Look back, look ahead, look around

For my first five school years, I attended a one-room school, yes, like the ones seen in old movies, complete with pot-belly stove in the middle and a recitation bench up front.

When the teacher was working with one grade, the other grades had better be silent, or there was going to be trouble.

Then all of the one-room schools were closed and we moved into a brand new all-electric building for 6^th grade.

One day all six teachers in the building needed to have some sort of a meeting.

What they did was choose 6 students from the 6^th grade and put one of them in charge of each of the rooms in the building, and to supervise activities for all of the students.

The teachers were out of the room, down the hall, in a meeting.

What a responsibility each of those six sixth-graders had not only to keep order in each of the classrooms, but to move ahead with the work that was assigned!

And we did it.

When the teachers got back to their rooms at the end of their meeting, the work was being done, students were quiet and attentive, and the six students filling in for the teachers could go back to being only students again.

The stand-ins and all the students received great thanks from the teachers for their cooperation and assistance.

Of course the thought of doing this today would break all sorts of rules and regulations,

but even more than that, I wonder whether students these days have the self-discipline to be such a student-teacher, or to respect one another enough to listen to a student acting in place of the teacher.

As we look at current events in a number of locations around the country these days, it seems that the old and always inaccurate saying “Day by day in every way I am getting better and better” is not only being ignored as usual, it seems to be turned upside down, so that our behavior is getting worse and worse.

Jesus said:

It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the door-keeper to be on watch.

Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come.

Are we about our proper tasks?

Are we on watch?

One writer put it this way, 20 years ago:

The class that can be trusted only when the teacher is there is a worthless bunch of students.

The worker who is faithful to his job only when the boss is present is a worthless employee.

Moral behavior that has no better motivation than the fear of the omnipresent gaze of God isn't much to write home about.

Things don't seem to be any better than they were 20 years ago.

We keep on acting as though God is truly absent from us, and that we can do anything we like, with impunity.

“O Savior, rend the heavens wide” we sang in the first hymn today, echoing the prophet Isaiah in the First Lesson,

“Come down, come down, with mighty stride.”

There is irony here:

the prophets told the people what to expect, warned them of dangers, spoke words of hope and expectation,

and yet when Messiah came as a babe in Bethlehem, they mostly missed the whole thing.

Only a handful, mostly outsiders, saw and believed.

Will we be in danger of missing the final coming because of sloth, inattention, or deliberate scoffing?

The hard words to us today are not offered in meanness or anger, but in admonition and concern.

We can “get away with” lots of things for a very long time,...at least we think we can... but that will not last forever.

Jesus taught in synagogue after synagogue around Galilee, patiently dealing with inattentiveness and opposition as he spoke and healed and had compassion.

He acted in that manner all the way to the cross, where some thought they got rid of him.

But Jesus showed more persistence in his determination to reach even all of us who have been lax, or worse.

Jesus' resurrection means that not only is he shown to be Lord at the end of all creation,

he is quietly being shown as Lord and king even now!

The incarnation and resurrection show that Jesus is not absent as some think, but intends to be present with us, even now.

The question is whether we are ready and willing to look and listen for where Jesus chooses to be active.

Let's start a list:

--Jesus is where his word is opening hearts and minds here in worship.

--Jesus is where his promise is being acted out in the thanksgiving around the bread and wine of Holy Communion.

--Jesus is where persons are brave to speak up for truth in the face of chaos.

--Jesus is where the mundane tasks of care are undertaken..those tasks that we would just as soon avoid... feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, visit those in prison...

all those things that were listed in the Gospel last week.

When we see and hear all these things and more besides taking place around us,

then we can either pretend that God has nothing to do with any of it,

or else we can proclaim the present Jesus,

and acknowledge our failures and shortcomings measured against the expectations which Jesus has for us.

What happens next?

Some will scoff, and say “Nothing.”

Others will listen again to his word,

and get going with the appointed tasks.

I've heard it said that “you Christians are no earthly good since all you talk about is Jesus final coming, the end of time, and the supposed wonders of heaven.”

That is not true to our full message in the Advent season,

because we're talking about all three comings of Jesus:

with a look back to that coming as a real human baby in Bethlehem as a wonder most amazing,

with a look ahead to how Jesus intends things to turn out with us and with all of a re-made creation,

and also with a look around to see where Jesus is active right now, and also to see where Jesus is calling us to join that activity.

I'm including on the sermon sheet a little list of suggestions to prime your reflection and spur your actions.

Our actions now are to be a small anticipation of heaven, where everything is put right in its proper relationship with everything else.

we're not making heaven; that is Jesus' job.

But we are anticipating heaven, and doing whatever we can to entice people to look for it, yearn for it, and expect God's action bringing it to completion.

On that day in 6^th grade, the teachers were not absent; they were just down the hall tending to other things.

They had prepared the student leaders for the classes, they could be back immediately if genuinely needed,

but they had commissioned and entrusted the student leaders with responsibility.

Will we be like those students and step up to the task?

The care of one corner of the kingdom of God has been entrusted to us, as well as the energy and resources to do it.

Let's have an Advent that is busy in appropriate ways,

in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Sunday, November 27 Plan a present to give to someone anonymously.

Monday, November 28 Get that brochure about the congregation from last week's bulletin and put it in a place where someone else might be curious and read it.

Tuesday, November 29 Call Bernadette or Michele and ask how you might help with Kid's Morning Out on December 10.

Wednesday, November 30 Call Bernadette and ask how you might be helpful with the cookie bake on the afternoon of December 10.

Thursday, December 1 Plan to help us “give away Jesus” to our shut-ins and others fueled by carols and cookies on the afternoon of December 11.

Friday, December 2 Take time to read a book about an exemplary Christian and discern in what ways you can adopt one or more of the things that person said or did.

Saturday, December 3 Consider making a special offering to Family Promise for the aid of a family in crisis.

Sunday, December 4 Volunteer through Becky Miller Pryor or Jane Zimmerer to assist in one or more ways next week in Family Promise.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.