Gospel text for 2nd Advent - Sunday, 7 December 2014

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,  "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: `Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Reflection    What does this have to say to us, many of whom were baptized as infants? Isn’t baptism a done deal? Not according to John. “This is the beginnning of the good news, ” news that always we begin again. There is no shortage of opportunities for each of us to pause, listen to the words of the prophet, examine our lives for vestigages of sin asking; To what am I clinging for my safety and security? How do I use alcohol, drugs, food, shopping, sex, work, video games, people or the internet for comfort or esteem? What means do I employ to acquire and exert power and control? What if I found my safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control in relationship with God instead?

Now let me be crystal clear. I am not suggesting that the things of earth or creation are evil. That would be a heresy.  It is our attachment to things as sources of that which is of God that is sin. Just another way of saying, we have a tendency to turn things into idols - golden calves, golden parachutes.  When we decide to repent, to change our minds, to let go of our idols, our habits, attachments and addictions, we are ready for something new. This is how we prepare the way for the one who is and is to come. This is our work for the Advent season; preparing the way for the Christ to be born again in each of us. 

Surely preparing the way for something new is as natural as new families making countless trips to Babies R Us as they prepare for the coming of a child ? Aunties buy cribs and friends cuddly blankets. Parents search the web for advice, install baby monitors and socket guards. With nothing but the best of intentions boatloads of things are gathered to welcome the child into a world of safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control. This is as it should be - and - immediately the writer of Mark’s gospel invites us to put that child in God’s hands, drenched in the water of baptism to die to a life constrained by things and rise into a life of safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control born in the hands of God. We prepare the way to give our children away to God in baptism.

At the other end of the spectrum linger those of us in later seasons of life faced with the burden of scores of physical stuff, habitual stuff,  stuff we no longer have the energy to sustain. Mountains of possessions possess us. Decades of habitual behaviors and reactions stand between us and freedom like barbed wire prision walls. Are we not like the people of the Judean countryside and Jerusalem compelled by a sense of desperation and desire for something more than old stuff and the empty promises of city, state, empire? How many of us long to walk into the wilderness, throw all the things that possess us into the Jordan river, watch them sink to the watery depths and experience the lightness of being born anew in the hands of God? “This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God….” Do you dare to prepare the way of the Lord?   

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Gospel text for Sunday 21 July 2013

Luke 10:38-42        As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

Reflection           The story of Martha and Mary is so familiar that when I began to reflect on it I heard echoes of hundreds of sermons bouncing off the walls of my mind. I could imagine the cover of a book on my office bookshelf, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. But it was my Sabbath day and I was not at my office. I wracked my brain to remember the author which led me down a few twisted dead ends before I googled trusty Amazon and ‘remembered,’ the author is Joanna Weaver. All of this led me far from my engagement with the story. Feeling a bit anxious I wondered, “However will I sort through all of this to discover how the Spirit is speaking through the text to me today? How will I get this reflection written and everything else I have planned to do on my Sabbath day today done?” 

And there it was. I was thinking, feeling and acting like my sister Martha who was distracted by all the things she had done and the things she thought she knew or had to do. Even though it is the day the Lord visits Martha and her sister, both Martha and I are still trying to take charge and run our agendas. Oops! I decided to sit, meditate and wait for the storm to pass and the dust to settle. I set my “Insight Timer,” relaxed my body and followed my breath. A train of disconnected thoughts burbled to the surface of my consciousness. The good news is, I cannot recall any of them now. 

Three Kangsé chimes called me to conclude my time of waiting and listening. Having ‘heard’ nothing to write about Martha and Mary I recalled what Jesus said to the disciples while instructing them about prayer a bit later in Luke’s text. “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” (Luke 11.9) I decided to persist in my prayer. This time I didn’t set the timer. I just joined Mary at Jesus’ feet and offered this prayer. “OK, here I am Lord. If there is anything for me to write and share with your people, please let me know. I’ll just wait here.” 

I have no idea how much time passed before Zachariah the cat decided to check on my status. I do know that I felt incredibly good resting in God’s presence. As I realized that my time of waiting was over (Zachariah relentlessly insisted that I get up and open the door to let him go outside) I cast around my mind for words to write and realized all I had to tell was my story. So there it is. The story of a distracted woman, persistent prayer and an insistant cat.