Reflections on "When God Comes Down" Isaiah 64: 1-12; Mark 13: 24-37

I am going to have to examine my sermon preparation process because recently the sermon preached in the chapel does not seem to work very well, then I do some tinkering between services, and it works much better at the sanctuary service.  

This was one of those sermons where I did begin with the Isaiah text, but then the sermon was more a response to the text than an exploration of the text.  I think if I had realized that sooner, I could have been more explicit in the sermon that I was using that approach.

I found the last illustration of the Kroger employee to be particularly powerful.

Peace,

Richard

“When God Comes Down” November 27, 2011; FPC, Troy; 1^st Advent; Isaiah 64 1-9; Mark 13: 24-37

Intro: We now are in that it seems like Christmas, but we know it is not yet Christmas time. As the Christmas carols beckon to us from crowded stores, we are not sure we are ready yet.

In the church we call this time Advent. The time of waiting and expectation. The time of preparing to hear the birth of Christ story anew and a time of looking toward when Christ will come again.

Frankly, I'm not even sure we in the church know what to do with Advent anymore.

We know the purple means it is Advent, but what do we do with texts like the one we read in Mark or the prophet Isaiah this morning?

Sometimes it feels like the church is in a tug-of-war with the stores over baby Jesus. Who has the right to baby Jesus?

Then it occurs to me that Advent makes the Christmas story more than a fairy tale. Advent invites us to discover again the depth and power of the God who sends Christ into the world. Without Advent, the Christmas story is just a tale about a baby and a manger; with Advent, we see the baby in the manger as God incarnate.

Move 1: when God comes down, God comes to the real world.

a. William Willimon: The other day someone told me about a friend who had been asked to preach in the church of one of the famous television preachers whom millions watch every Sunday. On the way from the airport, the guest received these instructions: “People worship with us in order to feel good about themselves. Therefore, don’t mention the cross in your sermon. And don’t dwell too much on sin.” William Willimon, sermon "going against the Stream," as found on http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1445

1. We recognize that desire for comfort.
2. For many of us, I suspect, one of the things we look forward to in Christmas are those moments when everything seems perfect, like a fairy tale.

c. But when we look to the biblical text, we find lots more than comfort –we find challenge and difficulties and hope to go along with comfort.

1. If you want to ignore the prophet Isaiah for a moment, think about the way the gospels depict the birth of Christ story.
2. Luke – shepherds, angels, angelic voices singing from the heavens; and every time an angel speaks, the angel begins with the admonition, “Be not afraid.” Obviously, the Gospel of Luke sees the coming of Christ as something that might evoke our fear.
3. Gospel of Matthew – adds wise men and their gifts, but as soon as the gifts are delivered Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus flee to Egypt to escape the murderous wrath of King Herod.
   4. God comes to the real world.
   5. Israelites to whom Isaiah prophesied knew destruction, the threat from enemies; they looked around and saw their own sinfulness. When Isaiah calls for God to come down, he calls for God to come down to the messiness of their world.
4. Think about our world

War in Afghanistan

Middle East in continual upheaval

People “occupying” many of our cities

Political world in gridlock in the United States

Countries near insolvency around the world

Black Friday stories of someone pepper spraying dozens of people so that she can get the item she desires; or robbers laying in wait in the early hours of the morning to rob people of the items they have just purchased.

500. We may at times want to retreat from the world to some idyllic vision Christ, but the god who comes in Christ comes to engage the engage and save the real world.
     1. The God who comes in Christ comes to broken, hurting people to save them.
     2. In other words, God comes down to save the world we know and to save us.

Move 2: Make no mistake, God will come down.

a. Isaiah imagines what it might be like for God to come down.

1. A powerful image of God tearing through the heavens.

2. fits with the Israelites story of God who comes down.
3. On Mt. Sinai, the cloudy, mysterious haze the descended and covered the top of the mountain.

4. The place that only Moses could dare to go.
5. And even Moses had to hide his face from God's presence.

b. The image Isaiah has of God breaking through the heavens resonated with the gospel descriptions of the coming of Christ.

1. The Gospel of Mark does not have a birth narrative, but begins with Christ being baptized. As we recall, when Christ is baptized, the heavens open open up and the voice of God rains down.

2. When Mark describes Christ's death on the cross, he uses the images of the curtain of the temple is torn open. Russell Rathbun, http://thehardestquestion.org/yearb/advent1ot-2/

3. A reminder that Isaiah's plea finds its answer in the coming of Christ.
3. The God who decides to come down, does so in the birth of Christ.

100. So we find ourselves living in this time between when God came in Christ and when God will come again.
     1. What are we to do in this waiting time?
     2. We hear the Gospel of Mark call on us to be vigilant, always expecting God to appear.
     3. How do we do live as vigilant followers of Christ?

Move 3: We live as people being shaped by God.

a. The prophet Isaiah offers the image of God working as the Potter with us as the clay.

1. God continually shaping us.
2. God at work even now calling us into discipleship.
3. God by the power of the Holy Spirit molding us as to live and serve in the world.

b. Meister Eckhart, 13^th century German mystic/theologian,  Meister Eckhart, 1260-1328, German Dominican monk :What good is it to me if the son of God was born to Mary 1400 years ago if Christ is not born again in my time and in my culture?

We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to His Son if I do not also give birth to Him in my time and my culture? This, then, is the fullness of time: when the Son of God is begotten in us. http://interruptingthesilence.com/tag/meister-eckhart/

b. God shaping us for lives of discipleship in which we bring Christ to bear in the world around us.

1. In a broken and hurting world, God sends us.
2. Into the lives of our grieving co-worker who is spending his first Christmas alone since his spouse died, God sends us.
3. In a world that promotes selfishness and greed, God sends us to to model self-giving and service to others.
4. In a world where sin and brokenness abound, God sends us with a message of forgiveness and grace.
5. We are continually being shaped by the God who lives among us to serve the world around us.

Conclusion: Story I heard last year that took place on Christmas Eve. The person was in the self-checkout line at Kroger this afternoon, about six people deep, when the guy in front of me started talking. He was twenty-two, I’m guessing, a good four inches taller than me, and in a Kroger uniform. He had one Christmas card in his hand. That was all. As we stood there, he began talking about how the management didn’t get why they needed more checkout stations and how they wanted to expand produce when the guy who has worked in produce for thirty-five years knew it was a big mistake and the stream of consciousness rant about the perils in produce and the catastrophe at checkout continued until without the slightest punctuation he said “and my dad died last March 11 and I’m the one who found him and Christmas used to be a really big deal to my family and I didn’t want to work today and now we’re all getting together and we don’t really know what to do.” The period on his run-on grief was the call to step up to the empty terminal and check out. He paid for his card, looked over his shoulder, said, “Merry Christmas,” and walked away.  FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2010, Milton Brasher-Cunningham, Don't Eat Alone, http://donteatalone.blogspot.com

Advent reminds us that God comes down for all the people like that young man, people like us who need to know the God who finds us in the messiness of our lives and saves us.