Christmas 1B 2023

Kenneth H. Saunders III

St. James Episcopal Church

Greeneville, TN

• Isaiah 61:10-62:3
• Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
• John 1:1-18
• Psalm 147 or 147:13-21

For Christians, our celebration of Christmas is only 7 days old. We still have 5 more days, and it would be nice if the rest of the world would celebrate with us. Some will. But for many folks, the tree is already out with the trash or has been packed up and stored away for the next year. They’re all packed up and ready to move on.

The Twelve Days of Christmas are intended not only as days of celebration but also as days of reflection. These days, we can reflect on the great things God has done for us by coming to be with us and becoming one of us.

The prologue that opens the Gospel according to John sets the stage for a new world order at the beginning of creation with the presence of God’s Word. The same WORD that spoke all of creation into existence, the WORD that was there with Isaiah and the prophets of old…

And now, according to the stoic philosophy of John that WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. And John writes. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” If Jesus was the light that shined in the darkness, then Jesus helps us see what was hidden in the dark. The things that society tries to deny and cover-up. Things like poverty, disease, the marginalized, and the forgotten.

We know that Jesus went about in his ministry healing, restoring, and loving those who were unloved and those seen by society as sinful and excluded. Jesus brings light to their darkness. Once in a while, we actually get a glimpse of what God is doing among us. And occasionally, the light shines so brightly in the darkness that nothing can dim it. Once in a while, people feel this upwelling of joy in their hearts, and they don’t even know where it comes from.

These days of Christmas call us to celebrate, re-order, and perhaps re-frame our lives so we can live differently. So that we might live Christmas all year long. Not because it’s time for New Year resolutions but because Jesus has come to live among us to show us the way.

As this year ends, we think about everything that has happened around us this past year. The world continues to be in turmoil, and we in the US are included. We are just starting to come back from the COVID slump that lasted almost three years, and it’s not entirely over yet. I’m not sure it ever will be as it becomes our new normal. Many of the things that we rely on for our security have all but vanished. So, amid our lowliness, our Lord appears among us in the time of our testing. The light shines in our darkness.

God enters our hearts and minds with a love that cannot be extinguished. God offers us a guide to faith and salvation that no social issue or economic problem can ever erase. God takes our bafflement and our disappointments and redeems them with new insights.

Where have we been living if the light truly shines in the darkness? We have chosen the dark over the light. We have chosen to live on credit and beyond our means as a nation and a people. We have forgotten that there is always a price for greed – a price to be paid by all of us. 

But through the darkness comes the great light, the great light of the incarnate WORD. The WORD that was made flesh that lived among us. And in the dark – even in complete darkness you can always find little glimmers of light as the little glimmers of God’s grace shine through.

There is a story from a few years back about a neighborhood shelter in a financial crisis. The grant money that usually supported the shelter had dried up, and the place many relied on for a daily meal faced imminent closure. A local rabbi came to see the director and asked, “Why are you closing?” “We’re out of money, rabbi,” she said. “Well,” he replied, “then go get some!” She looked at him oddly for a moment and then realized she hadn’t considered any alternatives. In a month, with the rabbi’s help, seven churches and a synagogue had come together to support the shelter. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

How are we doing as we usher out the old year and bring in the new? Are we simply waiting to see when the next thing will happen? Are we waiting on the sidelines for someone else to do something big and bold? It is time for us to go to work; it’s time to act like the gifted people God created us to be and make a difference in this world. It’s time to be about God’s business in our churches, in our communities, and in our families. 

God’s business is committed to redemption and doing things that bring about healing and graciousness in the lives of ALL people. That is what we should be doing because that is what God has done for us when God became flesh and dwelt among us.

Welcome to this middle of the twelve hallowed days of Christmastide! May they be the days you see the Word-made flesh scatter the darkness from before your path and empower you to give light to others.

Christmas Day 2023

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III

St. James Episcopal Church

Greeneville, TN

• Isaiah 52:7-10
• Hebrews 1:1-4,(5-12)
• John 1:1-14
• Psalm 98

Last night, I spoke about the discomfort of the nativity story. When the world was a mess, God decided to break through, become one of us, and become what we understand as incarnate. Making us realize that the divine and human can and do coexist. 

We were encouraged at the service to look at one another differently; look at each other as bearers of the divine spark, the Christ light. But we heard all that in the context of a story of a baby born in Bethlehem. But today is a little different.

Today, there is no baby or stable or barn. Today, there are no angles and no shepherds. This morning, we get the Good News from John’s gospel, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” We hear the stoic philosophy of John’s “logos” or WORD taking on human flesh.

Prior to Jesus, God’s WORD was spoken by the prophets and written down in the Torah. It was all the people knew of God. God’s WORD was something that they chiseled onto stone tablets and carried around in a golden ark. They used that WORD as the place where they encountered God. And they honored God by keeping that Word.

God’s WORD was a promise made in a covenant that included a blood pact and agreements to abide, worship, sacrifice, and keep the law. In turn, God would continue to provide for and protect the people and keep them safe from harm. This is the WORD that became FLESH and BONE in the person of Jesus And lived out as a human. A human being that embodied everything they knew the WORD of God to be.

The people would be familiar with the Hebrew scriptures and the stories in Genesis about God, who spoke the world into being by saying let there be light. 

Frederick Buchner says, “When God said, “Let there be light,” there was light where before, there was only darkness. When I say I love you, there is love where before, there was only ambiguous silence. In a sense, I do not love you first and then speak it, but only by speaking it gives it reality.” And John writes.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus came to shine light in the darkness of the world. I think folks who have night blindness can understand this a little better than others. In the dark, you can’t see anything, especially in ancient times when they didn’t suffer from light pollution. If Jesus is the light of all people that shined in the darkness,

then Jesus helps us see what has been hidden in the dark, the things that society tries to deny and cover-up. The poverty and disease, the marginalized, and the forgotten. We know that Jesus went about in his ministry healing and restoring those who were unloved and seen by society as sinful and excluded. Jesus brought light to that darkness. 

We use candles in worship. And I sometimes use them in my personal prayer practice. Candles help remind me that Jesus is the light of the world. When we light a candle, we tap into that ancient, never-ending cycle of life-giving, restorative energy. When we understand it like this, we understand what John is trying to tell us. 

This is John’s Christmas. This is where John begins the story. I sometimes feel it gets to be more complicated than Christmas needs to be, but that’s what Christmas is, as seen through the eyes of John’s gospel. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and from his fullness have we all received grace upon grace.”

The “WORD” of God became flesh. That same Word spoke everything in creation into being. That same Word that creates, redeems, and sustains and the same WORD that was in the beginning is now, and will be forever. 

The Word that is often translated as “Dwelt” or lived literally means “tabernacled” or “pitched his tent” among us. This means that when we pick up our tent stakes and move on, that same WORD can pull up and go with us, travel with us, and be wherever we are, much like when the Israelites were wandering in the desert. The ark contained the tablets and the “presence” of God and was taken with them. It went where they went.

This WORD, Jesus, from which all creation, all life, all things, and all light proceeds, is shared with us all.

Everyone and everything. As in “all.” Not some, not a lot, but like creation itself, all persons and things receive this grace... all that God has done since before, in, and beyond time.

Then, John talks about a man named John, who was a lampstand. “He was not the light but came to bear witness to the light.” So now, it becomes our mission. We are the ones to bear witness to the light that comes from Jesus, the WORD, who was with God and was God in the beginning. 

This is what we are called to be and do: bear witness to the light and do all in our power to help others also bear witness to the light. This is best done by seeking and serving Christ, the Word, the logos, in all persons, everywhere, always. 

None of us can be Christ-like by ourselves. However, each of us carries a particular Christ-like characteristic. We each have a piece of the light. All together, we can make up a Christ-like community. That is why, when we baptize new members of the Body of Christ, the whole body is changed and made new. That is why it is so important to take the promises we make seriously. Especially the promise to do all in our power to support one another in our lives in Christ. Because the piece of Christ that I need is the piece you have, and the piece you need is the piece I have. Together, we can strive for unity, justice, and peace for all people and respect the dignity of every human being.

Because we are the WORD, the Body Christ that became flesh and dwelt among us. And together, we make up the Word, the logos, the Christ, for the world. Merry Christmas! Amen

Christmas Eve 2023

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Christmas Eve

• Isaiah 9:2-7
• Titus 2:11-14
• Luke 2:1-14(15-20)
• Psalm 96

Pieter Bruegel: The Census at Bethlehem (c. 1566)

I am distressed tonight. I’m distressed about the state of turmoil that the world is in. Some of you may share in that distress.

There are counties that are at war. Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Palestine. These are not the only countries at war. These are the ones folks talk about the most. There is also war in Yemen, Ethiopia, Sudan, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Korea. Libya in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in at least 20 other countries. Regions and, people and lands are being divided, the innocent are being killed, and families are being displaced; ripped apart because of fear and distrust.

They are ripped apart because countries are fighting over resources and financial gain, fighting over perceived power and position. It’,s either a war between countries, or the political instability has become so divided that the country is at war within itself. There is so much muck-slinging and social and political posturing in this country, that the frenzy continues.

There is anything but... peace on earth.

A few years ago, in the Christmas Eve sermon, I spoke about each member of the nativity scene. I talked about the figurine arrangement that we use to decorate our mantles, place on our tables, and under our Christmas trees. It looks so peaceful, sweet, and lovely, but it really should make us uncomfortable. Of how it should make us upset that the world had gotten to a place so bad that a dominant government forced relocation to impose taxation on even the poorest of the poor.

It was so wrong that a poor family with a pregnant soon-to-be mother couldn’t find a place to stay. She had no place to lay her head, so they had to make do in the filth of a stable among the livestock. Poverty so profound that they probably didn’t know where their next meal would come from. In the midst of all that, God decided to break forth into this world.

We should think about some things this evening, think about some things that will hopefully stick with us for a while, at least the rest of the year. I want us to put ourselves at another time in history. A time when the world was a mess, socially, economically, and politically. Much like it is now.

I want us to put ourselves in the ancient world of Bethlehem. I want us to put ourselves in a place 

where we can hear the busy town teeming with people, all looking for a place to stay. I want us to put ourselves in the middle of the road brok, helpless, and tired, with door after door slammed in our faces.

I want us to put ourselves in the stable, in one of the cattle stalls, able to smell the rotten hay and manure. I want us to try to feel and know what it is like for this young homeless couple as they encountered more incredible hardships than any of us sitting here in this warm church could ever imagine. And I want us to ask ourselves, what would we do for them? Would we take them in and give them a place to stay?

Now, for us, knowing who this couple is, it’s probably easy to say… yes… Yes… of course. Yes, we will let them in, give them a place to stay and comfort them. After all, it’s Mary and Joseph, and the child she will have will save the world. But what if you didn’t know the rest of the story? What if you didn’t know how it played out? Would we give them a place to stay? Something to eat?

In the Benedictine practice, there is a rule written by St. Benedict that governs monastic life. It’s called simply the Rule of St. Benedict. A portion of this rule states all guests who present themselves 

are to be welcomed as Christ! They made it a required part of their communal behavior to receive all guests, all passersby, as if they were the living Christ himself, standing at their door.

They were on to something there. They realized that humanity is sacred and precious, something of value, regardless. They know that welcoming and taking in strangers and treating them as if they were Jesus honors the image of God that they bear and respects the divinity that can be found in humanity.

Brothers and sisters, each and every one of us bears the image of God. When you look deep into the eyes of your spouse, child, parent, family, or friend, you are looking at the image of God. But also, when you look into the eyes of a stranger, someone different from you, I mean different from you in every way, in shape or age or color, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, personality, or even political party, you are looking at the image of God.

Would we let them live among us in peace? Would we give them something to eat if they were hungry? Would you give them a drink if they were thirsty? Would we provide or help them seek shelter?

But what if they were that young refugee couple that had to leave their home for whatever reason and stay in a cow stall? What’s the difference?

If you think that Jesus is the difference, you’re right! Jesus is the difference between respecting the dignity of every human being and the cold, harsh fears and behaviors of this world and its governments. Jesus is the difference because God chose to break forth into this world in the person of Jesus Christ to show us how to be fully human. Jesus is the difference because of the hardships he faced in this world that offered him nothing but cruelty. Jesus is the difference because he taught us to love one another and taught us in loving one another, we are loving God.

Jesus is not just a baby crying in a manger in a stall in some barn in Bethlehem a long time ago that has somehow become a sweet story about a baby being born. Who doesn’t like babies?

As sweet as the story may be, if it doesn’t stir us to some level of discontentment and engagement with the world, if it doesn’t call us into deeper relationships with each other, and move us to be uncomfortable with the status quo, then what’s it all about, anyway?

Jesus is relevant, and Jesus is active in our everyday lives, but we often fail to see it. And Jesus is here tonight, but we sometimes fail to recognize him. He is among us, and we fail to welcome and invite him. God loves us so much, but we often fail to acknowledge it... Acknowledge it by being Christ to one another and loving each other as we should.

I want us to do something this evening. As we share the peace, I want us to look deeply into each other’s eyes, look for that divine spark, see Christ’s light burning within the other, and know that in this community of faith, there is always room to grow in peace and love, with one another and with Jesus Christ as Lord. It’s a way that we can begin to keep the spirit of peace at Christmas all the time!

I saw a writing early this month from an unknown author.

It said every time a hand reaches out To help another... 

    That is Christmas 

Every time someone puts anger aside and strives for understanding... 

    That is Christmas

Every time people forget their differences and realize their love for each other...

    That is Christmas

May this Christmas bring us closer to the spirit of human understanding 

and closer to the blessing of peace!

My friends, let that spirit of peace and love ripple out from this place and go out to all places and nations on the earth. Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace and goodwill among all people. Amen!

Advent 4B 2023

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

December 31, 2023

• 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
• Romans 16:25-27
• Luke 1:26-38
• Canticle 15
• or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26

This is one of those awkward moments in the liturgical calendar where Advent 4 is Christmas Eve. It’s almost as if Dr. Suess’ Grinch that Stole Christmas decided to steal the last week of Advent from us this year. As someone who likes to honor the life of Christ with the liturgical calendar – today is difficult, but it is what it is.

Like much of Advent, we are caught this morning between the already and the not yet. Christ came already, but he hasn’t come again yet. For the past few weeks, we’ve been preparing our hearts to examine our darkness and make room for the light. We have listened for God’s still, small voice through the passionate cry of the prophets. We have been told that we will find comfort and release as we turn our hearts and minds toward God and watch and wait for the one coming to make things right.

Today we are told to get ready by making ourselves a mansion an extravagant dwelling place for God. I thought to myself, I know precisely what a mansion is. I built houses for several years before becoming a priest. So, I immediately went to that place where builders and real estate agents go. I went to the place thinking of a great floor plan, beautiful windows, a modern kitchen, and a room for everything. A place where anyone would be comfortable. A place fit for a king.

It was then that I realized I was thinking like the prophet Nathan in this morning’s lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures when Nathan perceives that God is ostracizing David for not building God a permanent home, a house of Cedar. Not building God a mansion.

We get into this mindset often, especially when we think about building our houses of worship. We get into what I will call the bricks-and-mortar mindset. The mindset of thinking that it’s all about the structure. As soon as we believe we have it figured out, we are presented with a different idea and get to consider something else. A house of worship is more than structure, more than bricks and mortar. A house of prayer is a place of encounter. It is a place where we experience God in a community. A thin space between the already and the not yet. Between the earth and the heavenly realm. 

Then, we have the reading from Luke’s gospel account of an angel appearing to a young woman in Nazareth named Mary. The angel, identified as Gabriel, was sent by God. We know from scripture when angels show up, God is up to something. I was told once that the modern perception of Angels might be a tad inaccurate. Angels are not the cute little cherubs that we see on greeting cards, the ones that resemble curly-headed babies playing harps and wearing diapers. Angels are more like scary spirit beings. So frightening that they need to say, “Don’t be afraid” when they show up. Because when they appear, their presence is terrifying. 

Mary is mystified and confused about why she is receiving this strange visit. But she listens to the angel’s message that she is to have a holy child even though she is a virgin and that her older cousin Elizabeth, who was said to not be able to have children, is in her 6th month of pregnancy. In the strange predicament of her pregnancy, Mary becomes the thin space between Heaven and Earth. Mary becomes the bridge between God and God’s people.

For years, the people of Israel were travelers. They lived a nomadic life, setting up and taking down tents and carrying around a golden box (an ark) that contained the covenant (God’s law) etched in stone tablets. For them, it represented the presence of God as they carried it from place to place. The ark was that thin space for them to encounter God. And when Israel moved from place to place, they took God with them.

So this morning, we are confronted with trying to understand what God is telling us. How do we interpret the stories that have such a deep significance to our preparations and waiting this time of year? We have been building up to this, preparing for a time when God will come. A time when Jesus will come again and restore this broken world like he said he would.

Well, we could look at the reading from Samuel and immediately come to the conclusion that you can’t put God in a box. There is no way to contain the magnificence of God and everything that God is in a conveniently packaged express delivery, complete with quick assembly instructions.

We could look at the relationship between the two readings and come to the understanding that God is not a God of Bricks and mortar. God is not a God of Bricks and Mortar, but rather, God is a God of Flesh and blood. That the house of God is in the relationships of God’s people, God’s people, whom God loves and cares for and favors.

The poor, innocent peasant girl, Mary, embodies everything pure and hopeful about the future of humanity, everything that is right about how the world is. She embraces her fear and confusion and becomes the way for God to enter this world in the flesh. Become human in the person of Jesus.

This young woman is so moved by her experience that she sings out, strong and empowered, using the language of the prophets. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior.” Words that she would have been familiar with. Words were spoken by the prophet Hannah when she thanked God for the birth of her son. Hannah cried out, my heart rejoices in the Lord because I rejoice in the Lord’s salvation.

In Mary’s song, she speaks of the wrongs in this world being righted by the mighty hand and power of God. She says of the lowly being raised up, the weak being made strong, and the hungry being filled. God didn’t use a man for this incredible responsibility. God used a strong woman. A woman who in the ancient world lacked power or position, a woman who was considered by society to be completely vulnerable. Someone so utterly dependent on others that she couldn’t even own property. God called on a woman and strengthened and empowered her to be an icon and a vessel of strength for us. A vessel that would bring to us the savior of the world.

Now, we are faced with how to prepare to build up and prepare ourselves as a place for God to dwell. The collective prayer at the beginning of the liturgy asks God to grant us a pure conscience so that we might be visited daily by Jesus and that Jesus may find us a mansion, an extravagant dwelling place, prepared for him. How do we make ourselves a suitable dwelling place prepared, able, ready to be empowered and strengthened, and willing to receive God? 

We are blessed to worship in one of the most historic and charming houses of worship in Greeneville, crafted with love and cared for by generations. There are many prayers absorbed in these walls. But the truth is, we can build all the pretty buildings we want. We can deck the halls with beautiful decorations and inlay them with silver, gold, and precious stones. We can have the most luxurious worship spaces that money can buy, but if we haven’t made ourselves, our souls and bodies a mansion prepared for him… If we haven’t done the deep work of accepting the call to be the bearer of good news for the world... if we haven’t worked on our relationships with one another... if we haven’t loved and cared for our neighbor… then it is all for not.

Brothers and sisters, amid our advent preparations this morning, we are reminded again that we need to prepare ourselves. But, we don’t get prepared by decking the halls with boughs of holly. We need to get ready for living, loving, and life-giving God to come among us to dwell with us. We need to make ourselves, our souls, and our bodies a mansion prepared for God.

We do that by allowing God to use us as a vessel through which God works to right the wrongs in the world. To speak up for those with no voice... to fill the hungry with good things… to seek justice and truth. We, like Mary, can let our souls and our actions magnify the purposes of God in this hurting world. Magnify them so the world can see the salvation of our God.

We are almost ready but not yet; we live in that thin space between the already and the not yet. We are nearly prepared for Christ to come among us, but not yet. We still have more work to do!

Advent 3B 2023

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

December 17, 2023

• Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
• John 1:6-8,19-28
• Psalm 126
• or Canticle 15

John the Baptizer is an interesting character. We heard about John last week; he was in the wilderness crying out, “Prepare the way of the Lord… Repent and turn to God.” In this process, he stirs things up. The Baptizer’s words are urgent and disturbing so much that the Judaean priests and Levites come out to him and demand: “Who do you think you are?”

This morning, that is what the Gospel message is all about. And John’s answer is even more alarming. He is already stirring and shaking up things as they are because he is baptizing for the forgiveness of sins. The issue is that John is neither the Christ nor Elijah or the Prophet Elijah. He is just a voice, a voice crying out in the wilderness, a voice announcing that God is near, and he is pleading with us to wake up, repent of our sins, be baptized, and prepare ourselves for the One who will come to liberate us.

John the Baptist is a witness to God’s coming amid that isolated and confined world that we call “our life,” a confinement formed by our self-deceiving thoughts that we are, perhaps, self-governing, advantaged, knowledgeable, or even economically stable. It’s hard for us to sit still and be silent; be silent enough so we can listen carefully, listen for that prophetic voice of God that talks to us through unlikely messengers and invites us to the in-between spaces. Sit and listen. Heed their warnings so that we can be fully prepared when the time comes!

Whether it’s a “still small voice” or an impassioned prophetic cry, God’s presence in our isolated lives often makes us uncomfortable. We think our lives are private and want nothing to upset the stability and the familiarity. So the slightest sound that may be from God, or any sense of a “small” voice that disturbs our organized life, are unwelcome disturbances to us! They don’t fit into that carefully created pattern of living…

The Priests and Levites who came out to confront John the Baptist would understand this thought pattern. They wanted nothing to upset their stability, the familiarity of their lives organized around traditional temple worship. They were deeply invested in their traditions but much more in themselves than in God. That’s why John and his message was so threatening to them. If John were really from God, if he really were a prophetic voice, then things as they knew them would change; they had to! But they didn’t want anything to change; they wanted things to stay exactly as they were. This changelessness, however, is not what God is about.

Like the Priests, the Levites, and most humans, people like things to stay just as they are. Change is one of those things that makes us “comfortable.” We like the safety of the captive lives we have created for ourselves. 

Then we hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah about rejoicing in Jerusalem and being clothed with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness. We hear that our labors shall not be in vain, that the captives will be free, and they will have the oil of gladness and a mantel of praise. These are comfortable words to the people and comforting promises. But the promises are only fulfilled by the passing away what once was and the coming into being of the new world order that God is creating.

We don’t like hearing those words of the repentant turning and change, the turning around we must all do. We don’t like it, so we end up closing our ears so we don’t hear anything. As a result, we’re not able to hear God. John’s prophetic voice invites us to live outside of our comfort zones. He invites us to live outside of our own confining lives, and it calls us to be different from the established order around us. 

Paul’s call to the church at Thessalonica holds them to the Baptizer’s call: Help the weak, do not repay evil for evil, seek to do good to all, and hold fast to what is good. If we have made our place and are firmly “dug-in” to the way it has always been done before, if we are secure in our captivity and in our isolation, then we can understand the world and the fears of the Thessalonians. 

We learn to be comfortable with the familiar. And in our cozy comfort, we fear anything different. But John’s voice calls out to us, calls out to our spirits, our souls, and bodies. He calls us to be kept sound and blameless at the coming of God. 

As we heard it last week and again this morning, the Baptist’s cry is so cold, urgent, and disturbing. He is a voice announcing that God is near, inviting us to wake up, repent of our sins, and prepare ourselves for the One who will liberate us from our isolated unchanging lives, isolation formed by our self-deceiving thoughts that we are independent, privileged, educated, politically correct, or even economically stable.

When we are on the edge of life and know that we are alone, without property or privilege, we know firsthand the Scripture’s words of assurance to the least of God’s people because we have started to recognize ourselves as the least of God’s people. It’s only then that our self-deceptions begin to fall away.

There are countless ways this can happen. It often happens under conditions that disrupt our life, like progress and growth – maybe a sickness, death, or layoff. Crises like these, crises of our personal, professional, and political lives, are sometimes the point at which our Christian life begins or maybe begins again.

We heard John’s cry last week so that we could be prepared. But the most crucial step that we can take this morning is to respond in action to that voice that calls us out of our own complacency. It’s a step that takes us out of the comfort zones of our lives. It’s a realization that we are dependent and share the same limitations as all other human beings. Knowing our need for God is more significant than our fear of God’s demands.

The things we are afraid of are all likely to occur, but they are nothing to fear. As I said a few weeks ago, we are all witnesses of God in this world. The Christian life invites us to accept this mission with all its hazards and burdens. It’s challenging work and sometimes a crisis, but for us Christians, the word crisis has morphed into “transformation” or positive change. Consider the lives of the saints. Consider Paul and John the Baptist. They were all engaged in God’s plan, fearfully, no doubt, but they had enough courage, initiative, and endurance to love God more than be afraid of God.

They knew themselves to be finite and dependent on a power far greater than themselves, and they let themselves be formed by God and took their place in the great movement, reconnecting souls that were separated from God. So, we learn from them. We hear the cry and respond daringly. And if we let God, God will come to us and inform and transform our lives. God will release us and keep us from being captive.

Advent 2B 2023

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

December 10, 2023

• Isaiah 40:1-11
• 2 Peter 3:8-15a
• Mark 1:1-8
• Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
  

Today, we have heard the beginning of the Gospel according to Mark. A gospel that we will spend a lot of time in the days ahead. Mark's account of the Good News of Jesus Christ didn't begin with a baby in a manger. It didn't start with angels and wise men and shepherds. It began with an ancient prophecy remembered. The prophet Isaiah speaks of a messenger, a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, "Make the rough places plain and the low places made high and the high places low. Make the crooked places straight and prepare the way of the Lord."

Mark introduces this messenger as John. The one who baptizes with water. The one who preaches repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus, he says. Mark sets it up right where Salvation begins. He sets it up to be good news to us in order for us to know who Jesus is and why he came so that we must repent and believe.

So, now I've used a bunch of churchy words. We may understand a few of them if we paid attention in Sunday school. I remember Mrs. Creekmore's 4th grade Sunday School class, but I don'temember one lesson. That doesn't mean that Mrs. Creekmore was a bad teacher; on the contrary, she was an outstanding teacher. She would teach us the churchy words, hoping we would someday understand. But the churchy words are still there. Words like prophecy… Baptize… repent… sin… and salvation… Advent is when we might reexamine what these words mean and why they are important to us in the context of these readings. 

When I hear the passage from Isaiah, I cannot help but think of Handel's Messiah and the Tenor Aria in the first movement, "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people." This beautiful piece puts Isaiah's great prophecy to music, and these are the first words sung in Handel's great work. I think the main thing we must remember here is that God is making way for God's people. God always continues to make a way.

Isaiah uses his prophetic voice to speak to God's people who are in exile and let them know that they will be comforted after such hardship. Isaiah reminds Israel that even though they are in exile, God is still with them and making a way through all the rough places... God is leveling off the playing field. God is coming with great power and will establish equity through restoration.

Isaiah uses his prophetic voice to remind Israel not to give up hope that God continues to be the restorer of all things. This prophecy is fulfilled by John the Baptizer, whom Mark introduces us to in the Gospel reading...  The one who cries in the wilderness, "Make the paths straight"

John is called "the Baptizer" because he takes folks down to the Jordan River and gives them a ritual bath, calling for them to repent. Repentance, or in the Greek, Metanoia (say it with me): You've heard me use this word before. Repentance isn't an "I'm sorry, I won't do it again." Repentance is literally, "I will go in a different direction. Metanoia is an "about-face," it means to go in a different way than the way that we are going; in our context, to repent would be to begin going in the right direction, following the ways of Jesus, living a life in response to him and honoring Jesus by the way we live our lives. In our repentance and turning from the ways of sin. 

Oops, there's another one of those churchy words. One of those churchy words that folks like to use a lot. Sometimes, sin is thrown in our faces; I've actually heard someone referred to as a "filthy sinner." And I'm sure some folks intentionally sin. But I like to define sin as this... Sin is a shortcoming. It's missing the mark, sometimes deliberately and sometimes unintentionally. Sin is anything that destroys the relationship between God and God's people.

I'm sure you've heard of the "Seven Deadly Sins." Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. But these aren't the only sins. These are just classified as the worst. Sin could be as simple as a shortcoming. Like a sin of attitude or neglect, or it could be as bad as a sin of action or intent. ALL these sins are the things that John is asking folks to turn away from. They were to repent (turn away from) sins and be ritually cleansed. In order to restore their relationship with God, they acknowledge to God that they understand where they have gone astray.

In the same way, we are to examine our own lives to prepare the way for God. We need to repent of those things we have done that we ought not to have done. And also those things we didn't do that we should have done. With that reconciling act, we are restored to right-relationship with God (by doing what we should do) and right-relationship with each other.

Then, we have the idea of Salvation. Salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. More churchy words. Salvation means we are freed from the burdens of our sins and restored to God through Jesus. And we are redeemed by God and set free of our sins, evil, and death. 

In the second letter of Peter, it talks about time and patience in waiting. Last week, we were told to keep watch, stay alert, and wait. This week, we are offered a word that puts our waiting in context. A word that draws all the churchy words we've been talking about - together.

The word is patience. Patience is hard for us. Waiting takes time. We want control. We want things to happen on our terms and in our own time; we want God to fit into our timeline; we want to say when things begin and end. Advent is our time to remember that we don't control everything; Advent calls us to question those things we think we are in control of. Advent is an opportunity to rethink our relationship with time. There is a distinct difference between God's time and our time. God's time is not our time, and our time is not God's time. God's time is eternal, and our time is chronological or linear. The promises of God do not happen on our timeline. So, we are called to be patient. Patiently wait for a time when all will be restored. Patient and stay on God's time. To be patient means someone else is in control. God is patient with us; we need to be patient with God.

The prophetic voices of Isaiah and John are ringing through us today, calling for us to repent of our sins and turn to God. Calling for us to be restored to right-relationship with God and each other. And for us to be patient as we wait for Jesus to come. We are to strive to be found at peace. And regard the patience of our Lord as our Salvation.

Advent 1B 2023

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN 

December 3, 2023

• Isaiah 64:1-9
• 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
• Mark 13:24-37
• Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18

People always seem to be in a hurry, especially this time of year, in a hurry to rush to the store and spend money, in a hurry to put up the tree and bring out the decorations, and in a hurry to send out cards and well-wishes to folks they haven’t seen or heard from in years.

The stores are putting up the decorations earlier and earlier, wanting to create that “rush” toward Christmas. Wanting people to buy this and buy that and make their personal woes disappear by creating financial ones.

It almost seems that putting up the decorations earlier will somehow make Christmas come faster… I always ask myself, what are folks really looking for this time of year?… are they looking for the “feeling” of Christmas to come? – 

Do they think the feeling will come by putting candles in the window, tinsel on the evergreen, or mistletoe in the doorframe? Do folks really want to spend all that money on stuff they don’t need?

What do folks want to happen? Do they really want Christmas to come sooner… It’s surprising because they only celebrate for a day when it finally arrives.

The saddest thing I’ve ever seen was someone who put their Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving and tossed it on the street on December 26. They’d had it up so long that it was all dried out by the time the actual day of Christmas came… 

We’ve been swallowed up by secular society that has coopted Christmas to make themselves money… That’s where we are today. Right here, amid all that social chaos, the commercial world has created twirling around us. 

We are here right here! Right here starting our new year. Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of the Christian year. This is the Sunday we begin to retell the story... we retell the Christian story again. 

And our story starts out just as chaotic as the world around us, with the exhortation from Jesus to wait! Wait for his coming again... Wait and keep watch for the Son of Man to come with great power and glory, and the elect will be gathered from the four corners of the earth! But no one knows when this will happen, so we are to be aware, stay alert, stay awake, and watch! 

Advent for us is a season of waiting, preparation... a season of watching and being alert. This may seem strange for those hurrying to get to the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem. But that’s not what we’re waiting for… That’s something that has already happened. 

That’s why this season is so important… we start our year by being told to stay awake and prepare for Jesus’ coming again. 

The two stories go hand in hand. Today, we are more like the ones back then who awaited the birth of the Messiah. We know not the day nor the hour when it will happen, so we must continuously watch and wait. 

The difference is we know who we are waiting for. We expect that Jesus will return just as he said he would. And here’s where we start our story. We begin with joyful anticipation, with the expectation that we will see Christ face to face. 

But it is only a comfortable thing for some of us to do. In fact, it makes us worried and anxious... the longer we wait, the more anxious we get and the more jittery and fearfully excited about the unknown we become. So, most of us choose not to wait at all. Or we make waiting a passive thing that we just routinely do instead of something we actively do. We may passively wait, like in the grocery store or bank queue. But active waiting is much different. It’s intentional, it’s deliberate, and it requires preparation. 

Most people who know me know that I love parades. So, the example that I can think of would be a parade. Parades when I was a little boy were a big deal. People would line the streets and wait, wanting to get a good place and a good view. They prepare most of the morning, and the little children get excited. 

They were excited about what candy would get thrown at them or what old cars, character floats, or fire trucks they would see. We only know that the parade has started because we hear the sound of horns or the drums in the bands at the head of the parade. The excitement begins to build as each sight and sound goes by. The excitement was expected, but there was some mystery surrounding the event. That’s the waiting I am talking about... 

The people of old waited to be delivered by a messiah, who the prophets told them would be born. So, they lived in a continual state of readiness and preparation because they did not know the day or hour of his arrival. 

We wait today, at the beginning of Advent, in the same way. But we are not waiting for a baby to be born in a barn; that has already happened, and it is a beautiful story... and there will be twelve whole days set apart on the calendar for us to celebrate!

But today, we are called to wait, prepare, be pregnant (if you will) with expectation and excitement, and be actively watchful. We are called to take some time out, be still, and look and listen for the Christ who will come when we least expect it.

Taking time out at this time of year is counter-cultural because so much is expected of us… go here, do this, do that, buy this, buy that… We have gotten tied all up in society’s expectations, told what to do and where to go. So much so that it has become our tradition and our way of dealing with the season.

We have done it for so long that we don’t know anything different, like the people who have lived by the train tracks for so long that they no longer hear the sound of the train. We get accustomed to the “noise” surrounding Advent so much that we no longer notice it. 

Or if we do, it doesn’t jolt us awake as it once did. I invite you today to the observance of a Holy Advent. To be still and wait… I want to not be in a rush to put up the decorations but wait and let the anxiety build, be watchful, and expect something holy to happen.

As children, we used advent calendars that we opened each day of Advent, counting down the days until Christmas. We were innocently filled with anticipation as we waited to see what would be behind the next little door, what treat we would receive, or what story it would tell us.

Some of us use the advent wreath in the home, like the one in our worship space, to help us mark the weeks until our savior returns. We light one more candle each Sunday until all the candles are lit. And we realize as the light grows that God is getting nearer and nearer to us.

We are called today to keep a Holy Advent, a special place between the birth of a baby and the coming of Christ in glory. A place somewhere between the “already” and the “not yet.” As we strive to live in the middle of the chaos of our life to live a holy advent, we not only get to know better the One that has already come into the world, who lived as one of us, who died and rose again.

But we also start to prepare ourselves to live in the realm that God has prepared for us and promised us. And then we can begin to experience, even now, some of what that life might be like.

So prepare, stay alert, watch, stay awake, and wait. For Jesus gets nearer to us each and every day. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus, Come.