Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, December 2, 2007

The First Sunday in Advent

Year A

December 2, 2007

Isaiah 2:1-5 Psalm 122

Romans 13:11-14 St. Matthew 24:36-44

I have a confession to make. Many of you may not know this, but I’m a big fan of the “Big Brother” show, much to Father Emmanuel’s disappointment and embarrassment. The title of the eighth season was: “Expect the Unexpected.” And almost every week a new twist was revealed in the show to keep the contestants on their feet and always wondering what would happen next.

The prophet Isaiah speaks of weapons of war being turned into implements of harvest. That is unexpected! A modern day equivalent of this message might be more like turning tanks into tractors and rifles into rakes. An idea that I’m sure would not go down well in Congress or many other places. After all, everyone knows that these would not be the smart things to do in our current geo-political circumstances. Only a fool would contemplate this kind of action. One thing that this vision of Isaiah calls us to is looking in new ways at old things, trying to find the good out of the bad. We should always be ready to re-examine ways we have of doing things or of what we believe. You never know when you might find a new and even better way.

Expecting the unexpected is a good way to sum up both the lessons for today and the message of Advent. Advent is living out our expectations for Christmas. We have begun the countdown in eager anticipation, to the Christmas event. Of course, since year after year we know what will happen it is sometimes hard to maintain the excitement of anticipation.

But this year, perhaps we can try to rekindle that spirit of anticipation and expectation in our Advent season at St. Peter’s. One of the great advantages of having children in the parish is that I believe they help us older members understand in a fresh way what living in expectation of Christmas can be all about.

But there is a lesson for the church as well in the idea of transformation found in Isaiah. Perhaps it is time for us to look afresh at ourselves and some of our commonly held beliefs. It is well past time for Christians to put down the weapons they use against each other and turn them into opportunities to again share the Gospel, the good news of Jesus through love and fellowship.

What was the unexpected that happened on that first Christmas? God became human. God came as a helpless child. God came to die a horribly painful death. But the Christ child was supposed to be the Messiah. In Jesus’ own time he was not the messiah the Jewish people were expecting. Talk about getting the unexpected! They wanted a king who would lead them to victory and instead their messiah ended up being a servant giving up his life on a cross.

A well known Advent hymn prays: “Come thou long expected Jesus”. But if Jesus so surprised everyone in his first coming, how might we expect the unexpected in his second coming? No one knows how Jesus second coming will play out, although many are willing to make their guesses. My suspicion is that just like the first time, in the end we will find all the expectations and predictions to be wildly off the mark.

We can face the unexpected in one of two ways. We can fear it and attempt to avoid it or we can look forward to it and be ready to embrace it. St. Peter’s has been doing the latter for several years now. It has resulted in many blessings to our parish family.

Expect the unexpected. What are our expectations for the coming year? What do we expect from God? What do we expect from each other?

St. Peter’s should expect the unexpected for the next year. We should pray for it. What is the unexpected? I don’t have any idea yet. But I know that seven years ago when I arrived at St. Peter’s I never expected to be where we are at today. And while I don’t want to speak for anyone else, I have a feeling that many who were here when I arrived would say the same thing. I’m hoping for great surprises for our wonderful parish family during this next year as well.

When we expect the unexpected we have to be ready for God to do anything in our life and in our parish. When we are blessed with the unexpected it can sometimes be uncomfortable for us. It can throw us off balance and affect us in many ways. It will challenge us to new growth. We have to be ready to face these potential effects of the unexpected head on.

How shall we live this life of expectation? Well it is truly a hard thing to plan for the unexpected. You never know what it is you should be planning for!

But I would suggest a few possibilities for us at St. Peter’s. We need to be willing to see the unexpected as a wonderful gift from God. That requires a willingness to set aside the fear that can often accompany dealing with the unexpected.

We need to be open to God working in new ways in our lives. God can and will surprise us if we are willing to follow wherever God leads us.

We need to pray for and anticipate God doing new and amazing things at St. Peter’s.

Then we will be ready for the amazing things God has in store for us this year.

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year C, March 11, 2007

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year C, March 11, 2007

Have you ever been surprised by something? I’m sure we all have at one time or another. Life is full of surprises. Imagine how boring things would be if this were not true. It should not be shocking to discover that the creator of all, God, is full of surprises as well. I want to speak about two surprises in the lessons for today. Both occur in the lesson from the Book of Exodus.

Now the idea that God is surprising should not be that novel. I know that as I look back in my own life it is filled with surprises, things which I never would have expected. There are twists and turns in my life that have led me to places I never though I would be. I’m sure that many of you today can identify with those same experiences.

The Holy Scriptures are also packed full of surprises. In the Scriptures we find stories of old women having children. There is the most memorable story of a young maid giving birth to the son of God. Stories of angels appearing when no one expected them.

Even today here at St. Peter's we celebrate a surprising event. That most unexpected of occurrences in an Episcopal Church, a baptism in Lent. Today we will baptize Spencer and welcome him to our faith community. Life is full of surprises. And like the baptism today, surprises are not always bad things.

In the reading from Exodus today we see that God can come to us in surprising ways. Moses is out wandering around with his flocks. As he wanders, he sees something not all that uncommon in his experience. He sees a fire. But as he looks at it be becomes surprised. He sees something totally unexpected. Moses observes that while there is a bush blazing on fire the bush is not being burned up. That had to be quite a surprise. And then Moses discovered the source of this seemingly impossible event. And it was another surprise. It was God. God came to Moses in a surprising way, in a way Moses did not expect. And I think that often happens to us as well, God comes to us in surprising ways. God comes to us through people we would not expect or events we would not anticipate. And suddenly we realize that God is trying to tell us something or God is trying to show us something in a new way.

Next we see that God uses surprising people. As a matter of fact, God uses people who don’t think they should be used by God. God tells Moses “Guess what, you are going to be the one Moses. You are the one who is going to save my chosen people. You are the one who will go to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go. I think at that moment Moses probably looked around to see if there was someone else standing behind him to whom God must be speaking. God sure surprised Moses in his choice of who he would use to bring God’s people out of Egypt. Moses was convinced that God had chosen the wrong man. I think many of us often feel that same way. The Lord can’t possibly be talking to me and calling me to do something. First of all who wants to go and tell anyone that the Lord has told me I’m supposed to do this. Most people would maybe take a few steps away from you and wonder either how they can get away from you for good or how they can get you to some treatment. But they are mostly likely not going to say “Oh hallelujah, I have been waiting for you to tell me.” And Moses knows this. And I think the other thing is that Moses knows himself. Here he is a simple shepherd and yet God is going to call him to do amazing things and deal with the most powerful man that Moses knows in the world. And he is going to have to tell the most powerful man in the world some things that man does not want to hear. “Who am I that I should go…” Moses responds to God. This might not be an unexpected response. It might be a response we have offered to God in our own past when we felt the call of God in our own life. No one really wants to have to tell everyone that God sent them to them. Or like Moses we might recognize that there is nothing special about ourselves. There is nothing powerful about ourselves and we might respond “Lord there must be a better person to do your work.”

And what do you think the Lord’s answer to Moses was. We all know. Moses you are the one. I know you are the one. You can do it. I sometimes think that God chooses people on purpose who don’t think they can do it. You see the problem is that if you think you can do it, then you don’t have to rely on God. You can just go out and do it on your own. But if you are convinced that you cannot possibly be the right person to do it, then you have no choice. You have no choice other than to rely on God to give you the strength and the power to carry out what it is God wants you to do.

And so my challenge to you is to look for unexpected things in your own life from God. Look for God to speak to you in unexpected ways. Look for God to ask you do to unexpected things. And then trust God to give you what you need to do it.