A Time of Heart Preparation
I Corinthians 1:3-9
November 27, 2005
First Sunday of Advent
For those of us who live in this northern latitude, this is an interesting, and sometimes confusing time of year. Today, we find ourselves on the first Sunday of Advent; the beginning of a new year, if you count time by liturgical seasons. We are preparing to meet the Christ child in the manger, now only a few weeks distant. We proclaim that God is about to do a new thing in our midst, but sometimes that is so hard to see.
Here, in northern Indiana, the days are long and cold. Snow and storms are on the horizon for the next few months. Winter coats have replaced short-sleeved shirts, and hats and mittens have taken the place of sunscreen and tanning oil. The lovely gardens we enjoyed during the summer are a distant memory. The trees are barren. Many species of birds have flown south to warmer weather. God may be doing a new thing, but maybe that new thing is something that we have to take on faith if we look for evidence in nature.
The winter, if we are honest with ourselves, will remind us of the barrenness in our own hearts. Look across the Christian landscape and you will discover that “Christian” is often a term we claim, but don’t live. Do you need some concrete example of the way we claim the term, but don’t live it? Here are some of my examples. Perhaps you have some of your own.
We claim the name “Christian,” but we have neglected our own spiritual lives. We have let the cares of the world intrude on our lives before God. We have failed to trust God in all things, thinking that we have to be self-sufficient in case of crisis.
We claim the name “Christian” but then forget about the dangers of wealth as outlined in the gospels. We have spent, or are about to spend untold sums of money to buy presents for friends and family members, without too much thought of those who don’t have even a fraction of our financial blessings; those hundreds of millions of people worldwide who exist on $1 a day or less.
We claim the name “Christian,” but we tend to offer up our prayers only when we are in trouble or when we need something. With far less frequency do we just spend time listening to God to try to understand what God is saying in our midst.
We claim the name “Christian.” Bibles grace our bookshelves or coffee tables. The Bible is the most widely circulated book in the world. There are far more Bibles than there are Korans or the works of the Buddha, but for the most part, we remain biblical illiterates.
We claim the name “Christian.” We worship the Prince of Peace, but the United States is a world leader in the selling of arms and military equipment. We arm our friends one day and watch them become our enemies the next day, using our own weapons against us.
We claim the name “Christian,” yet we have radio talk show hosts shouting about the need to maintain our own borders, language, and culture; and forget about the biblical call to welcome the stranger and sojourner.
In the wake of Katrina and Rita and the earthquake in Pakistan, which together claimed untold thousands of lives, the poor and oppressed have almost become celebrities. But it shouldn’t take natural disasters to remind Christians that there are poor among us.
We are called by God to keep an anxious vigil at the bedside of a sick world, but prefer to offer band aids and Pepto Bismol rather than risk radical surgery. We claim the name “Christian” but often don’t live it. The results are hearts which are as barren and cold as the Indiana landscape in December.
Last month, I attended the fall lecture series at Ashland Theological Seminary. The guest lecturer was Dr. Cain Hope Felder, New Testament professor at Howard Divinity School. As he led us through the gospel of Luke, he asked us to notice again, chapter 4. In that chapter, Jesus read the daily lesson in the synagogue. From the Isaiah scroll, he read this.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
As he sat down, he said, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” And they all marveled at his gracious words. But just a few verses later, as he told them that no one was outside the care of God, even the despised, the ignorant, and the heathen; they took him outside the city and tried to throw him off a cliff.
Dr. Felder said that no preacher can call him or herself a real preacher unless people have become so uncomfortable around you that they have tried to throw you off a cliff.
I don’t know if this litany of woes has affected you or not, made you uncomfortable or not. I don’t know if you want to throw me off of a cliff for lifting up some of what I believe to be American Christian’s most glaring faults. But this is the world in which we find ourselves. It is dark and cold. Winter has set in. Our lives are often barren and unrecognizable as the lives of Christians.
Yet on the first Sunday of Advent, we begin to expect new life, new opportunities, and new blessing. We await the birth of the Son of God, the Messiah, the One who will come to save, the One who will cleanse and heal us, the One who will offer us salvation. We are caught here, living in the time between the times, the time between the first and second Advents. Jesus has come and will come again, we are sure. But for now, we wait in our darkness, in the messiness of human existence, and in the sin that covers us: hoping against hope that the news is truly good and that our wait will be rewarded.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, a church very much like our own in a lot of ways. They too were struggling to get this Christian thing right. Like us, they found that their old ways of thinking and doing were getting in the way of an authentic relationship with Christ. Like us, they no doubt had good intentions, but lacked the discipline to follow through.
These were people who called themselves “Christian,” yet problems abounded. In the Corinthian church, there was rampant immorality. There were factions, with each one struggling to maintain control. They were arrogant and had trouble taking advice from others. They thought they had their own spirituality worked out pretty well and didn’t need the interference of someone who disagreed with them. When there was a disagreement in the Body, they were too willing to go to the civil authorities instead of working through the problem with the brothers and sisters. They were a whole lot like us.
Amazingly, in spite of this, Paul gave thanks to God because of the grace that had been given them in Jesus. He told them of the spiritual gifts which were not lacking in their fellowship and prayed that they might be blameless on the Day of the Lord. He gave thanks for people who were very difficult to live with.
A student approached Bishop William Willimon when he was Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, telling him of his decision to enter preparation for the ordained ministry. Willimon asked him why he wanted to do that. The student replied that he wanted to work with people. Willimon then asked the student if he had ever met the people. The church is messy. Church people are not always easy to get along with.
But the fact of the matter is that, if God had intended the church to be perfect, God would have left the angels in charge. Not too long ago, I had an acquaintance ask me how I could go on being a pastor. We were in the midst of hiring a couple of new staff members. A lot of discussion was taking place about direction and programming issues. In the midst of stuff like that, people can sometimes be so disagreeable. They can sometimes be so petty. There are turf battles in the church. Egos get in the way of ministry. People fuss at each other when their own agendas are threatened. They are not always willing to go where they are being led. They don’t live out the mercy they profess. “How can you continue to be a pastor?” my friend asked.
I told this person that this is what I was called to do; to work among people who are sometimes difficult to live with, people who don’t always see things the way I do, people who let their sins get in the way of faithful living…people who are a whole lot like me. I was called to work among people such as these because God gave me a vision for the future in which we grow in our faith together and come closer and closer to the spirit of the gospel and the One who stands at the center of that gospel.
That is what Paul was doing; giving thanks to God for these people who were far from perfect, but who were nonetheless still the people of God. That is the story of Advent. Despite our sinfulness, despite the messiness of our existence, God is still coming to us.
One of the commentaries I read said that the Christian community is not an ideal which we must realize, but is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we get to participate. We in the church, despite our foibles and sins, are participating in the great plan of God. It was for the Corinthian’s participation in the plan of God that Paul was giving thanks. He knew their sins and was not content to allow them to continue to live in them, but gave thanks for them despite the ways in which they fell short.
I Corinthians 1:8 says, “God continues to work in us to perfect us for the Day of the Lord.” Here in advent, as we wait for the coming of the Christ child, we too are in the process of being perfected so that we will be ready to meet him.
Garth Brooks has a song on his “Scarecrow” CD which is titled “Pushing Up Daises.” He sings about the dates on a tombstone. We all know what the two dates mean. What is important however, is the dash there in between. How are we living our days in these in between times? How are we as Christians living our days between the advents; between the first and the second coming of our Lord? That is the true judge of character. That is the true judge of our faithfulness.
We are in a season which is dark and cold. We fail to live up to the goodness that God has planned for us. We fail to see the blessings that wait if only we would open ourselves up to receive them. But God has not forsaken us. God has not left us to our sins. God continues to work in us, to perfect us and prepare us for the coming of our Lord.
God is getting ready to do a new thing…again. Our task is to be ready for God’s coming. This is the time of heart preparation. It is the time to get ready to welcome Jesus. As we wait and prepare, we will give thanks for each other and for the gospel. We will strive to be consistent in our witness, testimony, and practice so that we will be ready. And we will not be surprised when we are changed into his likeness. We will not be surprised when our hearts are changed and our spirits lifted to meet the baby
