Sermons & Meditations

Isaiah 9:2-7; Matthew 1:18-25
Presented December 23, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Desmond Tutu, the first black Anglican archbishop in South Africa, rose to fame in the 1980s because of his valiant leadership in opposition to that country’s system of racial apartheid. On his way to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, Tutu added a stop at Harvard University’s Memorial Church. It was the height of the anti-apartheid movement, when many colleges and universities were divesting themselves of any investments connected with South African companies. Harvard had not taken that step, and many expected the archbishop to scold the university for its inaction. Several times Tutu asked the teeming crowd, composed of many politically astute students and faculty, “What is the greatest thing you can do for us?” Tense with excitement, the crowd waited for the archbishop’s tirade against the university administration, and an invitation to confront the apparent lack of response. But when Tutu eventually answered his own question, What is the greatest thing you can do for us, many were shocked, and even appalled, little knowing what to make of his words. Tutu’s request: Pray for us!

Few in that crowd anticipated Desmond Tutu’s focus upon prayer. Nevertheless, the archbishop asserted his heart-felt conviction that prayer, especially for one’s enemies, is the most powerful transforming weapon in the world. Living as did Tutu in a world all too ready to embrace ill will and oppression, it was comforting to him to know that persons of faith around the world were offering their prayerful support.

(more…)

Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3:1-12
Presented December 9, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The Second Sunday of Advent

This season of the year carries such contrasts, doesn’t it? On the one hand, we are likely to have more than our share of moments when it feels as if the pressure of tasks to be accomplished—presents to purchase, parties to plan and attend, cookies to bake and distribute, cards to send, even worship services to attend—the pressure of it all can begin to feel burdensome. On the other hand, the Advent message speaks of a very different kind of preparation for our Christmas celebrations. Not a matter of frantic activity, but rather a quieting of our hearts in anticipation of something markedly new unfolding before us. A matter of slowing down, listening and watching intently for signs of God’s kingdom at work, hoping beyond hope for the creation of the peaceable realm of God in our midst. Advent invites us to await expectantly the emergence of an upside-down way of living in which the poor receive blessing, the meek inherit the earth, the wolf lives harmoniously with the lamb, and all the earth is as full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the seas. The words of the carol writer speak to this understanding of Advent celebration: “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given.”

So how is it that the celebration of the coming of the One who promises a reordering of all life has been transformed into such a frenzied host of activity? Shane Claiborne, one of the founding members of a new monastic community in Philadelphia, PA, questions, “Why do we celebrate the birthday of a refugee born in a manger by buying [more and more] stuff?” How might we more properly prepare for Christ’s birth and rebirth among us—this One who comes embodying God’s vision of the peaceable life?

This morning’s Gospel lesson from Matthew portrays John the Baptist as forerunner of Jesus, as a voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” John’s is a voice out of sync with much of human life, a discontented voice prodding us never to become satisfied with business as usual. To the religious leaders of his own day, the Baptist shouts that it is not enough to give lip service to God’s gracious love. Much more, lives are to be transformed.

(more…)

Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44
Presented December 2, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The First Sunday of Advent

How can we share the Gospel in ways that will move ourselves (and our congregations) more intentionally toward joyous worship, active peacemaking, passionate faith, and spiritual maturity? This is the critical question four fellow pastors and I have been considering as part of a Sustaining Pastoral Excellence grant from Bethany Seminary. During this season of Advent we enter today, worship will consider these four qualities of joyous worship, active peacemaking, passionate faith, and spiritual maturity, qualities that reflect spiritual vitality and mark the promise of new life. We begin this morning with spiritual maturity.

What does spiritual maturity look like? What shape does it take, in our personal lives and in the life of our congregation? And what does the Advent season, with its call to watch and wait, to hope beyond hoping for the unfolding of something radically new in our midst—what does all this have to say to the matter of spiritual maturity?

Advent carries a two-fold character, first as a time of remembrance, a time of preparing ourselves anew for celebration of God’s unexpected coming into the world. No matter how frequently we consider it, Christ’s coming continues to surprise and even astound us. For Christ is birthed, not in pomp and fanfare and splendor, not replete with iron fists and political domination, but as a vulnerable infant, one who comes quietly and silently into the world. Christ comes embodying peace, encouraging us to look at life—and enter into life—from a markedly new perspective. For Advent is not only a time for looking back and recollecting; Advent also compels us to look forward, to anticipate that day when life shall be fully transformed, when swords are beaten into plowshares and nations no longer teach the ways of war, when all humanity lives in justice and all peoples walk in the light of God’s gracious love.

(more…)