and the youngest of his family.  Time after time we read of how God chose people that were either insignificant, without hope or rejected. The whole tribe of Israel fits in with this theme of choosing the rejected ones, as Israel was a nation without a home.  A tribe of slaves, but favoured, cared for and delivered by the very mighty hand of God.

The message for us in this, is that we should treat all with care, but especially those most rejected, because they are the ones through whom God is most likely to show his might.  God often chooses to speak through those we are inclined to dismiss.

 

In this same tradition a young girl, Mary is chosen to bare the Messiah.  Mary’s role is confirmed by Elizabeth when Elizabeth greats her as the Mother of her LORD.   I can imagine that this was great reason for Mary to proclaim the good that God had done for her.  Let me explain; It is one thing to have a vision and message from God, but as every prophet knows, to pass that message on is another thing completely.

 

Mary had to face telling Joseph about her condition.  And he doubted her and was going to divorce her quietly.  This is the bit the Bible tells us.  What it doesn’t tell us is what the rest of the community was saying.  It doesn’t tell us what her parents were saying.  I do however, imagine that the buzz around the community was NOT that the virgin was going to bare a child. 

 

When Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and the supernatural knowledge of the enormity of situation, and then proclaims her greeting, this must have been a huge relief to Mary…. “At last someone else knows the truth…. I’m not alone”. 

 

It was thought to be a huge privilege to be the one who would bare the Messiah, but the fact is that many hardships went with it.  It honestly could have meant being stoned to death for Mary.  If God called her to it, then we expect God would see her through it, but from moment to moment, I can only imagine how frightening it must have been.

 

Where are we in the story of the Gospel?  Are we those who are believers in God, but not likely to believe the young girl who claims to be a virgin with child?  Are we like Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit and able to discern God’s hand?  Are we like Mary, saying yes to God?

 

Where we need to be is both Elizabeth and Mary.  Like Elizabeth we need to be discerning and filled with the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit which gives us the supernatural ability to know when things are from God – or not (or just plain crazy). 

 

I can’t emphasize this enough, that we need the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We are living in times when there are many voices with many opinions all claiming to be right.  How can we make heads or tails of it all?  We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to know, otherwise we will surely get it wrong and possibly be stoning when we should be greeting… or buying into things that are certainly not of God, when we should be standing against.  We will be walking in fear and acting out of fear, instead of walking and acting in courage and love.

 

Courage and love are attributes that we see in our Christmas story.  A privilege to bare the son of God – yes – but not without hardships and persecutions. Having courage is not the absence of fear, but about knowing what needs to be done and doing it regardless.  It doesn’t mean that there are not times to get up in the night and run – as we know Joseph and Mary did.  But there is a need to know the difference.

 

When we are called to God’s purpose he will bring us through it, but that doesn’t mean that all will be smooth sailing.  There will be times of great distress, especially from those who don’t understand.

 

Even among the church there are those who don’t understand – and at different times this is all of us as we struggle sometimes to understand.  There are those who believe Jesus came, but don’t understand his way of peace – and don’t quite understand the Good News of the New Covenant.  Our Hebrews reading explains that “when Christ came into the world he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me;..”

 

Throughout the known world, at that time, it was normal to offer sacrifices of animals etc… to appease the Gods.  The Israelites had a similar but different system, as God always works within our ways of understanding.  The Israelite system of offering and sacrifices was all about their relationship with God.  It was a way that God tried to show them that all belonged firstly to him and the way in which there would be atonement for sin, so that His relationship with the people could remain intact.  Time after time, however, the people slipped into thinking that these sacrifices exonerated them…. Where as what God always preferred was that they turned their hearts to him.

 

When Jesus came, he abolished the sacrificial system by being the final sacrifice.  Our letter to the Hebrews explains, “And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

 

This tells us that we have been sanctified – Made Holy – by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – Once and for ALL – there is no longer any need for anything else.  This is Good News.  We are acceptable to God and we can be sure because this is the purpose of Jesus death -to bring us true life by being united to God…. Nothing impeding our relationship.

It is done… It is accomplished. 

 

There are many who still don’t know or fully understand the Good News.  There are many that have not come to know Jesus.

 

We, the church, like Mary, are also called to bring forth the Messiah.  We are called to bring him into the community.  But it is something that happens with the cooperation of all of us.

 

To each of us God says that he does not require burnt offerings and sacrifices, but a heart that says “Yes” to God’s call.  We all have a part to play in history.  Elizabeth’s role in our reading was to affirm the call of Mary.

 

You may feel that you are very little and insignificant.  Rest assured, then you are the one that God is calling.  He chose the little town of Bethlehem, he chose the young girl, he chose the barren Elizabeth. 

 

The prophet Micah was one who was from a small village and lived among the poor.  About 700 years before Christ came he was to give a most important message.  Though only 7 chapters long, it is from this book that we have the most memorable quote about what God really requires and remember that this is more than 700 years before the sacrificial system was abolished by the coming of Christ.

"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

 

The prophet Micah understood the heart of God.  Our call today is to heed the message and to also understand that God’s call to us is to say, Yes to the call of God. It will not be easy, but God who brings us to it, will mightily bring us through it and we like Mary will proclaim; "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;  for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”

Message for Christmas - Lessons and Carols 12th Dec 2021

 The World Needs Good News – Niki Vella-Power 12/12/2021

 

Well who would have guessed it!  The snake had legs!

Often we might use the expression, “it has legs” to explain that an idea has some substance to it, but in the case of the snake… it literally had legs!

Now, I don’t’ generally like to get into those arguments about whether things are literal, but if you do a quick google search, “did snakes originally have legs”, you will find many articles and one from national geographic which explains that snakes still have the genes to grow legs.  Now, that would be a very scary creature!  Our Gospel message begins right back here with that rather scary snake…

 

If I was to ask you to explain the Gospel to someone, how would you do it?  What would you say?

In 1918, Just after the first world war, an army Chaplain, Eric Milner-White, aware of the fragile state of his community, used the lessons and carols to tell the story of the Gospel.  “Gospel” means Good News.  They might have won the war, but there were plenty suffering grief and loss.  The world needed direction and purpose… a sense of re-building and encouragement that they weren’t striving in vain. The world needed the direction, purpose and comfort that only God can bring – the world needed Good News… the Gospel. 

 

In December 2021 the world is globally grieving loss.   Our lives changed in 2020.  Who would have ever guessed that the whole world would go into various forms of lock downs over the next year?  Since then every public hug is done with feelings of guilt and wondering of passing on disease.  Since then our loud opinions and judgements range from sad submission to angry rebellion and everything in between.  The hurt caused by the judgements of people are creating stress and grief and loss.  The world needs direction, purpose and the comfort that only God can bring.  The world needs Good News.  The world needs the Gospel.

 

Right now we are in the season of Christmas.  It has always been a season of hope, a season of love and joy…. Of children’s laughter and delight…. And also…great pain.   Yes, we can’t hide the fact that when we celebrate hope, love and joy, it highlights those who feel that hope, love and joy have rejected them.  Many at this time feel that rejection and grief acutely.  They need Good News.  They need the Gospel.

 

The truth is Good News.  The truth is Gospel.  The truth of the Gospel is that no one has been rejected, but that God is especially concerned with those who feel rejected, hopeless, joyless and loveless – and we, as God’s hands and feet, should be too.

 

To tell the story of the Gospel we need to start with something less popular – Sin.  Yes that SNAKE had LEGS! 

Now, in these civilized days, none of us are sinners are we?…. We all have, like the snake, evolved beyond that, haven’t we?  None of us ever does anything wrong?  We are all perfect… our community is perfect and our world is all good and lovely!  And like the current state of the snake, these statements actually have “no legs”… And now, hopefully, you will see that I am being sarcastic to make my point. 

 

It is easy to see that our world is a long way from perfect.  It isn’t so easy to see that maybe we are the ones in the wrong at times.   Let me make it easier for you.  So that you know that I’m not pointing the finger at anyone in particular…. And that God isn’t pointing the finger at anyone in particular…. The Bible tells us that ALL have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.  Therefore, the finger is being pointed at every single one of us.  Even my darling little grand-daughter who I know is just so, so perfect and I love so much…. The finger is pointed at us all. 

 

Let me explain a little further…. It isn’t about one person being right and another being wrong…. It is about our lack of love. 

Jesus made it super simple and put the commandments into just 2 simple commands.  LOVE GOD, with all our heart, mind and strength and love others.  Love and love….but our love is imperfect.

 

That snake it certainly had legs when it told Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit.  The snake appealed to the desires of Eve for knowledge and it wasn’t seemingly such a big thing….. hmmm…. Or was it… At the heart of this story, is a lady who wanted to be her own God.  She wanted to understand like God and not have to rely on him.  She put herself above God by trusting in the Serpent (putting him above God also) and she decided that she wanted the knowledge of a God.   She could have trusted God …. Loved him and honoured him by asking him about the forbidden tree and trusted God by obeying, but instead she listened to the serpent and Adam followed her lead and then blamed her when God asked about the situation.  He did not show love to God, nor love to others.

 

We fast forward to the story of Abraham.  Abraham did trust God and obeyed him fully… it was a test and a way that God was to show that God himself would provide a sacrifice to bring us back into full relationship with himself.

Throughout the Old Testament there are prophets who proclaimed the message of God and that He would send the Messiah… the Christ… the anointed one.  Though they didn’t fully understand what it all meant, they lived in hope for the coming of the promised messiah.

 

The Gospel is this; We have all fallen short of the glory of God.  We don’t love God as fully as we should and we don’t love others as fully as we should.  The outward sign of this is that our world is in disharmony.  We put our own intelligence as our God, we put ourselves above God by not fully trusting him… and disobeying his ways.  Most of the time we don’t even consider God, until our world comes crashing down. 

 

How can we put things right?  Even when we try, we find ourselves powerless to control even the simplest things…. We can’t even control a tiny virus.

 

The Messiah came.   A young lady said yes to the will of God in her life…. She risked death by stoning and so much shame to do so, but she trusted and obeyed.  She gave birth and in obedience they called him Jesus, but people still didn’t fully understand. 

 

The Magi, known as the wise men, following an unusual star, came bringing gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrr.  The Magi were non-Jews… showing that this Messiah was for all the nations.  The song, We Three Kings, explains that these people – non Jews, understood that this baby was for the redemption of the whole world.  Their gifts also were a statement about the baby… Gold I bring to crown him again… stating that he is King… regardless of that humble stable birth.  Frankincense – incense owns a deity neigh – They recognised the divinity – God incarnate.  Myrr – used for embalming, signifying that Jesus’ death would be significant.

 

It is the Gospel of John, our last reading that explains fully who Jesus really is, The word became flesh….

In the beginning was the word.  Jesus was the word.  When the Godhead spoke, “Let there be light”,  it was God the Son.  The Messiah was not just a man.  No man could do for us, what needed to be done.  What we needed was God himself and that is who came that very first Christmas.  The birth of Christ is the birth of God incarnate…. God in flesh.

 

I have a favourite poet, Steve Turner, who wrote a sarcastic poem, “Christmas is really for the Children”.  The poem goes on to say, Easter is not suitable for children as it has whips, nails and allegations of body snatching.  The poem ends by saying that those of a nervous disposition should wait for a re-run of Christmas without asking too many questions about what Jesus did when he grew up.  Yes, Christmas is for the children.  We are the children, and Christmas means nothing without the crown of thorns and the empty grave.

 

At Christmas we celebrate that God came in fragile human flesh.  We worship because we, who generally put ourselves and our own intelligence and desires above God, recognise that God came in fragile human flesh.  He became the humble servant fully obedient to God and even to death on the cross where he was immersed into the sins of us all.  God himself took the spiritual punishment that was due to us because we certainly couldn’t do it ourselves.

 

Love, acceptance, hope and Joy are ours because of Jesus.  We are accepted.  We are not rejected, but incredibly loved by God.  Love, hope and joy for each and everyone who chooses to accept that Jesus is our Saviour.  That is the only condition – to admit we need a saviour and accept him.

 

Let us not forget the other key word we hear at Christmas; Peace.  This is a peace between us and God… it is SHALOM - a peace that means we are in a right relationship with God.  With this shalom, we can say, “If God is for us, who can be against”.  We have the king of the universe on our side.  We have God’s love, Joy, hope and peace.  This is the Good News that the world needs today.  This is the Gospel.

 

ADVENT 3 2021 Rejoice

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT  Year C  December 12, 2021

·       Zephaniah 3:14-20  • Isaiah 12:2-6  • Philippians 4:4-7  • Luke 3:7-18

·        

Welcome to the 3^rd week in Advent… the time where we prepare for the coming of Christ and the week where we light the candle of Joy.

 

Today we read about John the Baptist.  But just who was this John?  

John was the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah.  Do you remember the story of when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth and the babe within Elizabeth leapt at her greeting….?  Well, that babe was John.

 

John was the son of Zechariah, who in the year of John’s conception was serving as priest.  Therefore, John was from the Israelite tribe of Levi.  The Levites were a holy tribe who were to be the priests for the nation of Israel.

 

There was an anointing on John from the time of his conception.  Elizabeth, his mother, was yet another of the many barren women in our Bible stories.  It was during the time of Zechariah’s role as priest, when he was chosen by lot to burn incense in the temple, that an Angel appeared to him to proclaim that Elizabeth would bear a son. 

 

John was a relative of Jesus, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  He was a normal human man, but his being was supernaturally crafted.  Remember, Elizabeth was barren.  God enabled Elizabeth to conceive and John was designed by God and set apart for a specific purpose.  It was foretold to Zechariah that John would go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord.

 

I tell you this about John even though it is not the part of the story that we are reading today, because it is important for us the church, because we too are set apart for the purpose of preparing the way of the Lord.

 

In the reading about John in our Gospel today, John is harsh with the crowds, “"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits worthy of repentance.”

 

He is addressing the crowds who came out to him, who wanted to appear to be doing the honorable thing.  They wanted to appear to be committed to God.  They wanted to appear to be a godly person.  They were the people of the nation who belonged to that tradition where it was understood that Baptism was a sign of cleansing and commitment. When John called the people a brood of vipers he was alluding to the serpent in the garden of Eden.  In reality, it is not as unreasonable as it sounds at first.  The offspring of those who followed the serpent’s deception is the brood of vipers.  John began his call to baptism by reminding people who they really are.

 

Who are we?  Are we perfectly good?  Are we fallen?

 

From the time of John’s conception, the prophetic word about his ministry was that he would “Turn” people’s hearts back to God.  Turning back to God is at the heart of what it means to repent. 

 

The word translated repentance is one that means to change your mind.  Many think that it is a feeling.  Our conscience is pricked and we feel regret.  This, however, is not repentance.  Repentance is to affirm with our mind that we are NOT perfectly good and that we ARE fallen and we need to TURN from our own ways and go God’s ways.

 

Many are offended if we talk about sin, but sin is a fact of our life since the beginning of time and that deception in the garden of Eden.  We are all in the same boat…. Or at least we were….  The difference is that Jesus has come along with a life boat.  Which boat do you want to be in…? the sin boat going to destruction or the life boat?

 

These boats are operating in our life every day.  Spiritually we have been saved by the sacrifice of Jesus, and that is a fact, but we tend to figuratively jump from boat to boat depending on how we feel.  Someone makes me angry… I want to jump into the sin boat and yell at them or worse…. Speak about them, putting them down to others.

 

There are people who have never jumped into the Jesus boat and our seemingly jumping from one to the other is an incredibly bad witness.  We know Jesus… we know God’s saving grace.  But others don’t and never will unless we repent properly… in other words, change our mind, agree with what God says, and go a different way…. Stay in the Jesus boat. 

 

Now, the fact of the matter is that we will always have times when we fail.  Failing is part of being human and if we could do this “going God’s way” thing by ourselves Jesus would not have had to come…. And the Holy Spirit would not have been sent.  

 

In Luke 3:16 we read – “John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

 

Has this little paragraph ever caught your attention before?  We often celebrate baptism with water, but this talk of Holy Spirit and fire is a little less common and a little less popular.

 

John follows up this statement by talking about the winnowing fork is in his hand, implying judgment.

 

How does it make you feel that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire?

 

At a glance it sounds a little frightening.  Whenever I am presented with a Gospel message that sounds frightening, I always keep in mind that if it doesn’t sound like Good News then the message is either wrong or incomplete.  Gospel means Good News and the Gospel is all about the Good News of Jesus Christ, so we need to look further into this message to see what is really going on.

 

We know that Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit.  We also know that fire is a symbol of judgement and refining.  Remember the song, Refiners fire… my heart’s one desire… is to be holy… set apart for you Lord… etc..  This is what it is all about.  Jesus does baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire.

 

God’s Holy Spirit living in us allows God to direct us and teach us.  The more we can be teachable and trained to hear his voice, the more he can use us to be his hands and feet in this world and that is where we really need to get to. 

 

In recent times the church has not been effectively showing the true heart of God to the world.  God wants us, his people to be a blessing to the nations.

At this time of Advent we are called to be a people in the spirit of John the Baptist who was in the spirit of Elijah, calling people back to God.

 

Our first reading comes from Zephaniah, the fourth last book in the Bible.  Zephaniah is a prophet from the Kingly line and he prophesies about the coming day of the Lord, as well as a time when God himself changes the hearts of the people. 

 

Even though Zephaniah is our first reading, his prophecy is about what happens after our repentance and when we take up our role as God’s people who are to be a blessing to the nations.  He declares that; “The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, …..”

 

It is true that we are facing difficult times today, but we can take encouragement from these following words from Zephaniah; 3:16 – 17 “On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

 

More than anything, in all this, we need to remember God’s very great love for us.

 

God calls us to repent.  To turn from the way we are going, and to commit to following his ways.  We can’t do it in our own strength.  God knows this.

 

God is a God of Justice.  We have all gone our own way.  Because of God’s great love, Jesus paid the sacrifice.  But now, to live life God’s way there is more that God gifts us with… he sends his Holy Spirit to live in and through us.  To teach us and comfort us. The Holy Spirit enables us to be all that God wants us to be.

 

Know this; God loves us beyond words, but his actions speak louder.  We repent and commit to following God and he rejoices over us greatly because of his great love.

 

Repent and be baptized with Holy Spirit and fire.  The reality is that we are fallen and incapable of saving ourselves.  But God’s ways are Good and he promises to remove disaster from us.  Here is the Gospel and here is the Good news.  God loves us so much that he does for us, what we can not do for ourselves.  He has saved us and now he sends his Holy Spirit to enable us to live his way.  Rejoice… because it is accomplished.