The Good News

Advent 2 - December 10, 2023

Isaiah 40: 1-11; Mark 1: 1-8

BRCC - Pastor Deborah

A nine year old boy named Wally Purling was big for his age, and a bit of a slow learner, but very enthusiastic to be in a Christmas Pageant offered in his community. Wally wanted to be a shepherd, but his teacher had another part in mind for him. She wanted him to be the Innkeeper because he was bigger than all the other children. And so Wally took his speaking part home and he practiced hard. And he did great in their rehearsals.

The night came for the pageant and all the kids, especially Wally were both excited and nervous. Everything was going smoothly and it came time for Joseph and Mary to knock on the door of the inn. Wally opened the door and said “What do you want?” Joseph said, “We need a place to stay for the night.” “You’ve got to find somewhere else,” said Wally, because there is no room in my inn” Are you sure,” pleads Joseph. “We have come a long way and it’s very cold.” “No,” says Wally, “there is no room, go somewhere else!” “But my wife is going to have a baby, isn’t there some corner we could find shelter in?”

At this point in the pageant there was a long silent pause…one of those embarrassing pauses where the crowd assumes the character has forgotten his lines. Wally just stood there, not saying anything. A prompter from behind the curtain whispered his line…”No, be gone!” So Wally dutifully said, “No, be gone!” And Joseph put his arm around Mary and turned to walk away.

It was then that the Christmas play took an unusual twist. Wally was big, but he had a heart that was bigger, and he just couldn’t stand watching Joseph and Mary be turned away. Caught up in the mood of the scene, Wally couldn’t help himself and he blurted out “Wait a minute Joseph. Bring Mary back. You can have MY room and I’ll sleep in the cold!”

Welcome to Advent, a season of waiting…a season of repentance…a season of opening our hearts to make a room for Jesus to come and stay in our hearts. I can relate to Wally this morning because I have in essence been your “Inn Keeper” (or as the Synod has called it, “Bridge Pastor”) these last 20 months. Together, we have welcomed travelers on our journey together through life and offered them a welcoming place to bring their hearts and their needs for God’s love and grace into this place of worship. To embrace and live out our shared identity as children of God, set free in Christ to live in love, peace and joy. And, I have been known to be an “innkeeper” who rushes to the door with enthusiasm to welcome in everyone. On some level, it’s what I love most about the role of being a pastor…the welcoming part…the gathering together to know and be known in relationships that nurture and celebrate the human life we share. Hopefully, I haven’t turned anyone away….but I have to be honest that as I think about Pastor Michael’s ordination today and know he will be coming on his donkey….or whatever make car he has…to take over this coming week….part of me is reluctant to turn over the keys and step away. I’ve REALLY enjoyed my time as your pastor…and I will miss being your innkeeper. HOWEVER….I also can relate to John the Baptist this morning. His role is crystal clear and so essential to what God is unfolding in that moment of history.

John’s role is to prepare the way! And then diminish. He is to be a voice crying out in the wilderness; making paths straight by proclaiming a baptism of repentance so that a people who lived a long time in waiting and discouragement might awaken to the power of the Son of God in their midst. Now I am no evangelist prophet like John the Baptist…I’m just a semi-retired Lutheran pastor who now heads back into retirement, and hopefully picks up my paint brush again. And, Pastor Michael is not a “savior” by any means, He is a newly called and ordained servant pastor who God is placing in our midst to be a pastoral shepherd that keeps our eyes on the Good Shepherd, the Christ. The true Son of God. The Savior of the World.

So what is my point? Perhaps it’s to invite us this morning to RETHINK OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TIME…OUR SENSE OF TIME…AND GOD’S USE OF TIME. Advent is a moment when we are invited into a new understanding about what it means to WAIT upon GOD’s TIME.

We humans live in Kronos time…linear, calendar based, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day time. Now with technology we have FACE TIME, and INSTAGRAM TIME. In our movies and imagination we have TIME TRAVEL, or a TIME FOR EVERY SEASON. Moments in our lives become TIMES that shape our awareness and understanding that is beyond human time. For example, my father died suddenly 27 years ago this April, and yet, it feels like yesterday in my memory and my heart. I’m sure each of us can name a loved one who walked with us on this earth…and is gone from our sight…and yet, with us in a way we cannot fully explain or understand. Time moves on…and yet time can stay with us.

And time also feels differently when we are in anticipation. I remember vividly those days and hours and minutes awaiting the birth of each of my children. Anticipating the moment of labor and delivery, but also birth and new life. That moment when we would meet our child and hold him or her in our arms as new parents. Now our children are adults who have had their own children and one a grandson, and yet…in MY mind and heart, they are still…and will always be, my babies. Now that my own mom is 95 and living in a semi-memory awareness, I watch how when she does recognize me, she calls me her baby Debbie…as if I were a small child again. Time is an amazing gift.

One of the miracles of our living God is that God’s time is KAIROS TIME…ETERNAL TIME. We may want God to fit into our Kronos timelines, but God’s time isn’t the same as our time. Peter writes about it this way in our second reading for today: “...with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with (us), not wanting anyone to perish.” (2 Peter 3: 8-9)

A well known Systematic Theologian named Paul Tillach explained it this way: “Our time is a time of waiting. Waiting for a specific destiny. Waiting for the breaking in of eternity. All time runs forward, and all time, both history and personal life, is expectation. Time itself is waiting. Waiting not for another time, but for that which is eternal.” (The Shaking of the Foundations)

So what am I, and Peter, and Paul Tillach, the prophet Isaiah, and the writer of Mark’s gospel trying to say this morning? That OUR time is short!

The prophet Isaiah’s words ring true: “All people are grass…the grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it…but the word of our God will stand forever.” Therefore: “Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God…a voice cries out in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord… (In God’s time) every valley will be lifted up and every mountain and hill made low…then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all people will see it together.” IN THE MEANTIME: “hear the good tidings….(Mark says…the beginning of the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ, the Son of God).. Here is your God…the Lord God who comes with might…HE will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” (Is: 40)

In other words…salvation is breaking into human time and is at hand! That is the GOSPEL we are to proclaim…The GOOD NEWS, we are to trust with peaceful, waiting hearts. Even the psalmist got time right when he wrote these ancient words: “Truly, your salvation is very near to those who fear you, and your glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness and met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Ps 85: 9-10)

So today…on this last Sunday as your innkeeper, bridge pastor…and now…just one of this beautiful flock of sheep….What are we to focus on? What matters most?

I would offer two thoughts that I think are important for Baptism River Community Church right now.

First: Like the timing of John the Baptist’s message is a HUGE moment in his time in history…THIS change of pastoral leadership is also a HUGE moment in our little church and community. We have some glad tidings to share with our neighbors and friends in that God has sent us a new pastoral leader who brings his unique gifts and energy to help us unfold the path that lies ahead for this church and this community. We have an opportunity to stand beside him to awaken our hearts to the coming and presence of Christ here…and now, because we have a GOSPEL of GOOD NEWS that is life changing for ALL…not just a few of us. God not only showed up in human time when he gave us his Son Jesus to be our Savior…HE ALSO sent us his HOLY SPIRIT to walk beside us in eternal promise. We need to believe and live that truth.

Secondly, even though the world we live in will always know angst and disunity in its struggle to live together on this planet during this time in history, WE, AS FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST, can be at peace. WE know God’s promises are steadfast and true. We are called to look at what is unseen, the eternal, and not just at what is seen. We are empowered in our sense of TIME, to know and experience the true character of God’s mercy and righteousness by sharing grace and doing unified acts of service and love within our hurting world. We do this realizing that we are not in control of how God reveals God’s self, that is in GOD’S TIME. We realize that our human impatience doesn’t mean we are uncertain that God is in control…It simply means that we are sheep who need our master, We look forward each and every day, bringing our bondage to sin to our Good Shepherd for the freedom to live with peace. We come to receive the feeding of His word, the bread and wine of his presence with us, and the faithfulness of waiting in hope, trusting that we are not only led, but empowered to Be the body of Christ to one another.

Finally, I want to thank you for letting ME be a shepherd in your midst. You received me in faithful expectation and warm love…and I will always cherish this time as your bridge pastor. May God bless and keep you always in His perfect care. Amen.