Being a Christian means that we proclaim that we are transformed - for real! God's Word, in Jesus Christ, in scripture, in the Holy Spirit that moves, in our everyday lives, transforms us! Sometimes we forget this. In the text from this past Sunday, the prophet Isaiah reminds us that proclaiming the truth of this Advent and every season is this proclamation "Be not afraid, here is your God! He will come and save you!"
Click to read the sermon below:
In 2006, a man named Steve decided to do a little Christmas experiment and document it on his website. He writes, “Late Christmas Eve, my wife and I were preparing for Santa's arrival. She felt bad when she realized we didn't have much to put in our three-year-old's stocking. I asked if I could wrap up a tiny box of raisins, just to see if he would be excited or not. He's generally a very good recipient of gifts and as many of you know, the kid likes to eat, (ear medicine, vaseline, sprinkles, etc.) so she was on board. You should know that this wasn't even an ordinary box of raisins. It's the tiniest box of raisins they make. There are seriously, maybe 12 raisins in it. One present we had gotten him was a cool electronic drum set that I was pretty sure he'd flip out over. I was very curious to see how the tiny box of raisins would fare against the high-tech competition.” So Christmas morning, Steve recorded the reaction. His three year-old son picks up the tiny box curiously, saying “I don't know what's in here,” and then – the moment of truth – will raisins be an exciting gift? Paper is hurriedly unwrapped, and he shouts in joy, “RAISINS!” Mom encouragingly says, “wow, you got raisins!” - and he holds the tiny box of raisins in his small hand and dances, saying “Raisins! Raisins!” and shakes the box excitedly in front of the camera. (http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000749.php to listen to the reactions)
Pure, honest, innocent joy. A fourteen cent box of raisins. This season reminds us of that quality in children and offers hope that we might have it ourselves. But this wears off quick, doesn't it? After the success of the raisins experiment in 2006, Steve decided to do the experiment again the next year. Now his son was a year older, the whopping age of four, and the tiny box lay wrapped under the tree again. Picking up the tiny box this time, he says, “what did I get?” and then as he starts to unwrap it, “okay” and then - “RAISINS??!” indignant – he exclaims “he gave me raisins?” and then stomps his feet in misery, hands the box to his mom and angrily says, “put this back with your food.”
Gifts so easily become expected, overlooked, and easily tired of. In the time of the prophet Isaiah, God's people are far from home, and even though they are under God's care, it is easy to become tired and fearful. The exclamations of joy turn into worry and fear – well when is God going to welcome us home? What is going to happen? Where are we anyway? What else is there for us? God's people see bad news around them, in the desert, away from home. Even though they have all they need, just like their ancestors in the wilderness of Egypt, they are easily worried, stressed, tired, and afraid. The holiday season, even gifts, can do that to us too. For the Israelites in Egypt, they were given the daily gift of manna, food from heaven from God, but they tired of it, and started to complain. Like a kid whose toy has lost its shimmer or an adult whose cell phone or car has become uncool. Just so easily do the joy of a fourteen cent box of raisins turn into disgust that it's not a more expensive gift, and eventually for adults, the stress of how our dollars will stretch and bring joy as hoped.
Bad news, stress, the world can transform us – it can make a calm day look like the desert, where we are alone, or waiting for something bad to happen. It can make a calm nighttime street look dangerous, a stranger's face untrustworthy, or the world's future bleak. The cynicism of the world can make a glorious present of food look like a lonely, dried up, tiny box of raisins. Bad news transforms us. But what about good news?
The world is a fearful place. But the prophet Isaiah proclaims, Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
"Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you." This is good news. So God calls us to say to each other, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come and save you.” This news – it's not just a statement – it transforms. Try saying it to someone. It's not easy, but God moves through it, and just telling someone can change the world. Isaiah reports prophetically, that this statement does something – when you proclaim God present and coming, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.”
Good news does transform us, it changes our whole lives. Meeting Jesus transforms us, the one who forgives our sins, who teaches us daily, who gives us the Holy Spirit to walk with us daily. It would be a good spiritual discipline for Advent just to wake up in the morning and say these things to yourself - “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come and save you.” I am not the same, because of my relationship with God, as revealed in Jesus and who moves today in the Holy Spirit. Here in Advent we wait for Jesus who has come and will come again, who has transformed, now transforms, and will transform the whole world. Jesus is the good news of Advent, and good news changes our lives.
The good news of the story of our God changes our lives. It may not always look like it, but having heard this news, our feet are set on the highway, the holy Way, on which we cannot get lost. Isaiah proclaims that getting lost from God's path isn't possible. We are on this road together, and we are not alone. God is here. God gifts us with the power to transform the world around us with the good news. The desert will blossom, and the world is being changed. God's love and God's good news transforms the world – and you are a part of it. God, through you, is transforming the lives of the Clare house family we have adopted. Gifts can transform, especially when the Holy Spirit moves through them to share God's love. Through Lutheran World relief and your giving homes, schools, and medicine are given right to those in need in Haiti, Africa, all over. Ten dollars through the ELCA's global barnyard buys 10 chicks for a family in a third-world country, which transforms their lives – providing a sustainable income, a small business for eggs, and a story to tell and go on. God works through you to transform the world. The good news that our God has come transforms lives, changes hearts, moves us to tell the story, and act in Christ's name.
The good news of Advent is that “Here is your God,” and “he will come and save you.” But with Advent's promise of God who is coming also is the promise that we are coming home. Isaiah proclaimed that God's people would return home, “come to Zion with singing, everlasting joy shall be on their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Hearing the news of our God, we leap and shout, like three-year-old on Christmas with a new, shiny, box of raisins. Together, on the Holy Way, we shout for joy, tell others, and walk home.
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